The Banco de España on 23 October 2026 in Valencia the pilot ICAS BE was presented. Through the programme, the central bank aims to obtain information directly from large companies, improve its internal creditworthiness assessments and give companies insight into their own evaluation. The presentation was supported by the Cámara de Comercio de España and the Cámara de Comercio de Valencia.
According to the central bank, the pilot expands the data currently used. Until now, the bank has relied mainly on its own holdings and publicly available sources. Direct exchange is intended to provide a closer and more up-to-date picture of companies’ circumstances, thereby improving the quality of internal assessments. The Banco de España also plans to provide participating companies with information about its assessment of them, so that they can better understand their risk profile and, where appropriate, improve access to financing.
ICAS BE is the bank’s internal framework for credit assessments, already used in monetary policy. Among other things, it is used to check whether corporate claims submitted by banks as collateral meet the quality requirements of the Eurosystem . The pilot launched now extends this use and tests procedures for the secure exchange and processing of sensitive company data. The bank had previously launched the initiative in June 2026 in Madrid and Barcelona with the first participating companies.
The Banco de España has given no specific timetable for extending the pilot to other non-financial companies. The institution points to the need to comply with legal and data-protection requirements before additional data flows can be established on a permanent basis. European regulations and national rules on data processing and banking secrecy provide the framework.
The approach is part of a broader European trend towards providing supervisors and central banks with more targeted information to assess default risks. For companies, formalised data exchange could bring potential benefits through greater transparency for lenders and possibly more tailored financing. At the same time, it could entail greater disclosure obligations and technical requirements. The impact on credit terms or reporting obligations will depend on the course of the pilot phase and the regulatory decisions that follow. Europa Press also reported on the presentation in Valencia on 23 October 2026.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).