The most resilient banker in Catalan finance

Barcelona"They offer a poor value, they don't offer a control premium, and the synergies are complicated by the competition measures and those established by the Spanish government. This takeover bid, which was stillborn, only needs to be buried by the shareholders," said Josep Oliu, president of Banc Sabadell, just over a month ago. And now it has been proven that the Catalan banker was right. Josep Oliu will go down in the history of Sabadell—which has a 144-year history—as the man who, along with its CEO, César González-Bueno, managed to halt the onslaught of BBVA. And in the midst of the takeover bid, he also returned the bank's headquarters to Catalonia, which he had moved to Alicante in 2017, following the October 1 referendum.

Josep Oliu (Sabadell, 1949) is a thoroughbred banker with a wealth of experience. He has led the bank for 35 years, first as CEO and then as chairman. A couple of years ago, when asked if he was considering stepping down, he replied: "I have no intention of leaving the presidency as long as the board believes my presence is necessary." Oliu has led the bank, which has grown in recent years but also suffered a severe stock market crash, from which it has eventually recovered.

Graduated in economics from the University of Barcelona, ​​he completed his doctorate at the University of Minnesota, in the United States, and for this reason he is known as one of the minnesotas, a group of prestigious economists who studied at this center. He is also a professor on leave of absence of economic theory at the University of Oviedo. Josep Oliu taught at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has also served as an advisor to the World Bank, the Ministry of Economy, and the Generalitat (Catalan government).

His father's substitute

Professionally, he worked at one of the institutions that also served prestigious Catalan executives: the National Institute of Industry (INI), where he was Director of Studies and Strategy, and later Director of Planning. In 1986, he joined Banc Sabadell as Technical General Secretary, and in 1991 he was appointed Managing Director, replacing his father, Joan Oliu i Pich, a long-time member of the bank.

In 1999, Josep Oliu became President of Sabadell. From that position, he led the bank's initial public offering and fostered its growth with acquisitions such as Banco de Asturias, Atlántico, Urquijo, CAM, and the British bank TSB (which recently has been sold at Santander). But it also came at a time of bad times, with the financial crisis and a share price that fell to record lows in 2010, when it was worth just over 20 euro cents.