Antoni Serra Ramoneda, former rector of the UAB and former president of Caixa Catalunya, dies
The economist was a member of the university's founding team, rector from 1980 to 1985, and top executive of the credit institution for 21 years.
BarcelonaEconomist Antoni Serra Ramoneda (Barcelona, 1933), former president of Caixa Catalunya and former rector of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), has died at the age of 92, the university announced in a statement on Thursday. A professor in the Department of Business, Serra Ramoneda was a member of the UAB's founding team and served as its rector for five years, from 1980 to 1985, a period that briefly overlapped with his presidency of Caixa Catalunya, a position he held for 21 years, until 2005. He was appointed to the position of head of a textile company whose production center was located in L'Ametlla de Merola (Bages).official and chevalier He was awarded the Order of National Merit of the French Republic, and received the Narcís Monturiol Medal and the Cross of Saint George from the Generalitat of Catalonia. In 2024, he was awarded a doctorate.honorary causeby the University of the Balearic Islands.
The first step from the academic world into the management of one of Catalonia's main savings banks was taken in 1984. He arrived at the institution with the aspiration of modernizing it, and over the years, like the rest of the sector's executives, he found himself in the eye of the storm of the 2008 collapse, which led to the disappearance of the Catalan savings banks.
Although he hasn't always been self-critical, Serra Ramoneda admitted regarding the crisis that "there are things I would have done differently." "Managers also make mistakes," he stated, before pointing out that he always respected the spirit of the institution (a savings bank). The executive indicated that the mistakes made by the savings banks were "exposure to the construction sector and an excessive number of branches." He was also highly critical of the Bank of Spain, which he accused of to treat Catalan entities unfairly because he argued that in Catalonia "they didn't do stupid things like in other parts of the country."
In 2011, Serra Ramoneda warned that after the forced transformation of Catalan institutions with the arrival of the FROB (Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring), they would not be able to maintain their social work. That same year he published the book The errors in the boxes (Viena Edicions), an analysis of the end of the model of these institutions in the context of the crisis at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, where he explained that everything was precipitated when all the savings banks wanted to copy the successful model of La Caixa.
He was the author of numerous publications on economic topics, as well as books Economic system and company(1986),Business structures(1988), the manualThe company: economic fundamentals(1989) andMarkets, contracts and business(2001). He also published the autobiographical bookThe trials and tribulations of a bourgeois from Barcelona(Planet) and Preferred and subordinated shares. A Spanish tragedy., a volume that is part of the collection The Mirror and the Lamp of the UAB Publications Service.
Approved the first statutes of the UAB
At the university, his tenure was marked by the implementation of the University Reform Law (LRU), which enabled the UAB to approve its statutes, making it the first university in Spain to do so. Furthermore, the UAB approved the Special Plan for Internal Reform (PERI), which allowed for the comprehensive planning of all campus spaces. Before becoming rector, Serra Ramoneda also served as secretary of the founding committee and the first governing board of the UAB, before becoming dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business (now the Faculty of Economics and Business) and director of the Institute of Educational Sciences. He also served as president of the Agency for the Quality of the University System in Catalonia from 1997 to 2008 and was a member of the Institute of Catalan Studies. The wake will begin this Friday at 5 p.m. at the Les Corts Funeral Home, and the ceremony will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the same funeral home, according to the university, which has extended its deepest condolences to the family, friends, and all those who knew and appreciated Serra Ramoneda. The Rector of the UAB, Javier Lafuente, stated that "this is very sad news, as she was a key figure in the consolidation of the University during a crucial period and a much-loved member of our university community."