Vice President Yolanda Díaz urges the Spanish government to halt the takeover bid for Sabadell

BarcelonaThe Spanish government will have to decide on BBVA's hostile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell after the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) gave the green light, with conditions, to the operation on Wednesday night, despite seeing some risks. Specifically, a member of the Spanish government, Second Vice President and Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz, has already said that Pedro Sánchez's administration should halt the operation.

Díaz has warned that the takeover bid is "very bad news" and added that "economic democracy is losing." "We never talk about it, but it is the most important thing, along with human rights," she asserted. In an interview on Spanish TVE's La 1 channel, Díaz stated that the Spanish government "has the final say" and urged it to halt the operation. The vice president of the Spanish government described it as a "major mistake" to push through the takeover bid against the opposition of the Catalan economic, social, cultural, and union fabric. In addition, he has warned that it will "aggravate" banking concentration and make credit for households and SMEs more expensive.

The vice president has warned of the "systemic" risk of bank concentration, which is estimated to reach 20%, and of "further strengthening the financial oligopoly." She also predicted that the process could result in the layoff of 5,000 workers and worsen financial exclusion. Another drawback identified by the second vice president of the Spanish government is the accessibility of credit for households and small and medium-sized businesses, and she predicted a "serious impact" in Catalonia, where she noted that she faces opposition from various sectors. Therefore, she advocated for the Spanish government to halt the takeover bid and emphasized that it has "the final say" in this process.

Now it is her government colleague, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, who has the file on the table and must decide whether to take it to the Council of Ministers within 15 days. On Wednesday, sources from the Ministry of Economy assured that a "rigorous and detailed" analysis of the Competition Department's ruling will be carried out. The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, also stated on Wednesday night that the Government will defend "the interests of Catalonia" and, through the social network X, Illa affirmed that they will "rigorously" analyze the Competition Department's report.

For her part, the First Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, said that it is "premature" for the government to take a position. The minister said that "now it is up to the government to study it, see what conditions the CNMC has put on the table and what the response is from BBVA."

"To the extent that we have thoroughly analyzed this report, we will be able to convey what the government's position will be, but today it is still premature to be able to anticipate a decision," she stated.

Unions and employers' associations have also begun to take a stand. Pimec, the Catalan association of small and medium-sized businesses, was the first to do so, even though the conditions imposed by the CNMC were not yet known. The association, chaired by Antoni Cañete, expressed "concern and disagreement" with the CNMC's decision, believing that there are "persistent risks" for SMEs and "territorial equity." The association called on the Spanish government to safeguard the general interest and believes that BBVA's commitments are "insufficient to mitigate the risks" and maintain credit for SMEs and, therefore, "for business financing as a whole."

Impact on employment

The two main unions have also already expressed their views on the takeover bid and expressed their fears about the impact on employment. Just before the May Day demonstration, the Catalan Workers' Commissions (CCOO) and the Catalan Workers' Union (UGT) urged the Spanish government to act to stop the takeover bid. Speaking to the media, the General Secretary of the UGT, Camil Ros, expressed his "outright rejection" of the Competition Authority's decision and warned that the takeover bid "does not bring anything good" for workers, SMEs, or the self-employed. "It will affect ordinary people." Belén López, General Secretary of the CCOO, called for safeguarding the working conditions of bank employees and ensuring that there is no bank exclusion or loss of access to credit.

At the national level, the UGT and CCOO have warned that it is financial sector workers who stand to lose out from the takeover bid. According to the general secretaries of the UGT (General Union of Workers' Unions), Pepe Álvarez, and the CCOO (Working Council of Workers), Unai Sordo, in a radio interview on National Radio, this merger is "bad news" that calls into question competition in the banking sector, with an impact on financial clients.

"We hope that the bank shareholders, who will have the final say, will still take a position that allows the bank to be maintained and that the government itself will consider the general interest and how the financial sector will be affected by a merger that makes no sense," Álvarez stated. For his part, Sordo considered that Spain "should not continue with a process of banking concentration" that would end up reducing financial competition and expressed his concern about a merger that he hopes will ultimately fail to materialize.

"It's worrying that after what happened with the savings banks in their day, the financial institutions most closely linked to the productive fabric and small business financing are being absorbed because they play a fairly important role in providing this type of lifeblood to the real economy." For the unions, if financial institutions want to gain muscle and influence "in this globalized world," they must aspire to greater banking unity in the future and stop fishing in the same fishbowl as the Spanish financial system.

Even in the financial sector, some voices have already been raised warning of the risks of this operation. The general manager of Revoluto's Spanish branch, Eduardo Pérez Toribio, expressed his respect for the CNMC's decision, although he believes it "ignores" a "key" aspect such as the structural balance of the financial system. Pérez Toribio understands that the ruling responds to "strictly technical" criteria, but believes other factors must be taken into account. "Excessive asymmetric concentration does not benefit the end consumer or small and medium-sized businesses; quite the opposite, it implies a clear worsening of free competition by concentrating the ability to control market conditions in the hands of three or four main players," she stated.

From Asufin, the association of financial sector users, its president, Patricia Suárez, has assumed the closure of branches and layoffs if the takeover bid is successful. "The magnitude? That remains to be seen. It worries us greatly," Suárez admitted in statements to TVE. In this regard, she warned about the concentration of banking entities and recalled that in the 1990s there were a hundred and currently a dozen. "I find it hard to believe this is good news for consumers and SMEs," she said of the operation.

Small shareholders in Sabadell have also expressed their opposition to the takeover bid. Its president, Jordi Casas, has demanded an "informative file" from the Competition Authority because information came to light while the markets were open. "It's very serious," he told ACN. Casas also warned that not even large funds will participate in the takeover bid under the current conditions, as they would "lose money." BBVA, he said, wants to reduce dependence on Mexico and Turkey by gaining market share in Spain. "What's not worth it is trying to solve structural problems by buying cheap," he warned.