The co-founder and managing partner of Asabys, Josep Lluís Sanfeliu, has been endorsed by the Barcelona Global supervisory board as the new president, an appointment that will be ratified by the partners' assembly on June 19. Sanfeliu, who will succeed Ramon Agenjo (Damm) for the new term until 2028, will have as vice-presidents Rafael Fontana, lawyer and honorary president of Cuatrecasas; Lluís Seguí, co-founder and CEO of Miura Partners; and Carmina Ganyet, corporate director general of Colonial, the only one to repeat in the same position. The supervisory board has endorsed Sanfeliu's candidacy and the board.

Spanish banking has opted en masse for private digital money (stablecoin) linked to the euro. Banc Sabadell, Bankinter, Abanca, Kutxabank and Cecabank have joined the private consortium Qivalis, based in the Netherlands, as reported by ARA, and which also includes CaixaBank and BBVA. In this way, Spanish banking is the one with the most representatives in this society that began at the end of last year with 10 financial entities, which later increased to 12 and now number 37, with a presence in 15 countries.

One of the objectives of the re-elected president of Foment de Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, is to "deepen the relationship with the Generalitat government" and build "a space for deep and permanent dialogue". At the start of his third term, once the statutory limit of two that existed before was abolished, Sánchez Llibre looks towards the government of Salvador Illa.

The Qivalis consortium, founded by CaixaBank and later joined by BBVA, will soon incorporate more Spanish entities to launch a stablecoin – digital money linked to the euro–, such as Banco Sabadell and Bankiter, which plans to make a definitive decision in the summer. There is also a possibility that Abanca and Kutxabank will do so, according to various sources. For its part, Banco Santander is the only one of the major Spanish financial entities that is studying entering another project along with international financial giants such as Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank, TD Bank Group and UBS. In this case, the digital money would be linked to currencies of the richest countries (G-7), such as the euro, but also the dollar or the yen.

In terms of budgets, it could be said that Catalonia is not (really) Spain. The balance of parliamentary forces will allow for them before summer. Specifically, so that they can be approved by Parliament in July. It only remains for ERC, which has convened a national council for Monday, to give it the go-ahead. The situation is perceived in the happy faces of some government members, especially the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero.

"If I'm asked, I think the options between merging or not merging Puig Brands with the American Estée Lauder are at 50%.". This is the statement of a person who knows the negotiations between the two family beauty and fashion companies, which became known at the end of March. One of the points that makes it difficult to reach an agreement is the price of the Catalan group, which is worth around 10 billion euros, compared to Estée Lauder's 30 billion dollars (26 billion euros).

Jordi Mateu (Barcelona, 1968), CEO of Summa Branding, a pioneer in the creation, construction, and management of brands, argues that they are like people, they have personality and, therefore, it is dangerous to want to transform them or modify their essence. With clients ranging from Inditex to Seat, RTVE, Roca, CaixaBank, FC Barcelona, or the Kings League, he assures that in his business and to have more chances, in a world where people are saturated with information, "less is more" and that, in addition to a product or service, experiences must be sold.

Few surprises. Josep Sánchez Llibre has collected 300 endorsements out of the minimum 50, representing about 1,800 votes, two-thirds of those from the general assembly. This will allow him to lead a third term at the head of Foment del Treball, until 2030. The elections, which were supposed to be in July, have been moved forward to May 18,, the day on which the fact of there being no other candidacy means he can be proclaimed president by the general assembly. One of the main objectives of the new term will be to combat labor absenteeism, with the commitment to prepare a white paper with proposals involving all economic and social agents. Another of the priorities will be to reduce tax pressure, he explained during an event at the Reial Cercle Artístic de Barcelona, with the attendance of more than 60 businessmen and executives who support him. The period for submitting candidacies ended this Friday.

Reig Jofre is preparing for possible new acquisitions, and continues with the formula that worked with the Swedish Bioglan in 2009 or the integration of Natraceutical in 2015. The pharmaceutical shareholders' meeting, of which the founding family holds 63% of the capital, has approved the option to issue new ordinary shares and the possibility of issuing series B for the first time, without voting rights, as well as debt, from bonds to convertible bonds or warrants. All of this is to have "new financing tools" to face possible acquisitions "if they have a strategic fit", according to the company's CEO, Ignasi Biosca, representative of the third family generation. Among the possible options for inorganic growth would be in the international commercial sphere markets where they are not yet present, such as Italy or Germany, or acquisitions to complement their activity where they already operate, such as France, Poland, or the United Kingdom, he added at a meeting with journalists.

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, has proposed an agreement with the government, parties, and unions to utilize the 60 million from the agreement with Social Security to strengthen primary care and reduce absenteeism. In this way, he insists on the warning he already gave in an interview with ARA, in which he warned that these resources are not being executed and must be returned.

