Iberdrola loan puts a syndicated facility's full life
A €150m facility from BBVA and Santander runs from execution to maturity on a shared ledger. The claim is narrower than 'first blockchain loan'.
Iberdrola, BBVA and Santander say a €150 million syndicated loan is the first managed entirely on blockchain, from execution through maturity. The claim is narrower than 'first blockchain loan': BBVA's 2018 Red Eléctrica deal was reported mainly as faster agreement. The test is whether more lenders join the ioBuilders platform.
The Ledger Desk · 3 min read- Santander says Iberdrola, BBVA and Santander closed a €150 million corporate syndicated facility, announced 15 October 2026, managed on distributed ledger technology.
- The banks describe it as the first syndicated loan whose whole lifecycle, from execution and disbursement to repayment and maturity, runs on the ledger.
- BBVA reported a blockchain syndicated loan for Red Eléctrica in 2018, so the 'first' rests on the lifecycle scope, not on the use of blockchain.
- The platform was developed by ioBuilders with BBVA and Santander; Gómez-Acebo & Pombo advised on legal matters.
- The banks plan to onboard more participants; that, not one deal, decides whether this becomes market infrastructure.
Iberdrola, BBVA and Santander say they have closed the first syndicated financing managed entirely on blockchain, according to a Santander release dated 15 October 2026 and covered by Finextra. The facility is €150 million, with BBVA and Santander arranging and Iberdrola borrowing. The release says execution, disbursement and every later event are recorded on a distributed ledger. What matters is whether that shared record replaces the parallel books lenders keep today.
What the facility covers
Santander's release says the platform handles the loan after signing as well as before: interest calculation and notification, principal and fee payments, early repayments, financial-covenant and information-undertaking monitoring, certain contractual consents, and transfers of participations between lenders. Events are visible in real time to authorised participants. The release does not name the agent bank, and it gives no tenor, pricing or ledger architecture.
Why the 'first' needs a definition
BBVA's earlier blockchain syndicated loan for Red Eléctrica Corporación was reported by American Banker in 2018, with BBVA stating the aim of cutting time to agreement from about two weeks to one day. The 2026 claim therefore cannot mean the first blockchain loan. It rests on running the whole life of the facility, after signing included, on the ledger, as the banks describe it.
Who built it and who vouches for it
The release says the platform was developed by ioBuilders with BBVA and Santander, and that Gómez-Acebo & Pombo advised on legal aspects. ioBuilders' chief executive Carlos Matilla is quoted describing the record as having full legal validity and being a single source of information shared by all parties. That is the parties' own assertion; the release does not cite a regulator or court view.
What to watch next
The banks say they will onboard more participants and expand the platform's functions, aiming at shared infrastructure for the syndicated loan market. One borrower and two arrangers show the workflow functions. Lenders outside the two founding banks joining, and a second borrower using it, would show it is infrastructure rather than a bilateral pilot.
- What did Iberdrola, BBVA and Santander announce?
- Per Santander's 15 October 2026 release, a €150 million corporate syndicated facility for Iberdrola, arranged by BBVA and Santander, managed on a blockchain-based platform across its lifecycle, including interest, repayments, covenant monitoring and lender transfers.
- Is this the first blockchain syndicated loan?
- No, not in the broad sense. American Banker reported in 2018 that BBVA completed a blockchain-based syndicated loan for Red Eléctrica. The 2026 claim is about managing the entire lifecycle on the ledger.
- What does the shared ledger change?
- According to the release, events are recorded on the ledger and visible in real time to authorised participants, creating a single shared record instead of each lender keeping its own.