Zara, Santander and BBVA, among the world’s most-valuable brands

Three Spanish companies have made it into Forbes’ latest ranking of The World’s Most Valuable Brands.

Fashion retailer Zara ranked 53^rd, while banking groups Santander and BBVA were listed as 72^nd and 94^th, respectively.

Ortega is a regular presence on the Forbes lists, where he ranks as the second wealthiest man on the planet

According to Forbes, Spain’s most valued brand is Zara, with an estimated brand value of $10.7 billion (€9.38 million), a 13% rise on last year’s list.

Zara is the flagship brand of the Inditex textile empire founded by the Galician entrepreneur Amancio Ortega – whose employees recently surprised him with a high-profile birthday party.

Ortega is a regular presence on the Forbes lists, where he ranks as the second-wealthiest man on the planet.

The Santander group shows up considerably lower on a list that features a lot more technology and consumer brands than banks. Forbes estimates the Santander brand value at $8 billion (over €7 billion), a 5% annual rise.

The second Spanish lender on the list, BBVA, has posted significant growth, expanding 13% to reach a brand value of $6.8 billion (€5.9 billion), which puts it ahead of names such as Philips and Prada.

Apple is currently the world’s most valuable brand, followed by Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and Facebook.

English version by Susana Urra.