If this Wednesday the photo of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cercle d’Economia was the fleeting meeting between Salvador Illa and Pere Aragonès, today the most outstanding image is the brief conversation between the Minister of Economy, Carlos Corpus, and the president of the Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu. The meeting took place just after Corps warned upon his arrival at the Cercle Meeting about the negative effects that a hypothetical BBVA-Sabadell merger would have for Catalonia. When asked by journalists, the Government’s head of economy said that the most pernicious effects for the community would be the risk of financial exclusion and the risk of credit reduction for SMEs.
The minister, before participating in a colloquium with Cercle partners, insisted that the Government can veto the merger between both entities, but not the takeover bid that is underway and which today is expected to be accepted for processing by the CNMV.
During his speech before the partners, the minister detailed that the Government’s opposition to the takeover is based on the banking competition problems that a new merger in Spain would represent. And he has specified that the low banking competition is already suffered by clients today, as demonstrated by the fact of the low remuneration of deposits in recent years of rising rates, unlike what happened in other countries.
Body has recalled that if the merger goes ahead, in the Spanish market three entities will control 70% of the market. On the other hand, in countries like Germany, France or Italy the first three banks represent 50% of the share or less.