Grupo Cajamar (Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar) is the largest grouping of agricultural cooperative banks (cajas rurales) in Spain.

Grupo Cajamar

Its origins trace back to 1966 with the establishment of Caja Rural de Almería, which was rebranded as Cajamar Caja Ruralin 2000.

Overview

Cajamar Caja Ruralremains the group's most significant component. The group's national entity is Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo, SA(BCC), a Madrid-headquartered bank established in 2014 by Cajamar Caja Rural and 31 other local agricultural cooperative banks. BCC has been designated as a Significant Institution since late 2014, making it directly supervised by the European Central Bank.

BCC serves as a central entity, addressing the financial needs of local cooperative banks within the Cajamar Group. The Bank of Spain has designated the Cajamar Cooperative Group as an institutional protection scheme, with the BCC as its head entity. This arrangement exempts individual local banks from solvency and liquidity requirements, as these are supervised on a consolidated basis. The group's local banks operate like branches without managerial independence.

Other entities within the Cajamar Group include Cajamar Vida and Cajamar Seguros Generales (insurance), Cimenta2 Gestión e Inversiones (asset management), the Cajamar Foundation, and the Plataforma Tierradigitalization initiative.

History

Cajamar Caja Rural was formed through the aggregation of several agricultural cooperative banks, with its original core being the Caja Rural de Almería (established in 1966). In 2000, Caja Rural de Almería merged with its peer in Málaga and adopted the name Cajamar. In 2002, it departed from the Grupo Caja Rural cooperative group to establish its independent grouping, including a national representative association, the Business Association of Credit Cooperative Entities (ASEMECC). Cajamar gathered other local banks to form the Cajamar Cooperative Group.

Key Facts

The group has over 3.8 million customers.
It has more than 1.7 million members.
It has over 5,000 employees.
It has 976 branches and rural counters, including mobile banking units.
Assets amounted to 62,204 million euros as of December 31, 2024.
Managed turnover of 104,121 million euros as of December 31, 2024.
Solvency ratio of 16.1% as of December 31, 2024.
Surplus to solvency requirements of 805 million euros as of December 31, 2024.

Financial Performance

Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar posted a consolidated profit of 67.4 million euros as of September 30, thanks to year-on-year growth in net interest income.

In 2024, Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar posted a profit of €326 million, thanks to the income from banking business.

Structure and Governance

The governing bodies of the entities that make up Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar are the General Assembly and the Steering Committee. The General Assembly expresses social will, while the Steering Committee manages senior management and represents the entity. The Executive Committee includes a president, vice president, secretary, and four ordinary members.