Money in deposits has increased by 55% in the last year at the national level, to exceed the figure of 145,000 million euros, according to data from the Bank of Spain at the end of June, just one month before Christine Lagarde began the upward path of the rise in interest rates. These figures imply that for every 100 euros that Spaniards have in their current accounts in the bank, citizens have gone from allocating 6.6 euros to deposits twelve months ago to 10.5 euros before the summer.

Of the total money deposited on time, almost a third is in Madrid, with just over 42,000 million euros. The transfer from the current account to the deposit is especially significant in the capital, where money in demand accounts falls by 15% in a year - it is the largest collapse among the large provinces - compared to a 44% increase in deposits. Proportionally, Madrilenians have more money on time, looking for profitability, than in their current accounts, with 29% of total savings in Spain, compared to 24% that their demand accounts represent.

Term savings by region

It is a situation that also occurs in Valencia, whose weighting on the total money deposited on time in Spain, with 6.1%, is higher than the contribution they make to the total savings of Spaniards (by 5.5%). The Valencians are, together with Sevillians and Mallorcans, who have more than doubled the volume of deposits in the last year. Specifically, Valencia exceeded 8,900 million euros in term money in June, 128% more; Seville is close to 2,200 million euros, 132% above; while in the Balearic Islands term savings exceed 2,600 million euros, 1.8% of the country's total, and almost 150% above when compared to the figures of June 2022 when there were only just over 1,000 million in vehicles with a specific maturity.

It also highlights the search for profitability by the people of Barcelona. In the last year its money deposited on time has increased by 84%, to exceed 12,250 million euros just before the summer. This implies an increase of 84% over the little more than 6,600 million that they had twelve months ago. The transfer of money from the bank account to more profitable products has been accentuated in recent months in the heat of a rise in interest rates in the euro zone that has raised the reference rate of deposits to 4%, historical highs. However, the lack of commercial offer by large entities, such as CaixaBank (with a third of the total market share in payroll), has redirected citizens' savings towards more profitable products such as investment funds or Treasury Bills, which generate a return of 3.67% over twelve months, according to the last auction held at the beginning of the month.

By provinces, Vizcaya stands out, in the Basque Country, where its citizens have almost 4,000 million euros in term, 2.7% of the national total and 700 million more than last year (24% above). La Coruña, on the other hand, today has a volume of deposits 25% higher, to touch 3,700 million, while they increase by 43% in Zaragoza, with 2,318 million euros.

Electronic banking

The non-existent offer of banks has led many citizens to contract deposits where attractive returns are offered, such as 100% digital entities. Electronic banking has multiplied by 3.6 times the volume of money in deposits in the last year, going from 2,616 million euros in June 2022 to almost 9,400 million today, according to figures collected by the Bank of Spain. In fact, on the national total, entities that operate exclusively through the Internet have managed to increase their weight from 2.8% a year ago to represent 6.5% of term savings.

Taking advantage of the movement of traditional banking to new actors, digital firms have managed to scratch some share on the total volume of savings of Spaniards, up to 4.85%, 65 basis points more than last year. And proof that there is an active search for profitability is that its presence among the general public is higher in deposits than in bank accounts when last year the situation was the opposite and this is because firms such as MyInvestor, ING, N26 or Revolut have been starring for months in their particular war of liabilities with the aim of attracting customers.