Banking Law and Financial Literacy Policy in the Banking Sector in Spain

Introduction

Financial literacy has become an important part of banking and consumer-protection policy in Spain. It means giving people the knowledge and skills needed to understand financial products, compare alternatives, recognise risks, manage borrowing and savings, and make informed financial decisions.

Spain does not treat financial literacy as a substitute for banking regulation. Instead, financial education and legal consumer protection operate together. Banks must comply with rules on transparency, pre-contractual information, responsible lending, mortgage disclosure, payment services and consumer protection, while public institutions promote broader financial education.

Spain's national financial-education strategy began in 2008, when the Banco de España and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) launched the Financial Education Plan. The Ministry of Economy subsequently became another promoter.

In 2026, Spain further strengthened this framework through institutional cooperation and a new Banco de España financial-education strategy for 2026–2030.

Legal and Regulatory Framework

1. Financial Education Plan

The Plan de Educación Financiera is the central national financial-literacy initiative in Spain.

Its purpose is to improve citizens' financial knowledge and provide them with basic tools for managing their finances responsibly and on an informed basis. It covers different sections of the population rather than being limited to existing bank customers.

Financial education under this framework involves helping consumers:

understand financial products and concepts;

recognise financial risks and opportunities;

develop skills for informed decision-making;

understand saving and expenditure planning;

improve confidence when dealing with financial institutions; and

identify their financial rights and responsibilities.

Importantly, financial education should be impartial and should not simply function as advertising for particular financial products.

2. Role of the Banco de España

The Banco de España performs an important financial-education role alongside its banking and financial-stability responsibilities.

Its Banking Customer Portal provides information about banking products and services and is intended to give consumers tools for understanding their rights and obligations when dealing with financial institutions.

The Banco de España also considers financial education relevant to financial stability because financially informed consumers may make better financial decisions and better understand the operation of the financial system.

3. Financial Education Strategy 2026–2030

An important current development is the Banco de España's preparation of a comprehensive 2026–2030 financial-education strategy.

According to its April 2026 action plan, three priority groups are expected to receive particular attention:

students across primary, secondary, vocational and university education;

vulnerable groups, including initiatives directed toward low-income people; and

SMEs and entrepreneurs.

The strategy is also intended to establish measurable objectives, institutional partnerships and a dedicated financial-education centre. Pilot programmes are scheduled to begin during the 2026–2027 academic year.

This demonstrates that financial literacy is increasingly treated as a structured public-policy objective rather than merely voluntary consumer education.

4. Financial Literacy in Schools

Financial education is also connected with Spain's education policy.

Financial competencies appear across parts of the Spanish curriculum, although there is currently no single compulsory school subject exclusively devoted to financial education.

Financial concepts appear in areas such as mathematics, economics, entrepreneurship, social studies and related subjects. Banco de España reports that at least 15 autonomous communities have introduced financial competencies through optional subjects, workshops or interdisciplinary projects.

In January 2026, the Banco de España, CNMV, Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Education formalised a cooperation framework designed to develop and extend the Financial Education Plan throughout the education system. The framework remains in force until January 2030.

5. Financial Literacy and Banking Transparency

For the banking sector, financial literacy is closely connected with transparency.

Customers cannot make informed decisions unless they receive understandable information concerning matters such as:

interest rates;

fees and commissions;

repayment obligations;

variable interest rates;

mortgage risks;

early repayment conditions;

payment-service charges; and

consequences of default.

Spanish banking legislation therefore contains extensive transparency and information requirements.

Financial literacy cannot be used to shift the entire responsibility onto customers. Even financially knowledgeable customers remain protected by mandatory consumer and banking legislation.

6. Mortgage Lending and Financial Literacy

Mortgage lending provides one of the clearest examples.

Spain's Law 5/2019 regulating real-estate credit agreements strengthened borrower protection and mortgage transparency.

The policy behind mortgage disclosure recognises that buying a home and obtaining a mortgage are major financial decisions involving long-term obligations.

Financial literacy helps borrowers understand concepts such as fixed and variable rates, repayment periods, interest-rate risk and total borrowing costs. However, lenders and intermediaries remain subject to legal disclosure and conduct requirements.

Thus, financial education complements—but does not replace—legal protection.

7. Digital Financial Literacy

Digitalisation has created another major policy challenge.

Consumers increasingly use:

mobile banking;

electronic payments;

online credit applications;

digital investment platforms; and

remote banking services.

Financial literacy must consequently include digital financial literacy.

Consumers need to understand both the opportunities and the risks associated with digital financial services, including fraud, impersonation, misleading online information and cybersecurity risks.

This issue is particularly important for groups with limited digital skills.

8. Vulnerable Consumers and Financial Inclusion

Financial-literacy policy also supports financial inclusion.

Banco de España identifies potentially vulnerable groups as including people with low incomes or limited education, migrants and asylum seekers, people living in rural areas with limited access to physical banking services, people with limited digital skills and persons with disabilities.

Financial education can help these groups use formal banking services more confidently.

However, education alone cannot solve structural problems such as lack of physical banking access, inaccessible technology or discriminatory treatment. Appropriate banking regulation and accessibility measures remain necessary.

Important Case Laws

Spanish financial-literacy policy itself does not generate a large category of judgments expressly labelled “financial literacy cases.” The strongest jurisprudence instead concerns banking transparency, informed consumer decision-making, unfair terms and disclosure.

These decisions are especially relevant because they establish what information consumers need in order to understand financial products.

1. Banco Español de Crédito SA v Joaquín Calderón Camino — C-618/10

This case originated in Spain and concerned a consumer credit agreement containing a term imposing default interest.

The Court of Justice of the European Union emphasised the protective function of Directive 93/13 on unfair terms in consumer contracts.

