The Private Foundation, the Institute for Financial Studies (IEF) was created in 1990 for the most relevant Spanish financial entities with two clear objectives:

- To foster the maximum technical and practical preparation of financial professionals through specialised training in the quest of high levels of quality, efficiency and prestige.
- To promote, through training, as well as applied research activities and dissemination, the generation of financial initiatives to reinforce the financial sector in Catalonia, and to situate it within a framework of integrated growth in the international field.