31 Spain

Subject(s):

Banks and cross-border issues — Guarantees and security — Debt — Monetary obligations — Insolvency set-off

This chapter discusses the law of set-off in Spain. Under Spanish law, set-off represents a means of extinguishing an obligation between a debtor and a creditor. Set-off occurs mainly as a form of payment rather than a guarantee. The chapter first considers set-off between solvent parties, focusing on the requirements of statutory set-off, set-off in case of assignment of credit rights, and set-off as a mechanism for creating security interests. It then examines set-off against insolvent parties, with emphasis on the scope of the prohibition set out in Article 58 of the Insolvency Act regarding set-off against an insolvent debtor and whether there are exceptions to this prohibition. The chapter also analyses set-off in financial transactions subject to Royal Decree Law 5/2005, along with cross-border situations relating to set-off against insolvent parties and choice of law with respect to set-off between solvent parties.