Barcelona Stock Exchange Aims to Become a Fintech Hub

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) has joined Barcelona Tech City as a Global Partner. The alliance reinforces Barcelona Tech City’s commitment to the fintech sector through BME, which is one of the main financial players in the Spanish and European market, thereby showing its support for the sector’s innovative network.

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles was acquired by SIX Group last June.

The agreement includes the creation of Barcelona’s new technological and financial hub. The new Hub Fintech of Barcelona Tech City will initially occupy some 1,000 square meters in addition to communal space in the Passeig de Gràcia 19 building and will become Urban Tech Campus’s Pier 05.

The Hub Fintech will offer its facilities to host companies, entrepreneurs and investors linked to the financial and technology sector. It will be a working space for startups, investors, venture capital, traditional banking and insurance companies. The aim is to create an optimal environment to make the sector more dynamic and create synergies throughout its value chain.

The Hub also aims to provide startups with access to the different resources of the capital markets and thus consolidate their growth. BME will make its knowledge and experience available to companies in order to help them grow through its market infrastructures, such as the Stock Exchange, its SME Growth Market MAB or its Pre-Market Environment.

Due to the Covid-19 health crisis, the incorporation of the new space to the Urban Tech Campus is expected to be activated in 2021.

Javier Hernani

Javier Hernani, CEO of BME, stated:

“this alliance allows BME to be closer to companies deeply-rootedin trends and disruptive value-added services. This reality broadens BME’s options to increase the number of companies in its markets, participate in technological solutions useful for its business purposes and evaluate technologies that can be incorporated into its range of services. It perfectly complements our Pre-Market Environment initiative for startups. BME supports Barcelona to become a leading innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem worldwide. This is an initiative that is perfectly aligned with the innovative projects and technology hubs of the SIX group, of which we are now part”.

For Barcelona Tech City, having BME as a Global Partner is an important step to consolidate a fintech sector of reference and provide all companies in the ecosystem with access to better sources of financing.

To this end, Barcelona Tech City will make available to the ecosystem’s companies and startups tools to improve the financial culture necessary to access funding from capital markets. At the same time, it will facilitate interaction with agents of potential interest to BME within the scope of the association’s members.

Featured image credit: barcelonatechcity