The banker from Garraf who helped found IESE

For many decades, the global oil industry was dominated by a group of oil companies known as "the Seven Sisters," a number that was echoed in a fractal pattern within the Spanish banking sector, where the oligopoly controlling it consisted of seven banks, the so-called "Big Seven." Aside from this informal lobby, in 1977 the banking sector founded an employers' association called the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), which during its first period (1977-1990) was chaired by a Catalan from the Garraf region: Rafael Termes Carreró. Termes's presence in the banking association was explained by his role at Banco Popular, where he had served as CEO since 1966.

This industrial engineer was born in Sitges, the son of a businessman who owned a shoe company and an ice factory called Canigó. At just 22 years old, our protagonist was already a numerary member of Opus Dei, a commitment that shaped his career. He entered the banking world through Crèdit Andorrà, which he helped to found, along with the Church, in 1950. After serving for five years on the governing bodies of the Pyrenean institution, he joined the regional board of Banco Popular, marking the beginning of a long and distinguished professional life. As a result of this transfer, Banco Popular became a major shareholder in Crèdit Andorrà with 15% of the capital, the stake held by Termes. His subsequent positions included president of Banco Popular's regional board in 1960 and member of the bank's board of directors four years later. During this period, one of the spin-offs The most successful of Opus Dei, the Iese business school (Institute of Higher Business Studies), founded in 1958 and with Termes as one of its main promoters.

His work at the AEB, and the very founding of the association, was closely linked to the banking crisis that gripped Spain in the 1970s, a collapse that led to the demise of numerous institutions. As is often recounted, it was the then Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain, Mariano Rubio, who asked Banco Popular to appoint Termes to head the association in the face of such a serious crisis. His tenure as head of the AEB lasted until 1990, when he resigned. During all these years, although he retained his position as CEO of Banco Popular, his responsibilities were restricted. His time at the bank coincided with the presidency of the Valls Taberner family, Catalans and members of Opus Dei like himself, but with whom he had some difficulties due to their differing business approaches.

Man of reflection

His rise to the pinnacle of his career at Banco Popular came, as we mentioned earlier, in 1966, when he was appointed CEO. Shortly before, he had been involved in the creation of what is now the Spanish Institute of Financial Analysts (1965), and in the following years he would be a key figure in the establishment of the employers' association CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations) and the Association for the Progress of Management.

But Termes was not only a man of action, but also of reflection, for he left a profound mark on the theoretical body of economic thought. He wrote a great number of books, among which the following stand out for their influence. The creative power of risk; Capitalism and ethics; From Statism to Freedom: A Perspective from Eastern European Countries; From the banking sector: Three decades of Spanish economic life; Anthropology of capitalism: an open debate; The causes of unemployment, and From freedomHe was also the director of the collective work White paper on the role of the State in the Spanish economyIn most of his writings he made his liberal ideology clear and, in addition, he promoted knowledge of Friedrich von Hayek's work in the State.

At the time of his death, he had accumulated a large number of recognitions and affiliations, among which the most notable were membership in the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and the Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences, the status of knight of the French Legion of Honor and possession of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Wise.