The Bank of Spain has sanctioned Ibercaja with five million euros for "serious infringement due to the inaccurate submission of the information that must be reported to the Bank of Spain." Sources from the Aragonese entity explained that they have appealed the sanction in court.
The fine that has been published on the Bank of Spain's website is "firm in administrative proceedings". Sources consulted said that the infringement occurred when the entity did not submit a report with data to the Spanish banking supervisor and regulator. Specifically, it is the information referring to "Interest rates of loan operations in Spain with the resident private sector."
Ibercaja sources explained that the entity made a mistake in calculating the IRPH for the mortgage payments of a very small group of clients. The effect of these miscalculations is a very small amount in the aggregate. In fact, the bank considers that the penalty (5 million euros) is disproportionate with respect to the amount calculated in the wrong way.
The IRPH is an index that is used to calculate mortgage payments. For several years now, the most common index used to calculate installments is the Euribor.
Ibercaja's is the highest fine imposed by the Bank of Spain on a financial institution since two sanctions for a combined amount of six million euros were imposed on BBVA in 2021.
The Bank of Spain reported that the breach refers to annex 9 of Bank of Spain Circular 5/2012. The resolution is from March 2022 although it has been made public today.
