Auñamendi Eusko EntziklopediaFund Bernardo Estornés Lasa

L'après-guerre n'a pas modifié la trajectoire ascendante des soldes d'épargne de cette caisse d'épargne. La preuve en est qu'en 1949, le nouveau siège a été inauguré dans l'ancienne maison Lezama-Leguizamón, sur la Gran Vía de Bilbao, avec tout le faste que l'occasion exigeait.

The new balances were used to increase credit and loans, which were used to set up small industries and businesses and, above all, to gain access to home ownership. After the war it was necessary to repair and rebuild what had been destroyed. The institution continued to consolidate and grow, and in 1950 its branches numbered fifty, ten of them in the capital. The 1956 balance sheet s the following amounts devoted to loans and credits: mortgage loans 271,405,267 million pesetas; secured loans 2,406,551; personally guaranteed loans (2,024 loans), 27,757,765; credit accounts, 64,266,481; special credits, 152,243,799. In 1957, the balance reached the important figure of 1,700 million pesetas.

With the advent of development in the 1960s, it was necessary to build houses for all those who came to Bizkaia to work in the new industries and businesses. If in the 1920s and 1930s they took advantage of the state subsidies provided by the Law of Cheap Houses, at this time, they would use the subsidies provided by the National Housing Institute. But this Fund not only attended to the needs of the people of Bizkaia, it also participated in the national housing construction policy through the National Housing Institute and the Institute for Reconstruction. Mortgage loans were the most sought after by the Caja's private customers.

Important changes took place during the 1970s. On the one hand, the transition to democracy, which began after the death of General Franco in 1975; on the other hand, the economic problems generated by the so-called oil crisis (1973), with the high inflation rates it brought with it and the loss of jobs caused by the industrial reconversion of Bizkaia. Democracy introduced legislative changes in the savings banks which opened the door to new activities and the economic problems were overcome thanks to the fact that the savings bank's activity did not decrease but, on the contrary, continued its positive trajectory. As a result, the savings bank's policy was adapted to these new circumstances, devoting the money from savings to support industry and the new infrastructure needed to face a new phase. Data processing, mechanisation, the introduction of ATMs and credit cards were new services which the savings bank provided to its customers and which became indispensable during the 1980s. New forms of savings were added to the traditional passbooks and current accounts.

In 1989, the last financial year of the Caja de Ahorros de Bilbao, the most significant data recorded in its Annual Report were as follows:

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