In view of how is the birth of the largest bank in our country affecting the different political, economic and social classes?
In the past, mergers were signs of power of the acquiring entity towards the rest of the competitors, as well as of strength before the market, but after the very serious financial crisis of 2008 this practice is carried out more due to political commitments than for strategic reasons of growth of quotas market. It is likely that we are witnessing the creation of a financial giant driven by both political and strategic forces. But not all those affected see this union within the banking consolidation process with the same eyes.
Of course, many financial circles have expressed their satisfaction with the merger and have even spared no praise and awards, such as those recently awarded by “Euromoney”, “Global Finance” or “PWM” magazine, belonging to the “Financial Times” group. , recognizing this operation as the “Best Banking Transformation in the World” or the new entity as “The best Bank in Western Europe”.
Its directors are pleased with it, and its president, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, sees in this merger an opportunity to face the future from a privileged position to overcome the existing challenges in the financial sector. For his part, Gonzalo Gortázar, CEO, elaborates on the leadership position and financial strength of the new entity in the banking scene. There is no doubt that his enthusiasm has a good base, since CaixaBank has reached a market share of 25% in deposits and loans, 29% in long-term savings and 24% in financing companies. And all this achieving the figure of ten million digital customers in Spain.
The bank’s shareholders should also be pleased, as the share has risen in value following the merger announcement. The Spanish State is, through the FROB, one of the largest shareholders of CaixaBank due to the participation it had as a result of the Bankia rescue, so any revaluation of the share is great news for the treasury and taxpayers, since we will see how Some of the millionaire bank rescue of recent years is recovered.
And what happens if we put this revaluation of CaixaBank’s stock market in context with the rest of the Ibex and its main financial competitors? To be fair, one year is probably not a long time to see the evolution of the new entity on the stock market but, if we do the analysis, we will see that it has revalued approximately 40% compared to 25% for the Ibex, although it is very far compared to its competitors, whose stock market valuation has grown above 110%, in the case of BBVA, or 70% in that of Santander since that month of August 2020 when they officially kicked off the negotiations.
And fundamental pillars of the entity and locomotive of the bank’s daily operations? Digitization represents an unquestionable and necessary advance whose consequence in banking employment is the commitment to technical job profiles, such as engineers, to the detriment of workforces with a commercial profile, who have seen their jobs threatened since 2008. Doing With a great capacity to adapt to the new environment, some bankers have set out to look for new job opportunities in other companies, or as self-employed workers and entrepreneurs. This has resulted in the fact that 8,246 CaixaBank employees have requested to join the ERE voluntarily compared to the agreed departure of 6,542 people, which the entity has negotiated together with the unions, that is, there are 1,704 workers who, although they have requested leave CaixaBank will not be able to do so. Even so, it should be noted that this is it, although the unions defend having achieved total voluntary action and improved economic conditions.
Bank employees already have a certain weariness and exhaustion accumulated by a decade of continuous labor adjustments in the sector. There is no more to highlight the dramatic employment data that devastate this group, whose number has been reduced by 35%, taking almost 90,000 jobs ahead in just 10 years. of the continued lethargy produced by a financial crisis whose end seems never to come, and topped off by a pandemic in an environment of low rates that has made it inevitable to seek cost efficiency in the face of the dramatic reduction in income. This translates into the closure of 19,000 branches in the last decade, leaving their number at levels not seen since 1976, according to data and records from the Bank of Spain, something that has a direct impact on the client.
It is the Bank of Spain itself that issues a report with data that is difficult to fit into a developed country, warning that the closure of bank offices is causing vulnerability due to problems of access to cash to 1.3 million people who are mainly concentrated in the Spain emptied. For us to understand it better, the emptied Spain is made up of those people who, paying similar taxes, have a disproportionate lack of public services. Undoubtedly, bank branches are not a public service, but they do have a basic utility, the absence of which further deepens the ever-widening gap between those who decide to develop their lives in the rural world and those who opt for life in the cities.
From my point of view, the merger between CaixaBank and Bankia is positive and essential for the Spanish financial sector to continue to have the necessary strength to compete in the markets, since it positions the new entity as a benchmark in the European banking sector. But like any operation of such magnitude, there will always be unavoidable damage that, among others, will affect a part of the employees and customers. I am absolutely convinced that the situation that many workers are experiencing is extremely hard, and that the adaptation of some clients to the new way of understanding banking is problematic in many cases. But its directors continue to make an effort to regain flight and return the banks to the path of growth that leads them to be drivers of the real economy, a task for which they are rewarded and recognized in financial circles, while part of the employees and from clients they begin a new path that 10 years ago they never imagined they would have to undertake.
Facebook Comments
Disqus