Josep Vilarasau dies, historic president of La Caixa

BarcelonaThe historic president of La Caixa, Josep Vilarasau (Barcelona, February 20, 1931), died this Tuesday at the age of 95, as reported by La Vanguardia and confirmed by ARA. Vilarasau led the entity for 27 years, between 1976 and 2003. First as general manager of La Caixa and then as president, the bank experienced a leap under his management to become a financial giant in the State.

There was a time when, in full Pujolism, a counter-power coexisted in Catalonia in the figure of Vilarasau, the driving force behind the rise of La Caixa, a savings bank that he turned into one of the most important in Spain. He promoted its territorial expansion outside Catalonia, with a strategy that allowed him to overcome the legal restrictions that existed until then for savings banks. Thus, he laid the foundations for what is today the La Caixa Foundation, Criteria – its investment arm, owner of the most important portfolio of business holdings in the State – and CaixaBank, of which they are the main shareholders.

With the growth he promoted, he turned La Caixa into an uncomfortable entity for the rest of the Spanish banking sector, which at that time was dominated by seven large financial groups accustomed to maintaining the statu quo and allergic to new competitors: Bilbao, Biscaia, Banesto, Santander, Hispanoamericano, Popular, and Central, which later concentrated until only two remained, Santander and BBVA.

This doctor of industrial engineering and economist was the all-powerful general manager of La Caixa from 1976 to 1999, with a tense relationship with the then president of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol: they said he was the only person capable of saying no to the head of the Catalan executive. Strategic and jealous of maintaining independence from political power, but maintaining necessary cooperation, on one occasion he helped Pujol, as when financier Javier de la Rosa ended up in prison and La Caixa came to the rescue of the project that would later become Port Aventura. He was also the architect of the entity's governance with two powerful general managers, Isidre Fainé, who is today the president of the foundation and Criteria, and Antoni Brufau, current president of Repsol.

One of the culminating moments of his tenure as general manager was the merger with Caixa de Barcelona, an entity of private foundation and with great weight of the nobility in its origins, presided over by Josep Joan Pintó, who became co-president of the new bank along with the one who held the position at La Caixa, Joan Antoni Samaranch. Vilarasau continued as general manager and his counterpart from Barcelona, Joan Torres Picamal, was for a short period responsible for the industrial portfolio. One of the most tense episodes was that of the so-called single insurance premiums, which led to an intense battle, especially with the socialist Josep Borrell, who in the mid-90s was Secretary of State for Finance.

In 1999, Vilarasau replaced Samaranch as president of the entity, a position he held until 2003 as a consequence of new Catalan regulations on savings banks promoted by the CiU government presided over by Artur Mas, which set a maximum term of 20 years for members of the boards of these institutions. He continued as honorary president of La Caixa and the foundation.

Extensive career

Doctor in Industrial Engineering and Bachelor of Economics and Business Sciences, Vilarasau undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Manchester. In the late 1950s, he obtained by competitive examination a position in the corps of engineers of the Ministry of Finance and, at the same time, was a professor at the School of Industrial Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (1962-72). He also served as Director General of the Treasury and Budgets and of Financial Policy.

He also held various management positions in public organizations during the Franco dictatorship. Notable among these were Technical Director of Banco de Financiación Industrial (Induban) and the former Banco de Vizcaya from 1964 to 1966, and Manager of the then public oil company Campsa from 1974 to 1976.

In 1976, he was appointed Director General of Caixa de Pensions, which after the integration of Caixa de Barcelona became Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions and Vice President of the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks. In 1999, he succeeded Josep Antoni Samaranch as President of Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona. He became Honorary President of La Caixa and the board of its Foundation. He also served as President of Acesa, a company that managed Spanish motorways, and Vice President of the oil group Repsol.

Born into a family involved in the textile industry, he had connections with the upper bourgeoisie. He was, for example, a cousin of Carlos Ferrer Salat, owner of Ferrer laboratories, one of the founders of the major employers' association CEOE, and President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE). He studied at La Salle Bonanova, in Barcelona, where his desk mate was Ricard Fornesa, who decades later succeeded him as President of La Caixa.