PENALTY: Caixa fined €3.6 million due to credit breaches

SPAIN’S Central Bank has fined CaixaBank €3.6 million over breaches of credit, repayments and interest rate rules.

Details on the Bank of Spain’s fine, handed down last November, were published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) last week.

CaixaBank’s offences, which are classed as “very serious”, were that it failed to comply with rules on compensation for early repayments, rounding interest rates and reference indices.

Separately, CaixaBank announced last week it planned to lay off 2,157 workers, 7.3 per cent of staff. The bank said in a statement it was currently in talks with unions over the job cuts. They come as part of wider strategic planning which is set to see up to 821 branches of CaixaBank, 18 per cent, close.