Importance: Financial literacy cannot legitimise unfair contractual provisions. Courts and regulators must continue protecting consumers even where contractual information has formally been supplied.

2. Aziz v Caixa d'Estalvis de Catalunya, Tarragona i Manresa — C-415/11

Mohamed Aziz challenged terms associated with his mortgage and the Spanish mortgage-enforcement framework.

The CJEU concluded that effective consumer protection required national procedures capable of dealing meaningfully with potentially unfair contractual terms.

Importance: This judgment shows that informed borrowing must be supported by effective legal remedies. Financial education alone cannot correct an unfair banking relationship.

3. Kásler and Káslerné Rábai v OTP Jelzálogbank Zrt — C-26/13

The case concerned contractual transparency in mortgage lending.

The CJEU developed an important interpretation of the requirement that contractual terms be expressed in plain and intelligible language.

Transparency can require consumers to understand the economic consequences of a contractual mechanism, rather than merely being able to read its grammatical wording.

Importance: This principle closely supports financial-literacy policy. Meaningful financial understanding requires knowledge of how a term can actually affect the customer's finances.

4. Andriciuc and Others v Banca Românească SA — C-186/16

Borrowers had taken loans denominated in a foreign currency and subsequently faced substantial exchange-rate consequences.

The CJEU considered the information necessary for consumers to evaluate the potential economic consequences of currency risk.

Importance: Banks dealing with complex financial products should communicate significant financial risks sufficiently clearly for customers to make informed decisions.

5. Gutiérrez Naranjo v Cajasur Banco — Joined Cases C-154/15, C-307/15 and C-308/15

These proceedings arose from Spanish mortgage litigation concerning minimum-interest-rate or floor clauses.

The CJEU addressed the consequences of a finding that such consumer-contract terms were unfair.

Importance: The litigation illustrates why consumers need understandable information about how variable-rate mortgage provisions can affect actual payments.

6. Banco Primus SA v Jesús Gutiérrez García — C-421/14

This Spanish mortgage case concerned unfair terms and mortgage-enforcement proceedings.

The CJEU further developed protections concerning judicial examination of contractual terms.

Importance: Financial literacy should operate together with judicial oversight. Consumers cannot be expected to identify every potentially unfair or technically complicated provision themselves.

7. Abanca Corporación Bancaria SA v García Salamanca and Bankia SA v Lau Mendoza — Joined Cases C-70/17 and C-179/17

These cases concerned Spanish mortgage agreements and unfair acceleration clauses.

The Court considered the consequences of unfair contractual provisions affecting termination and enforcement.

Importance: Borrowers need to understand the circumstances in which missed repayments can produce serious contractual consequences, while lenders must comply with mandatory consumer-protection rules.

8. Gómez del Moral Guasch v Bankia SA — C-125/18

This case concerned a Spanish mortgage linked to the IRPH interest-rate index.

The CJEU examined transparency requirements applicable to a contractual term determining the variable interest rate.

Importance: The case is especially relevant to financial literacy because interest-rate benchmarks can be technically difficult for ordinary borrowers to understand. Transparency must enable meaningful assessment of the financial consequences of the agreement.

Relationship Between Financial Education and Consumer Protection

A central principle emerging from this framework is that financial literacy and consumer protection perform different functions.

Financial education gives customers knowledge and skills. Consumer law establishes mandatory protections and duties for financial institutions.

A bank therefore cannot defend inadequate disclosure merely by arguing that a customer should have been more financially knowledgeable.

Similarly, a sophisticated customer does not automatically lose protection against unfair contractual terms.

Effective banking policy requires both informed consumers and responsible financial institutions.

Current Challenges

Spain continues to face measurable financial-literacy challenges.

According to Banco de España's discussion of the 2021 Survey of Financial Competences, only 19% of surveyed people aged 18–79 correctly answered all three questions covering inflation, interest rates and risk diversification.

For younger people, PISA 2022 reported an average Spanish financial-literacy score of 486 compared with an OECD average of 498. Banco de España also reports that 17% of Spanish students in that assessment failed to reach the basic performance level.

These figures help explain the continuing emphasis on financial education in schools and programmes aimed at vulnerable groups.

Future Direction

Spain's policy is moving toward a more systematic approach.

The Banco de España's 2026 action plan calls for clearer objectives, measurable results, stronger cooperation with educational institutions, greater attention to vulnerable groups and improved evaluation of financial-education programmes.

The plan also envisages cooperation with European initiatives, including participation in work connected with the ECB-led Financial Literacy Network.

The emphasis is therefore shifting from simply providing educational materials toward measuring whether financial-education programmes actually improve knowledge and decision-making.

Conclusion

Financial literacy policy has become an important component of Spanish banking and consumer-protection policy.

The national Financial Education Plan, established in 2008, provides the main institutional framework. The Banco de España, CNMV and Ministry of Economy currently promote the Plan, while cooperation with education authorities is intended to extend financial competencies throughout the education system.

The Banco de España's developing 2026–2030 strategy represents a further step toward targeted and measurable financial education, with particular attention to students, vulnerable groups, SMEs and entrepreneurs.

Case law including Banco Español de Crédito, Aziz, Kásler, Andriciuc, Gutiérrez Naranjo, Banco Primus, Abanca and Gómez del Moral Guasch demonstrates the complementary legal principle: consumers should receive sufficiently transparent information to understand the economic consequences of banking contracts, but financial education does not remove banks' duties or the protection provided by mandatory consumer law.

Accordingly, Spain's approach can be understood as combining financial knowledge, transparent banking practices, consumer protection, digital competence and financial inclusion. The objective is not merely to make customers responsible for their own decisions, but to create a financial environment in which consumers have both the knowledge and the legal protection necessary to participate effectively in the banking system.