BBVA's hostile bid to take over Banco Sabadell has burst into the headlines on the penultimate day of the campaign for this Sunday's Catalan election. In response to the news that the number two Spanish bank has responded to the failure of its merger offer for the Catalan bank by launching a takeover bid anyway, the head of the Together for Catalonia (Junts) list, Carles Puigdemont, affirmed that the news is unacceptable. The pro-independence candidate told ElNacional.cat that there has been "an attempt to liquidate the banking system in Catalonia for years", and demanded a strong response with "justice and law" from the institutions. He was not alone in his criticism: the president of the Generalitat and Republican Left (ERC) candidate Pere Aragonès said he was "frontally opposed" and his government "will work to prevent it", while Socialist (PSC) candidate Salvador Illa criticised that the move would mean "excessive concentration in the financial sector which is not good for customers".
"This is an unacceptable takeover from many points of view", the Junts+ Puigdemont for Catalonia candidate told ElNacional.cat during an interview this Thursday morning. "Let's look for example at how it can affect users in Catalonia. Banc Sabadell is a bank whose main activity is here, its decision centre is here. For years there has been an attempt, and it is being implemented, to liquidate the banking system in Catalonia. We saw this with the saving banks. There has not been much talk about what happened with the saving banks, but it was a state operation", he warned.
According to Carles Puigdemont, the operation directed against the Catalan banking system is now continuing with the hostile bid for the Sabadell bank, and he demanded a "strong" response, which must come from the institutions - "we hope that the Spanish government will also assume its responsibility here", he warned, saying that the takeover move must be "answered with law and justice". "This announcement is bad news and I think there must be some unanimity, I hope, among the political forces in Catalonia to defend the position of the Sabadell bank," he affirmed.
Aragonès: "This reduces the economic power of Catalonia"
There was certainly unanimity among the major Catalan parties. The president of the Generalitat and ERC candidate, Pere Aragonès, "frontally" rejected BBVA's hostile bid for Banco Sabadell. "The merger would only worsen the lack of competition we already suffer, destroy jobs and reduce the economic power of Catalonia in the wrong way, and we will work to avoid it", he said through his account on the social media X. He told Catalan public television that the level of banking concentration is "a problem for the economy" and added that, for this reason, interest on deposits in Catalonia and Spain is less than in the rest of Europe. "The fact that there are fewer banks is the wrong way to go. Let there be European mergers, but not in the same market".
Rechazamos frontalmente la OPA hostil del BBVA en el Banco Sabadell. Una fusión bancaria que solo haría que empeorar la falta de competencia que ya sufrimos, destruir puestos de trabajo y disminuir el poder económico de Catalunya es el camino equivocado y trabajaremos para evitarla.
— Pere Aragonès y Garcia 🎗 (@perearagones) May 9, 2024
Salvador Illa: "It would be 'too big to fail' when it had problems"
The Catalan Socialist for the Catalan election on May 12th, Salvador Illa, also came out clearly opposed to the BBVA takeover bid for Sabadell. It would mean "excessive concentration in the financial sector which is not good for customers," said Illa. Interviewed with Catalan public TV, the PSC candidate highlighted that an operation like this could damage financial and social inclusion "that guarantees face-to-face care" and could also cause a loss of jobs and decision-making power in Catalonia.
Illa recalled that, before the intention to absorb the bank was announced, the Spanish government was already considering whether there was enough competition in the Spanish banking sector. The forced merger would result in the second largest bank in Spain, an entity that, according to the Socialist candidate, would be "too big to be allowed to fail" when it had problems. "If there are such large banks, if one day something happens, we must all go to help them", said the PSC list leader.