La Caixa gives its green light to merge with Caixa Girona
The largest financial institution in Catalonia and the largest savings bank in Europe, La Caixa, agreed to merge with Caixa Girona. Yesterday evening, La Caixa?s board approved the merger with the medium sized Girona savings bank.
Barcelona (CNA).- The board of directors of La Caixa approved yesterday evening the announced merger with Caixa Girona. La Caixa has already communicated its decision to the Spanish Regulation Authority of the Stock Exchange Market (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores). The process will be formally closed this Monday, the 21st of June, when Caixa Girona’s board will approve the integration plan.
The process of this merger started on the 28th of May, when La Caixa, following suggestions from the Bank of Spain, announced the talks to buy Caixa Girona. If the process is finally approved and comes to an end, Caixa Girona will be absorbed by the first savings bank in Europe, La Caixa. Caixa Girona rejected in the last moment being part of the merging process with other medium and small-sized Catalan savings banks, called Unnim. Even with this merger, in the next months, La Caixa will very likely loose its title as the largest European savings bank, as Caja Madrid and Bancaja are leading a very large merging project with 5 other savings banks, which would overtake La Caixa if successful.