The harsh reaction of all Valencian institutions, of all political parties on the right and left, with the exception of Vox, and the employers’ associations, against the possibility of Catalan companies installed in the Valencian Community returning to their territory must be understood, among others, due to the context in which the exodus occurred in 2017. Because that decision, traumatic for these companies due to the negative effects of the process, had, on the contrary, a soothing effect on the Valencian economic, political and financial sectors. .
The economic crisis of 2008, and the disastrous (and in some cases criminal) management of leaders appointed by the Valencian PP, caused the collapse and disappearance of the third and fourth State savings banks – Bancaixa and Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo – and little later, from the Banco de València. While other autonomies maintained their financial muscle, Valencians lost everything, with obvious consequences on the economic productive dynamics of Valencian society.
In 2011, Banc de Sabadell absorbed CAM and in 2012 Caixabank took over Banco de València, the entity that had been a key instrument of the Valencian bourgeoisie. Bancaja ended up integrated into Bankia. The sense of orphanhood of the Valencian employers was enormous, and politically the Valencian inability to sustain a system that had functioned successfully for almost a century was confirmed.
After the events of 2017 in Catalonia, Sabadell and Caixabank decided to move their headquarters to the Valencian Community, the first to Alicante and the second to València. That decision, in which Ximo Puig put a lot of interest, meant welcoming two large financial entities. Two large banks that have ended up being fundamental in the Valencian commercial field and also social and cultural. Without being the same as in the past, both Caixabank and Banc de Sabadell have become “Valencianized” in terms of business culture.
Together with these two entities, almost a thousand Catalan companies followed the same path, many of them settling in the north of Castellón due to geographical proximity. That exodus of corporate headquarters had a quick response from the left-wing Valencian Administration, which provided all the resources for its installation. In addition to financial companies, service companies and headquarters of manufacturing firms arrived, finding in the Valencian Community an ideal ecosystem to continue their activity.
Sources from the Valencian Business Confederation, CEV, comment that some of these large companies “arrived with many doubts about the step taken, but in a short time they felt protected and supported.” They add that “today, these entities work very well with us, they have strongly penetrated the Valencian Community and they know that they have become fundamental references for Valencian businessmen.”
The truth is that, as an example, CaixaBank and Banco de Sabadell are two entities that are present not only in the business field, but also in the social and even cultural sphere. In some way, their support has made it possible to maintain and relaunch threatened activities after the fall of the Valencian financial system. Caixabank, for example, inaugurated the CaixaForum in Valencia last year, one of the most attractive and powerful centers of the Catalan entity. Furthermore, in all productive sectors the presence of both entities is notable.
It happens that with the exodus of almost a thousand companies, many Catalan workers have settled in the Valencian Community. Entire families who for years have stabilized their lives in large capitals and in many important towns, with what that means at a private level. An element to take into account.
Now, Valencian political, economic, financial and social agents observe the possible return of these companies as disastrous news. They are entities and firms that are already considered part of the Valencian productive fabric. That is the reason why from President Carlos Mazón to the employers’ leaders they want them to remain in the Valencian Community.
