Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO, or the Institute) is a corporate state-owned entity attached to the Ministry of Economy and Finance through the Secretariat of State for the Economy. It has the legal status of a credit institution and is defined as the State's Financial Agency. It has been entered in the Special Administrative Register of the Bank of Spain.
ICO was constituted in June 1971 and, under Royal Decree-Act 706/1999, April 30, approval was given to its statutes (Statutes of Instituto de Crédito Oficial, Official State Gazette (BOE) nº. 114, May 13 1999).