Leading with inclusion: CaixaBank’s ambitious senior banking strategy
Driven by a leadership-level commitment, CaixaBank has launched what it calls the most ambitious senior banking strategy in Spain.
As populations age across Europe and beyond, ensuring accessible banking for senior citizens has become an urgent social and strategic priority. Older adults often face barriers when navigating digital services, physical branches, and financial planning, leading to risks of exclusion just when they need support the most.
In Spain, where more than 20% of the population is over 65, CaixaBank has recognized this demographic shift as an opportunity to lead. While many banks have launched isolated initiatives—ranging from digital literacy classes to simplified ATM menus—few have built a holistic, structured program focused entirely on serving older customers. CaixaBank stands out as an exception.
Driven by a leadership-level commitment, CaixaBank has launched what it calls the most ambitious senior banking strategy in Spain. Its wide-ranging approach spans branch services, digital accessibility, financial planning, and volunteer-led social programs. Through its Generation + initiative and a network of specially trained senior advisers, the bank aims not just to include seniors in its services but to empower them to thrive financially and personally.
Leadership-driven commitment
CaixaBank’s focus on senior customers stems directly from its top leadership. In 2022, the bank attracted widespread attention by announcing what it described as the most comprehensive offering for seniors in the Spanish market. Specially trained advisors, extended branch hours, and enhanced services for seniors across all channels were among the measures rolled out to promote financial inclusion.
At the time, Chairman José Ignacio Goirigolzarri highlighted the scale of CaixaBank’s commitment: “Our more than four million senior customers are a priority group for us, and as such, we’ve prepared the most ambitious offering in Spanish banking to cater to their needs.”
The bank’s CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, added further context, emphasizing both strategic and social motivations behind the initiative: “Today's announcement reinforces our firm commitment toward the elderly: in addition to expanding our service teams, we’re broadening our current service offering through specialization and a close client relationship. Commitment to social causes and financial inclusion has been part of CaixaBank’s DNA since its inception and throughout its evolution. Our commitment to the elderly is an essential part of this.”
The message from CaixaBank’s leadership was clear. The challenge now was to bring this commitment to life.
Creating and training specialized senior advisers
CaixaBank had already begun building expertise to better serve senior customers in 2021 by creating a dedicated team of advisers focused on people over the age of 65. The goal was to respond to their specific needs and provide guidance grounded in trust, closeness, and quality interaction. The initiative launched in Barcelona, where 154 Senior Citizens Advisers were appointed across 151 branches, with plans to gradually extend the program nationwide.
These advisers receive specialized training in gerontology—the science of aging—accredited by the University of Barcelona, equipping them with a deeper understanding of the experiences, preferences, and vulnerabilities of senior clients.
The project expanded further in 2025 when CaixaBank announced plans to train more than 30,000 employees in preferential attention to elderly customers, who number over four million. This effort aims to strengthen the bank’s commitment to seniors and enhance staff knowledge of their needs and expectations.
Starting in March, training under the Generation + program is being rolled out across the entire commercial network, tailored to functions, roles, and levels of involvement in client service. Notably, the program includes the bank’s entire management committee and corporate services departments such as Legal Advisory, Corporate Risk, Compliance, Internal Audit, and Insurance.
The training is divided into three modules. Endorsed by gerontology experts, the first two modules cover general topics including demographic realities, key challenges in caring for seniors, people’s rights, ethical considerations, and respectful treatment of older individuals. The third module focuses on priority and personalized attention for senior clients. It explores the current social context, CaixaBank’s financial product ecosystem, the bank’s evolving commitments to seniors, and protocols for delivering care tailored to this segment.
Preferential service at branches for senior customers
CaixaBank ensures preferential service for senior customers at its branches, giving them priority so they don’t have to wait in line. It has also enhanced proof-of-life verification systems using artificial intelligence to simplify and improve accessibility.
Branches have implemented a dedicated support plan to prioritize people in vulnerable situations, reducing wait times and helping them access financial services such as ATM use. Seniors can also use cashier services without time restrictions, and pension payments are guaranteed on the 24th of each month, even if it falls on a weekend or holiday.
To enhance accessibility, CaixaBank’s ATMs now include passbook modules, catering to customers who prefer using passbooks for everyday banking. The terminals have been adapted for individuals with visual or physical impairments and feature simplified menu options for easier navigation.
To ensure branch access to all customers in rural areas—especially seniors who typically favor in-person banking over digital—CaixaBank has committed to maintaining its presence in municipalities where it is the only bank. CaixaBank has 1,403 rural branches located in towns with under 10,000 inhabitants.
Additionally, CaixaBank operates 28 mobile branches (ofibuses) that serve more than 644 people across 1,294 towns without permanent banking facilities. Each mobile branch follows different daily routes and visits the towns it serves once or multiple times a month, depending on demand. Combatting financial exclusion in rural areas, this service helps maintain a direct connection with residents—whether customers or not—allowing them to withdraw or deposit cash, pay bills, and complete tax payments. The bank also has six bookable mobile units available for events or when branch services are temporarily disrupted, ensuring continuous access to banking.