With the highest quorum in recent years, over 71%, according to the secretary of the board, Miquel Roca, Banco Sabadell has gathered shareholders today at the first post-failed BBVA OPA meeting. A meeting that has served as a farewell from the CEO who has been for the last more than five years, César González-Bueno; and a welcome to the new one, Marc Armengol, a professional with more than 25 years of experience in the company. And it had an unusual ending for board meetings, a refreshment as an shareholder requested a year ago, recalled the bank's president, Josep Oliu.

Banco Sabadell has reduced the pace of mortgage lending to adapt to lower profitability of this type of loans for home purchases. The CEO, César González-Bueno, who will leave his post after tomorrow's shareholders' meeting to hand over to Marc Armengol, former head of the British subsidiary, TSB, sold to Banco Santander, explained that mortgage prices (interest rates) "are very strained" and there is a lower pace of production and also of amortization.

Josep Soler, founder and executive advisor of EFPA Spain (Spanish Association of Financial Advisors and Planners), believes that there is a need to improve financial literacy, one of the tasks he has been promoting for years. Furthermore, an effort must be made to incentivize, through taxation, citizens to move from saving to investing.

The war in the Middle East and the new world disorder driven from the White House by Donald Trump has losers. The biggest losers are the populations suffering bombardments and embargoes and blockades. But there are also those who win. And by a lot. Some are those who play on event prediction platforms, as is the case with Polymarket. And also those who bet on markets based on the unpredictable statements of the US President, Donald Trump. More than one has fattened their portfolio with these plays with a certain aroma of insider information.

Now the episode of BBVA's takeover bid for Banco Sabadell is truly over. With the closing of the sale of the British subsidiary TSB to Banco Santander, and the distribution of an extraordinary dividend of 50 cents per share on May 29, the bank closes a chapter in its 145-year history and begins a new one. The challenge is to prove that, after years of integrating entities in Spain (Atlántic, Guipuzcoano, or Urquijo), it will do better alone than in a bad partnership. After next Wednesday's shareholders' meeting, it will be a bank completely focused on the Catalan and Spanish market, with the challenge of deepening digitalization, but at the same time maintaining the characteristic of personal service with clients and, above all, with companies.

The daily one-year Euribor, the main reference for variable-rate mortgages, closed April with a new increase, reaching 2.848%. The average stood at 2.747%, compared to 2.143% a year ago, and a new increase is added to that of March. Consequently, this evolution, which places this reference at the levels of September 2024, means the average mortgage (173,280 euros, according to INE data from February, over 25 years) will increase its monthly installment by 55.94 euros or 671.28 annually, to 890.60 euros per month or 10,687.2 euros per year.

There is a big difference between an employee and a self-employed person. Especially in the income tax return. The declaration campaign began on April 8 and the Professional Association of Tax Technicians of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (APTTCB) has warned that an employee with an annual income of 10,000 euros pays practically no Personal Income Tax (IRPF) thanks to reductions for employment income. On the other hand, a self-employed person with the same income level cannot apply these reductions and "ends up paying tax on a significant part of their base," and may end up paying 500 euros, they warn.

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will attend the annual meeting of the Cercle d'Economia to be held from June 1 to 3 in Barcelona, the first meeting with Teresa Garcia-Milà as president of the institution. This year the central theme will be Europe's strategic autonomy in the context of the war in the Middle East, which adds to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the difficult relations of the Old Continent with the administration of Donald Trump in the United States.

From Alsace to the Mediterranean. Damm's history is that of a journey. The journey that, fleeing the Franco-Prussian War, was undertaken in 1871 by August Kuentzmann Damm, who moved to Barcelona with his wife Melanie. With him, he brought the brewing tradition of his native Alsace, but seeking a Mediterranean touch, which today is its defining characteristic. His efforts were the origin, in 1876, of what is today a group that invoices more than 2 billion euros, earns 175 million, and produces 21 million hectolitres that come from sixteen factories and two malt houses. The company's business, which has maintained its headquarters in Barcelona since its inception, encompasses regional brands – beer is a very territorial business – such as Cervezas Victoria, from Malaga; Keler, from San Sebastian, and Turia, from Valencia, as well as waters like Veri, dairy products like Cacaolat, fast-food chains like Rodilla, or coffee shops like Jamaica.

From Alsace to the Mediterranean. Damm's history is that of a journey. The journey that, fleeing the Franco-Prussian War, was undertaken in 1871 by August Kuentzmann Damm, who moved to Barcelona with his wife Melanie. With him, he brought the brewing tradition of his native Alsace, but seeking a Mediterranean touch, which today is its defining characteristic. His efforts were the origin, in 1876, of what is today a group that invoices over 2 billion euros, earns 175 million, and produces 21 million hectoliters that come from sixteen factories and two malt houses. The company's business, which has maintained its headquarters in Barcelona since its inception, encompasses regional brands – beer is a very territorial business – such as Cervezas Victoria, from Malaga; Keler, from San Sebastian; and Turia, from Valencia, as well as waters like Veri, dairy products like Cacaolat, fast-food chains like Rodilla, or coffee shops like Jamaica.