Recent data shows that investment in funds has quadrupled in the last decade,1 but worryingly, few Spanish people invest.2 The fintech aims to change this with transparent and low-cost access to international markets and its recent introduction of BlackRock MMFs.

Lightyear has connected with the Madrid and Barcelona Stock Exchanges via the IBEX35 to give Spanish investors low-cost access to 35 local stocks. New listed instruments include the likes of Caixabank, Banco Santander, Melia hotels and Repsol. While stocks on the IBEX 35 are some of Spain’s biggest exports and local favourites, a number of them are also globally recognised brands; Telefonica is a parent company for Movistar and O2, two of Europe’s biggest network providers for mobile phones, and Inditex (Spain’s largest stock by market cap) owns 8 global home and clothing brands including Zara, Bershka and Massimo Dutti.

Álvaro Quesada Vargas, Head of Growth at Lightyear, says: “We’re seeing more and more Spanish investors fighting inflation by moving idle cash from banks and investing in financial instruments such as stocks and funds to diversify their portfolios. However, still too few Spaniards invest, not least because of the fragmented offers by current brokers in the market, for example with time-limited and capped interest offers. We aim to change that. Lightyear is bringing Spanish investors low-cost, transparent access to their local market, alongside global stocks and funds – and finally with fair interest rates on uninvested cash.”