Isla celebrates the merger veto: "We needed to protect the Catalan banking system."

BarcelonaThe conditions that the Spanish government has imposed the BBVA takeover bid for Banc Sabadell, which vetoes the merger for at least three years and requires both banks to maintain their independence during this period, has sparked reactions from both political leaders and the business sector. Brussels has also expressed its opinion, in this case a much less euphoric reaction than the others, warning the Spanish government that it will withdraw all "unjustified restrictions" on the takeover bid.

On the one hand, the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, welcomed the Council of Ministers' terms, which he believes "guarantee balanced competition, the rights of workers, customers, and businesses."

"We have acted with transparent and scrupulous respect for the rules and timelines," he added in a message on the social network X. For Isla, "it was necessary to protect a banking system rooted in the territory and adapted to the needs of families and businesses with a fair offer," and he believes that "rigorous, communicative, and discreet management has borne fruit." The Bank has created the right environment to welcome business projects that contribute to generating prosperity."

Brussels raises its finger

The European Commission (EC), for its part, has reacted by warning the Spanish government that it "will use its powers as guardian of the Treaties to eliminate any unjustified restrictions on the single market imposed by Member States." In statements by an EC spokesperson, "any condition imposed by a government to approve a transaction must be exceptional, proportionate, and justified by valid reasons of public interest."

This was also stated this Monday by the European Commissioner for Financial Services, Maria Luís Albuquerque, in her speech at the New Economy forum, where she reiterated her warnings to the Spanish government for not intervening in the banking merger. Previously, the EU executive had already warned that it was unaware of "any reason that could justify rejecting or blocking the transaction" and that its expectation was, therefore, that the Spanish government "would align itself with the decisions of banking supervisors and competition authorities."

Fomento considers the takeover bid dead

Foment del Treball is considering the deal as a foregone conclusion, given that the merger is impossible for at least three years: "With the conditions put forward by the Spanish government, we can consider this hostile takeover bid to be cancelled, as it is not in the shareholders' interest," the employers' association stated in a statement.

Its president, Josep Sánchez Llibre, applauds the Council of Ministers' proposal and reiterates that a successful takeover bid would harm the general interest and territorial balance, noting that "€70 billion in credit would be lost, which would particularly impact SMEs."

According to Fomento, the Spanish government "has acted with institutional responsibility" because "an operation of this magnitude must be evaluated with the general interest in mind," as required by European and Spanish financial legislation. "The banking concentration that would have resulted from this operation would have had negative consequences for competition," especially for SMEs, the self-employed, and the rural sector, he added, arguing that they need a close, diverse, and balanced banking system.

Along the same lines, the SME trade association, Pimec, has positively assessed the additional conditions imposed by the executive branch, "especially with regard to maintaining legal personality, management independence, and the prohibition of mergers for at least three years." However, the organization emphasizes that these conditions "will only be useful if accompanied by transparent, independent control mechanisms with the capacity for effective intervention, ensuring not only formal compliance but also respect for the spirit of the government agreement," it noted in a statement.

More reactions

For its part, Esquerra Republicana (ERC) hopes the takeover bid will "fail" and calls for "the preservation of the Catalan financial system." In a statement, Oriol Junqueras's party asserts that this move "has never been good news." "It's not good news for Catalonia, it's not good news for consumers, and it's not good news for the jobs these institutions hold," it asserts.

"The banking merger has demonstrated its negative effects because it reduces competition, because it worsens services to citizens, and because of the job losses it entails. Furthermore, Sabadell is very important for Catalan SMEs, and that's no small risk," the party recalls, adding that a hostile takeover bid "would throw everything at Madrid." "We hope that the conditions set by the Spanish government demonstrate that this takeover makes no sense if we think about citizens, depositors, companies, and shareholders," they assert.