A Barcelona-based newspaper announced in its Tuesday edition that the two Catalan savings banks would see a state intervention and would be nationalised by the Spanish Government and the Bank of Spain this summer. CatalunyaCaixa has denied the claims. Unnim also denied the rumours and reminded the press of the 30th September deadline set by the Bank of Spain to restructure its business and find additional capital.
This initiative offers free food to people in need and it is a platform involving many organisations. The Food Bank already assists 118,000 people in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and warns that “the figure is growing”.
The board of the Catalan savings bank decided to “temporarily” use public capital in order to meet the new requirements in the sector. This move means it will reach 10.4% of ‘core capital’. Private capital is expected to increase its share “in the medium-term”.
The Director of ESADE’s Master in Finance, Jordi Fabregat, recommends that Catalan savings banks speed up its transformation into private banks in order.
CatalunyaCaixa won 109.1 million euros in 2010, 1.1% less than in 2009. The second Catalan savings bank is the result from the merger of Caixa Catalunya, Caixa Tarragona and Caixa Manresa. The resulting savings bank currently has 6.9% of core capital, far from the needed 10% by next September. The savings bank already announced its plans to become a regular bank.
The industrial holding of the main Catalan savings bank, ‘la Caixa’, made 1,823 million euros of net profit in 2010. Criteria will be the embryo of La Caixa’s new private bank, which will be called CaixaBank.
The insurance group of the Catalan savings bank ‘la Caixa’ earned 19,5% more than in 2009. The acquisition of Adeslas is a positive result for the VidaCaixa Grup.
Andreu Mas-Colell, the Catalan Minister for Economy, reflected on the issue at a ceremony, where savings bank La Caixa and Catalan universities were giving away up to new 20 grants for research projects. The objective is to prevent a possible brain drain in Catalonia. Mas-Colell said that once the sector reforms were accomplished, the financial entities would get more freedom.
All the Catalan savings banks are in the process of becoming regular banks. In the last 6 days, all the savings banks have been defining their future and they are all going in the same direction: transforming their structures into those of a regular bank. The first stage was the merging process that took place before summertime and now, with the new banking rules at international, European and Spanish level, savings banks are finding it easier to continue operating as regular banks. The old model is thus finished.
In reaction to the latest announcement from the Spanish Government, the savings bank Unnim is studying ways of becoming a bank. The financial institutions is waiting for the Spanish Government’s new rules for the financial entities regarding their solvency and their “core capital”.
The Catalan savings bank owed the 1.63% of the oil company Repsol. By selling all its stakes, it earned 448 million, which represents a profit of 186 million euros. The financial entity made this operation to increase its core capital, in order to be ready for the banking stress test.
La Caixa, the first Catalan savings bank, is “open to all opportunities” offered by the new legislation.
The Catalan savings bank is the first financial institution in Spain to fully complete its merger project. Fernando Casado will succed Narcís Serra. The vice-presidents of the savings bank were also nominated.
Criteria CaixaCorp is the holding company of La Caixa savings bank. Criteria had a profit of 1,529 million euros in September. Profits from investments in foreign financial companies increased by 72%
The “export vocation” and “good management of economic, tourism and trade competences” will ease Catalonia’s recovery from the crisis. This is the opinion of José Manuel González-Páramo, member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board.