The Bank of Spain has launched its new Department of Experimentation and Laboratory of Applied Technologies (DELTA) in Barcelona and, at the same event, announced two cooperation agreements with the Government of Catalonia covering a partial transfer of the Barcelona branch building and joint financial education initiatives. DELTA is positioned as part of the Bank of Spain’s Strategic Plan 2030 technology agenda and its initiative to promote artificial intelligence and new technologies, with a mandate to test and apply emerging technologies, particularly AI, to support economic analysis, internal processes, financial supervision and the provision of higher-quality information to stakeholders. The Barcelona-based unit has 14 staff and is expected to expand to more than 30 during 2026. Separately, the Bank of Spain will transfer to the Government of Catalonia floors 2 to 8 of the Plaza de Cataluña building that houses its Barcelona branch, a property of close to 27,000 m², with the transfer expected in the coming months following approval by the Bank’s Governing Council on 3 March. A General Protocol of Action was also signed to develop financial education projects in Catalonia’s education system, with the Bank providing teaching materials, digital resources and pedagogical proposals and the Catalan authorities assessing how to integrate them into the curriculum and develop teacher training, initially targeting primary, secondary, baccalaureate and vocational education.

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