Dedicated phone support and digital assistance
To facilitate communication, CaixaBank has set up an exclusive phone line for senior citizens, staffed by agents trained specifically to serve this segment. In total, more than one million calls were handled in 2024.
In parallel, CaixaBank guarantees that senior customers can always speak with a real person if they call customer service, even if they dial the generic call center rather than their assigned adviser—demonstrating its commitment to accessible, human-centered support across all channels.
The bank also organizes digital literacy sessions and outreach activities for seniors across its branch network, helping them adapt to digital banking. These sessions teach older adults how to use online banking, check card transactions, and send money via Bizum, Spain’s main mobile payments service. Awareness campaigns on fraud prevention complement these efforts, including a recent campaign featuring the famous Tricicle comedy trio, titled “It can happen to anyone,” using humor to teach customers how to identify and prevent cyber fraud.
Generation +: A comprehensive offer for Spain’s seniors
In 2025, CaixaBank launched Generation +, a new suite of products and services aimed at helping seniors plan for retirement and protect their financial future. With Spain’s aging population—over 12 million people above 60 today, projected to reach 23% of the population by 2030 and hold 39% of national net wealth—this demographic is increasingly influential. They are also more educated than previous generations, with longer life expectancy and aspirations to maintain a high standard of living throughout retirement.
Generation + responds to these needs with a comprehensive and personalized financial planning approach. As the leading bank for this age segment, with over four million customers aged 65+, CaixaBank redesigned its senior proposition beyond financial products, integrating leisure, learning, and custodial care options. Building on its 2022 priority care model, the bank now extends support with tailored solutions for each life stage.
Key features include specialized pre-retirement advice to improve customers’ financial situation. CaixaBank’s portfolio offers savings solutions for younger clients to build capital for retirement, such as annuities and senior protection insurance. In 2024 alone, VidaCaixa paid out €5.7 billion in benefits to nearly one million customers, 80% of whom were over 65.
Generation + incorporates investments and funds managed by CaixaBank Asset Management, reinforcing personalized long-term planning. The offer also includes solutions to monetize real estate assets when additional liquidity is required, such as reverse mortgages, bare ownership sales, or advanced rent collection to cover specialized care expenses. A reverse mortgage provides monthly income using the property as collateral, targeting customers prioritizing income over inheritance. Bare ownership sales offer lifelong annuities while allowing customers to remain in their homes.
For those needing to fund nursing home costs, advanced rent collection solutions enable higher upfront liquidity, with settlements managed with heirs later. CaixaBank provides external advisory support so customers and families can choose the best option based on income needs, property value, and heirs’ intentions. These products mainly target urban residents.
The Generation + offer also includes a dedicated marketplace with services to enhance quality of life post-retirement. These encompass help with dependency benefits, mobility aids like adapted vehicles, financing for accessible home renovations, volunteer opportunities, educational programs, and tailored travel options. The bank plans to expand this ecosystem with new services in the coming months, positioning Generation + as a holistic solution for Spain’s evolving senior population.
Supporting seniors beyond banking
CaixaBank Volunteering is one of Spain’s largest social action initiatives, involving current and past employees, customers, and other volunteers. Promoting the wellbeing of older adults is a key focus of their efforts.
In 2023, for example, the association carried out over 3,600 activities to support and improve the quality of life of more than 34,000 elderly people across Spain. These initiatives were made possible through the participation of some 2,660 volunteers and partnerships with 276 local social organizations. The activities focused on CaixaBank Volunteering’s four strategic programs: companionship, education, the environment, and digitalization.
Volunteers organized craft workshops, board games, and shared reading sessions in senior centers to foster creativity, mental stimulation, and social connection. Other activities included making festive cards with seniors, hosting musical performances, and engaging residents in interactive pastimes such as crossword puzzles and storytelling.
Financial education is a key pillar of these initiatives. In 2023, more than 100 workshops equipped over 1,500 seniors with practical knowledge to manage their personal and family finances securely and responsibly. These sessions also covered topics such as inheritance planning, helping seniors gain confidence in making decisions about their future.
Recognizing the importance of digital inclusion, CaixaBank Volunteering offered training for seniors in essential computer skills, such as using Office applications and browsing the internet. Environmental awareness was another area of focus, with activities encouraging seniors to participate in initiatives supporting plant and animal conservation.
Complementing these efforts, CaixaBank Social Action promotes the Full of Life program, designed to enhance the personal development of elderly people in depopulated areas. This initiative offers workshops and group activities covering health, frailty prevention, personal growth, and digital skills, enabling seniors to remain active, connected, and engaged within their communities.
Through all these actions, CaixaBank demonstrates its commitment to supporting seniors beyond traditional banking, recognizing their vital role in society and ensuring they can lead fulfilling and empowered lives.
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