Banco Cooperativo Español, S.A.

Banco Cooperativo Español, S.A. is the central banking entity of the Spanish rural credit cooperative network (Grupo Caja Rural), headquartered in Madrid and owned by its member cajas rurales. It provides wholesale services to the group and selected external clients, including treasury and liquidity management, interbank market access, payment clearing and scheme sponsorship (SEPA credit transfers and direct debits, instant payments, cards, and Bizum via Iberpay), foreign exchange and interest rate hedging, cash management, guarantees, and trade finance. The bank coordinates the group’s access to capital markets and maintains funding programs such as medium-term notes and covered bonds (cédulas), and it supports custody and settlement through participation in domestic infrastructures (e.g., Iberpay and Iberclear) and Eurosystem platforms (TARGET services). Retail distribution to end customers is carried out by the independent Caja Rural institutions under their own brands and channels, with shared technology delivered via Rural Servicios Informáticos and the ruralvía digital platform; within the wider group architecture, BCE operates alongside Seguros RGA for insurance and Gescooperativo for investment funds. Banco Cooperativo Español is authorized in Spain and supervised within the EU Single Supervisory Mechanism (Banco de España and the European Central Bank), applies CRR/CRD prudential requirements, and operates under MiFID II and PSD2 where applicable; eligible deposits are protected by the Spanish Deposit Guarantee Fund up to €100,000 per depositor, per institution. The bank publishes audited annual reports and Pillar 3 disclosures, maintains correspondent banking relationships to support international payments and trade, and its governance reflects cooperative ownership, with a board drawn from member entities and a mandate focused on shared services and funding coordination rather than maintaining a standalone retail branch network.