The Catalan financial system is experiencing a new phase that could lead to the loss of the only major bank with its headquarters, Sabadell, which was reclaimed last January after more than seven years in Alicante due to the Process and the referendum. Now, the takeover bid (OPA) for BBVA and the planned subsequent merger are in the hands of the Spanish government. After analyzing the the responses to the unprecedented public consultation called by the executive, The Ministry of Economy has until next Tuesday, the 27th, to submit the file to the Council of Ministers. The Council must then decide whether to object to the merger based on "general interest" criteria, since the free competition criteria were resolved by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) in a unanimous ruling on April 30th.

The Government is promoting a cluster to bring together the financial services sector in Catalonia, which has 650 companies, employs 104,738 workers and has a turnover of almost 48.2 billion euros annually. These are the main figures that the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, announced this Wednesday at an event at the Barcelona Stock Exchange, where she presented the project that aims to associate the agents of the sector.