CaixaBank renews its board and completes the digestion of Bankia

BarcelonaAn economic mantra says that mergers between equals do not exist: there are buyers and buyers. This reality, which Banc Sabadell now faces with the threat of a takeover bid by BBVA, was made clear this Thursday at the major Catalan bank. CaixaBank has announced the renewal of its board, in which five directors are leaving. The latter are the former president José Ignacio Goirigolzarri and the independents Joaquín Ayuso, Francisco Javier Campo and Eva Castillo, who joined after its merger with Bankia. José Serna, a director representing La Caixa, is also leaving.

Ayuso, Campo and Castillo had joined the board in 2020 after CaixaBank absorbed the former nationalised savings bank merger. At that time they did so with José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, the new president of the new entity, as a great supporter. Less than four years later, their days at CaixaBank have come to an end.

CaixaBank has announced that it will maintain 60% of the board's independent members, with nine out of a total of fifteen. The new additions are Rosa María García, Luis Alvarez, Bernardo Sánchez, Pablo Forero and José María Méndez. Koro usarraga, Fernando Maria Costa and Teresa Santero have also been re-elected.

The fact is that this move at the top of the bank, which has been chaired for almost two months by Tomàs Muniesa and directed by Gonzalo Gortázar, marks the end of Bankia's digestion period, which at the time represented a great leap forward for the Catalan entity based in Valencia. With the purchase of Bankia, the star-shaped entity reached 20 million clients, which then represented 25% of the Spanish market, 50,000 employees and 640,000 million in assets. Of those 50,000 employees, 16,000 came from Bankia, and the shareholding balance was set so that in the new entity, CaixaBank shareholders became owners of 74% of the bank and Bankia shareholders were close to 26%.

Sweet and distant beginning

The move, one of the largest ever experienced in the financial history of Spain and advanced by the ARA in its day, involved a distribution of power that left Goirigolzarri as president to the detriment of Jordi Gual. Both parties They wanted to stage a shared project then between the executives who came from one bank and those from the other, and Gortázar and Goirigolzarri publicly displayed complicity. The latter, one of the most recognised financiers in the Spanish banking world, was exultant at the time of the merger: "Today is a great day for us." He also argued that although Bankia did not recover the 22.5 billion in public aid that prevented its bankruptcy at the hardest moments of the financial crisis, it had all been a good operation because it had given stability to a sector that had seen the abyss come close to being.

The distribution of power at the top between the executives of CaixaBank and those of Bankia ended with the usual disputes in these cases, but without any stridency. Goirigolzarri kept three areas under his control, but it was clear that Gortázar would continue to lead the entity owned by the La Caixa Foundation through its investment holding company, Criteria, which was its main shareholder with around 31% of the shares, almost double the 16% held by the State through the FR.

But rumours soon began to spread in the financial sector that the relationship between Goirigolzarri and Gortázar was not the best. Financial sources consulted by ARA recall that the CEO felt that his powers were being invaded by the president, who maintained a title in his position – that of president. executive– which was not liked by the ECB. Be that as it may, last October the entity announced the voluntary departure of Goirigolzarri from the presidency of the bank and his replacement by the veteran of the house Tomàs Muniesa.

It was already warned that the directors from the old Bankia were in a fragile position, which has now been confirmed with the changes in the board. And once again it has become clear that in mergers there is a part that holds the power and a part that does not.

These departures do not mean, by any means, a deterioration of relations with the State. In recent months, Criteria has become a strategic ally of Pedro Sánchez's executive in operations such as the shielding of Telefónica against the landing of STC or in Taqa's attempt for Naturgy. This harmony has also been made clear in Adeslas' position regarding the Muface competition.