BBVA to close 204 branches in Catalonia

BarcelonaBBVA is to aiming to carry out a labour force adjustment plan that will affect 3,800 workers throughout the State, equivalent to 16% of the workforce, and will involve the closure of more than half a thousand offices, most of them in Catalonia, as reported by the unions after the meeting held Thursday with the entity.

As reported by ARA, the bank's management had begun negotiations with workers' representatives in order to agree on the plan's conditions. In the end, BBVA proposes cutting 3,000 jobs in branches, i.e. more than 21% of the staff in this area, as well as 800 cuts among employees in central services. The final number of departures and how they will take place is not yet definitive, but will depend on negotiations between the union representatives and management.

The bank also plans to close 530 offices throughout the state, of which 204 are in Catalonia. In fact, Catalonia is the most affected region in terms of branches, followed by the central region -Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha-, with 101 closures, and the southern region -Andalusia, Extremadura, Ceuta and Melilla-, with 76. In other areas of the state will be closthe bank will close between 59 and 14 branches.

The company says the cuts are conditioned by the banking sector's situation, with low interest rates for years, increasing digitalisation and strong competition between financial institutions. This means, according to management, that the file is "essential" to maintain the bank's competitiveness.

Unions' opposition

The response from the unions has been negative. Comisiones Obreras, the majority union in the company, has described the cuts as "scandalous and unsustainable", saying the conditions the bank proposes are "far from everything that the bank has wanted to make staff believe". "Behind these numbers there are families who will be left without a source of income, while senior management maintains and increases their millionaire salaries," said the union. In this sense, the union points out that it will opt "for the path of mobilisation", although it has not yet specified what actions will be carried out.

The cuts in BBVA occur only two months after the frustrated merger with Sabadell. In addition, it is added to the one that CaixaBank recently presented as a result of the absorption of Bankia, which may affect more than 700 workers in Catalonia and more than 8,000 in Spain as a whole.