Financial auxiliaries

Other supervised institutions 

Banco de España also supervises other institutions, including specialised lending institutions, mutual guarantee and reguarantee companies, foreign currency exchange establishments, payment institutions, electronic money institutions and valuation companies.

Specialised lending institutions

Specialised lending institutions are establishments which perform credit operations in very specific fields: ‘leasing’ (financial leasing with the option to buy), ‘factoring’ (transfer of a credit portfolio), consumer credit, mortgage lending, cards and guarantees, among others.

Ley 5/2015Opens in new window contains the new legal procedure for specialised lending institutions, arising from Ley 10/2014Opens in new window . By conforming with this new regulation, specialised credit institutions lose their credit institution status but remain within the perimeter of financial supervision and regulation.

Mutual guarantee and reguarantee companies 

Mutual guarantee companies are financial institutions whose corporate purpose is to grant personal guarantees by any legally accepted means other than a surety bond in favour of their shareholders, which are normally small and medium sized companies (SMEs), for operations that they carry out in the course of business in the companies that they own.

They are essentially regulated by Ley 1/1994Opens in new window of 11 March and by Real Decreto 2345/1996, de 8 de noviembreOpens in new window.

Reguarantee companies are financial companies whose corporate purpose is to provide counter-guarantees for guarantee transactions by mutual guarantee companies.

They are essentially regulated by Ley 1/1994Opens in new window of 11 March and by Real Decreto 1644/1997, de 31 de octubreOpens in new window

Foreign currency exchange establishments

These are establishments open to the public which solely purchase foreign bank notes or traveller cheques with payment in euros.

Foreign-exchange establishments are supervised and controlled by Banco de España according to
 RD 2660/1998Opens in new window.

Payment institutions 

Are legal persons who have obtained authorisation and who carry out, in a professional capacity, payment services in euros as well as in other currencies.

Payment institutions are supervised and controlled by Banco de España according to Real Decreto-ley 19/2018, de 23 de noviembreOpens in new window

Electronic money institutions

Electronic money institutions are those legal persons other than credit institutions who are authorised to issue electronic money, which is an accepted form of payment in companies other than the issuing entity.

Valuation companies

They are authorised to make property valuations for certain types of financial institutions, and in particular those associated with the mortgage market. They generally certify the value of properties for certain purposes, such as granting financing with mortgage collateral or the valuation of property that forms part of the assets of insurance companies or pension funds.

They are registered and supervised by Banco de España, and the basic legislation regulating them is  Ley 2/1981Opens in new window, Ley 3/1994Opens in new window, Real Decreto 775/1997Opens in new windowReal Decreto 716/2009Opens in new window,  and Banco de EspañaOpens in new window Circular 3/2014.