Founded in Zaragoza in 1876, Ibercaja is marking its 150th anniversary while maintaining close ties to Aragon, rural communities, and the region’s business and social fabric. Its story began with just three employees and today reaches more than 1.7 million customers.
To speak of Ibercaja’s 150 years is also to speak of part of Aragon’s recent history. Generations of families have held a savings passbook with the institution, visited its branches to buy their first home or launch a business. Farmers, livestock producers, self-employed workers, and companies have likewise grown alongside an institution born in Zaragoza that, a century and a half later, remains rooted here.
It all began on May 28, 1876, when the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Zaragoza opened its doors. Since then, Ibercaja has weathered sweeping economic, social, and technological change to become one of the 10 leading players in Spain’s financial system. Today, it has more than 1.7 million customers, nearly 900 branches, and a workforce of more than 5,200 professionals.
Yet behind those figures lies an especially close relationship with its home region. During the anniversary celebration, Ibercaja Chairman Francisco Serrano summed it up in one sentence: It is a great source of pride to have come this far thanks to the trust of our founders, our shareholders, our customers, our employees, our governing bodies and management teams, and society as a whole.
From a small office to a national institution
Looking back to 1876 offers a sense of how much the institution—and society itself—has changed. On its first day of business, 122 people deposited 14,505 pesetas, while 46 donations totaling 2,470.75 pesetas were received.
That first office was located in Zaragoza’s former Plaza del Reino, near what is now La Seo Square. It had just three employees and opened on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Today, 150 years later, Ibercaja operates in all 50 Spanish provinces. Its scale has changed, but the institution identifies three principles already present at its founding as central to its identity: a people-focused approach, a social mission, and deep roots in Aragon.
Supporting rural communities and the business sector
Those roots are especially clear on the map of its branches. Of the 892 locations in its network, half are in rural areas and more than 23% are in municipalities with fewer than 1,000 residents.
This is particularly significant in towns where the closure of a branch means far more than losing a bank office. In many municipalities, Ibercaja is the only institution still offering in-person service, preserving access to financial services for people living far from major cities.
Its ties to the region also extend to agriculture. The institution has 54,000 customers in the primary sector, three out of every four of whom are farmers or livestock producers.
Alongside the rural economy is the business sector. A total of 24,000 companies and 250,000 microbusinesses, retailers, and self-employed workers are Ibercaja customers, with nearly €10 billion in outstanding credit. In 2025, the institution also organized 220 economic and business outreach events.
Profits returned to society
The social dimension is another of the attributes Ibercaja aims to highlight as it marks its anniversary. The institution returns 100% of its profits to society through its four shareholder foundations, successors to former savings banks, with Fundación Ibercaja holding 88% of the bank’s share capital.
This enables distributed dividends to finance projects that give back to society. In 2025 alone, they amounted to €138.4 million, supporting more than 10,000 social, cultural, educational, entrepreneurship, and employability initiatives, benefiting nearly 2.7 million people across Spain.
There are also more everyday examples. More than 22,000 people under the age of 35 secured housing in 2025 with Ibercaja’s support, while its sustainable and solidarity-based investment funds and pension plans have allocated €6.67 million to 170 social projects.
150 years of history, with an eye on the future
The anniversary is being celebrated under the slogan 150 years moving forward for you and will not be limited to a single date. Events will run for 12 months across Spain, with Aragon and other regions historically linked to the institution taking center stage. The celebrations will conclude on May 28, 2027, with a major gathering in Zaragoza.
Meanwhile, Ibercaja’s headquarters is hosting an exhibition tracing those 150 years through photographs, documents, old savings passbooks, original objects, and audiovisual materials. It is a journey from the small Monte de Piedad of 1876 to 21st-century digital banking.
Perhaps the best way to understand an anniversary such as this is not simply to look at the headline figures. It is to consider everything that has happened around them: the families who bought a home, the farmers who modernized their operations, the self-employed workers who built a business, and the companies that expanded and created jobs.
One hundred and fifty years on, Ibercaja continues to grow and transform itself, while preserving its bond with the land where it was born: Aragon.
