Frontal rejection from Catalonia of BBVA’s hostile takeover of Sabadell. The possibility of a merger generates misgivings from the Generalitat and political parties to business organizations, due to the impact it could have on clients, employment and Catalan financial influence.
In the Generalitat of Catalonia the position is against a union of the entities. “At the moment, the level of banking concentration, the small number of banks, is a problem for the economy,” the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, stated in an intervention on La 1, after learning of the hostile takeover. “That there are fewer banks and not more is the wrong path. We defend that there is greater competition, and that if entities have to merge to gain weight, they should be mergers at the European level, not within the same market,” he stressed.
Aragonès has also pointed out the danger of losing the headquarters of the Bank of Catalonia, which could lead to a reduction in credit in the autonomy, and jobs. “Every bank merger entails a reduction in staff,” he said. “We frontally reject the hostile takeover. “It is the wrong path and we will work to avoid it,” he later added in a tweet in which he reinforced his message.
The candidates for Sunday’s elections have also spoken out: the takeover bid enters the campaign. The PSC candidate, Salvador Illa, assured this Wednesday that “all of Catalonia is against this takeover bid, it is not good for anyone, neither for the citizens nor for the employees.” “The forms are bad and so is the substance. Competition does not benefit anything, there is already enough concentration,” he stated in a statement to journalists.
This morning he had already made his position clear. In an interview on TV3’s Els Matins he indicated that he “is against” the operation. “I do not see her…”. “The name itself, hostile, already indicates that we are not on the right path,” she explained. “I don’t think that excessive concentration is good for clients, for end users”, also doubting that it is positive for financial inclusion – “I want there to be in-person attention everywhere” -. Same reluctance due to its negative impact on employment, the loss of decision in Catalonia and the possibility of creating banks that are too big to fail. “I don’t think it’s the model or the forms. I hope it does not prosper,” he summarized.
For his part, Carles Puigdemont (Junts), has launched a tweet in which he assures that “there has been a strategy for a long time to liquidate Catalan banking activity, which harms users and harms the country”, for which he calls respond to the takeover “with all the force, all the right and all the reason.” In a Barcelona Tribuna forum, Jordi Turull, general secretary of the same party, reiterated that “we don’t like it” and that it would mean “ending up losing Catalan obedience banks.”
In the PP, the candidate Alejandro Fernández has expressed in a tweet that he is “enormously” concerned that “it will negatively affect Catalan SMEs and free competition.” “I don’t like it,” he closed.
“We demand the Ministry of Economy to stop this operation. We must defend a diverse Catalan model that is far from oligopolies that destroy employment, generate financial exclusion and only benefit foreign investment funds,” responded Jéssica Albiach, candidate of the commons.
CUP sources state that the party is against banking concentration “because it further reinforces the banking and financial oligopoly”, betting on public banking as an alternative.
Carlos Carrizosa (Ciudadanos) points out that the operation “obeys the company manuals”, although he has recognized that “administrations and institutions have to ensure that this does not result in a reduction of rights for consumers”.
The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has assured that more details of the takeover are yet to be known and did not want to refer to it directly, but he has said that in general terms he distrusts the concentration of political, media or banking power, “which are elements “They have to make us put on guard, because they tend to go against the citizens.”
In the business world, the Foment del Treball employers’ association has highlighted that “with the disappearance of Sabadell, many SMEs would be left without financing.” “If the hostile takeover prospers, the big losers would be Catalan SMEs and therefore also Spanish companies,” the organization headed by Josep Sánchez Llibre states in an urgent reaction.
“It represents an increase in the level of concentration and will result in greater difficulty in accessing financing,” agreed the president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, who has warned of the serious consequences that it could have for micro, small and medium businesses.
