The Catalan government agrees to allocate the first dividends in the history of the ICF to social housing, the primary sector and small businesses

The Catalan Government has approved to allocate €25M of dividends from the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) to social housing, the primary sector and small businesses. The Catalan Government approved the 2023 annual accounts of the public promotional bank, which, for the first time in its history, will distribute dividends to its sole owner, the Generalitat de Catalunya. This decision has been taken due to the extraordinary nature of the 2023 profits, driven -following the same trend of the entire banking sector- by the rise in the interest rate and the good performance of the ordinary business. Specifically, the ICF generated 44.8 million euros in profits last year (49.5 million euros at the consolidated Group level).

These resources will be used to subsidize the interest on ICF's new lines of loans for social housing, the primary sector and small local businesses, promoted jointly with the Catalan government.

ICF will allocate the remaining profits to voluntary reserves and capitalization reserves to promote the organic growth of the institution.

ICF branch network in Catalonia

In this context, the public bank of the Generalitat will use part of these profits to create, also for the first time, customer service offices in the main cities of Catalonia, as part of its territorial expansion plan to meet the financing needs of the business fabric of the country as a whole with proximity and efficiency. This was approved by the ICF's Governing Board last February. The opening of offices is part of the Government's strategic objectives of territorial balance and the fight against financial exclusion to be closer to companies throughout the country.

The first pilot office will open this summer and the expectation is that the entity will open as many as possible during 2025, the year in which it will celebrate its 40th anniversary. The aim is to have offices open to the public in different Catalan cities.

This represents a strategic change for the ICF, because for the first time it is committed to having offices to serve the public, improving accessibility and direct contact with companies and entities throughout the country. The physical presence should help to promote awareness of the existence of an additional and complementary alternative to the financing offered by private banks.

Until now the ICF has worked with a network of commercial delegations in Catalonia with the aim of bringing the entity's financing solutions closer to the economic fabric of the territory: 11 delegates located in Baix Llobregat and Garraf, Barcelona (2), Vallès Oriental and Maresme, Vallès Occidental, Catalunya Central, Cerdanya and Solsonès, Comarques Gironines, Penedès and Camp de Tarragona (2), Lleida and Terres de l'Ebre. From now on, and during 2025, these delegations will be transformed into offices open to the public.