CAIXABANK SA

Their core work

CaixaBank is one of Spain's largest retail banks, headquartered in Valencia, bringing real-world financial services infrastructure and expertise to EU research projects. In H2020, they served as a testing ground and domain expert for fintech innovation — contributing use cases in big data analytics, IoT-driven financial services, blockchain for regulatory compliance, and cybersecurity for e-commerce and digital banking. Their role is that of a large-scale end-user validating research outputs against the demands of a major European bank serving millions of customers.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CaixaBank entered H2020 in 2017 with broad interests in security certification (EU-SEC) and self-service big data (I-BiDaaS). From 2019 onward, their focus sharpened dramatically toward applied fintech — IoT, blockchain, regulatory sandboxes — and simultaneously expanded into privacy, GDPR compliance, and e-commerce cybersecurity. The trajectory shows a bank moving from general data and security awareness toward deeply applied digital finance innovation and citizen-facing data protection.

CaixaBank is converging on privacy-preserving fintech — expect future interest in projects combining AI, regulatory technology, and GDPR-compliant financial data processing.

How they like to work

CaixaBank operates exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator — consistent with a large end-user contributing real-world use cases and validation environments rather than driving the research agenda. With 164 unique partners across 29 countries, they join large consortia (typical for Innovation Actions and security projects). This makes them an accessible partner: they are experienced in multi-partner EU projects and bring a major bank's infrastructure as a living testbed.

CaixaBank has built a broad European network of 164 partners across 29 countries, reflecting participation in large-scale Innovation Actions and security consortia. Their reach spans most of the EU, with no narrow geographic clustering.

What sets them apart

CaixaBank is a rare breed in H2020: a top-tier retail bank with tens of millions of customers actively participating in research projects, not just sponsoring them. They offer something few partners can — a massive, real-world financial services environment where research prototypes in big data, blockchain, and cybersecurity can be tested against actual banking operations. For any consortium building a fintech or cybersecurity project, CaixaBank provides both domain credibility and a deployment pathway that academic or SME partners simply cannot match.

Highlights from their portfolio

• INFINITECH
  Dual participation (two grants totaling ~EUR 294K) in the flagship fintech sandbox project, signaling deep commitment to IoT and blockchain in financial services.
• TRAPEZE
  Their most recent and largest single grant (EUR 298K), marking a strategic pivot toward privacy-enhancing technologies and GDPR compliance.
• CONCORDIA
  Major EU cybersecurity competence center (EUR 362K — their largest funding), positioning CaixaBank within Europe's core cybersecurity research infrastructure.