When seeking financing, the banking pool and CIRBE are essential concepts you should be familiar with.
Therefore, we’ll provide a brief summary of these terms, hoping that you’ll be able to approach your search for financing more efficiently.
A banking pool is a document that details all outstanding banking-related risks.
For example: leases, guarantees, outstanding loans, credit lines, etc.
Before granting a loan, every lender wants to know the applicant’s current debts (bank pool or detailed bank pool), up-to-datefinancial information, and their actual ability to make payments.
Furthermore, it is also a very useful document for the applicant, as it allows them to know their bank debts at all times, effectively control financing costs, and evaluate alternative financing opportunities.
It generally includes the following information:
As an example, we have prepared the following descriptive table:
This is the banking pool or detailed banking pool that supplements all the accounting and tax information requested by the bank.
Now that you know what the banking pool is, let’s talk about CIRBE and what it is.
It stands for the Bank of Spain’s Credit Risk Registry.
It is a database that compiles information on credits, loans, guarantees, and sureties.
This record is compiled from information submitted monthly by the financial institutions themselves.
CIRBE contains information on loans, credits (direct risk), sureties, and guarantees (indirect risk) that each credit institution holds with its customers.
However, only data on investments exceeding 1,000 euros per account holder and bank is reported(for reports corresponding to 2020 and earlier, the limit was 9,000 euros).
You can request this information in three different ways:
Requesting a CIRBE online is very simple; you just need to log in with your digital certificate to the CIR Reports and Claims Request portal. Fill out the form, and you’ll receive your CIRBE shortly.
You’ll need to go to the Bank of Spain’s headquarters or any of its branches and submit the “Request for Credit Reports from the Credit Bureau” form, available in the “Procedures” section, already filled out.
In addition, you must provide the required documentation for each specific case.
You will receive the report immediately; if that is not possible, it will be sent to you by certified mail.
You must fill out the “Request for Credit Reports from the Central Credit Registry” form, available in the “Procedures” section, sign it, and send it to the following address:
Bank of Spain, Credit Information Center: C/ Alcalá, 48, 28014 Madrid.
Along with the request, you must submit all required documentation, and you will receive the report at your home address within a few days.
In short, it is a basic source of information used by banks before granting any type of financing.
Alternative financing refers to funding that comes from sources other than banks.
It generally comes from institutional investors linked to private equity.
It emerged and became established in Spain during times of crisis, in response to the financing difficulties faced by many companies. When banks wouldn’t lend money, the alternative was to seek other options.
It is a well-established system in the United States and is becoming increasingly common throughout Europe. This is also true in Spain, where demand for it is growing steadily.
Its advantages are clear:
At this point, we know what a banking pool is and we have a clear understanding of what the CIRBE is.
We’ve also touched on the advantages of alternative financing. Now,
how are these three concepts related?
As you know, securing financial support is always complicated.
Especially when your project requires investments with medium- and long-term returns.
It’s also a vicious cycle:
You turn to banks for a loan, and they review your situation.
The detailed bankingpool and the CIRBE reveal your financial situation to them, and as a result, they tend to withhold their support.
This issue explains the rise of alternative financing, as mentioned earlier, since with this type of financing you not only receive the amount of money you need, but—because it’s private capital —it doesn’t appear in the detailed banking pool or the CIRBE.
Therefore, banks will not take these circumstances into account when, later and hypothetically, they must decide whether to grant you additional financing.
In short, since neither the detailed banking pool nor the CIRBE will take these alternative financial resources into account, this type of financing offers a clear advantage that you should keep firmly in mind when seeking new loans and financial solutions for your projects.
At Workcapital, we offer alternative financing through the discounting of promissory notes and invoice advances, helping you solve all your liquidity problems.
Furthermore, your search for future financing won’t be limited—since, as we mentioned earlier, it doesn’t appear in CIRBE or thebanking pool .