López Burniol resigns as vice president of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation after the promotion of Coronas

The vice president of the ‘la Caixa’ Banking Foundation, Juan José López Burniol (79 years old), has resigned today by surprise after disagreements over the recent appointment of Josep Maria Coronas, who held the position of secretary, as the new general director of the institution , replacing Antoni Vila. And, according to La Vanguardia and confirmed by this newspaper, last Wednesday Burniol was against the appointment of Coronasone of the directors who has the maximum confidence of the president, Isidro Fainé.

Coronas was promoted last Wednesday, December 4, by Fainé to replace Vila (75 years old), also another of the managers who collaborated most closely with the president whom he had asked to retire.

According to what was published by the Catalan newspaper, which They neither confirm nor deny within the Foundation“there has been no formal resignation,” they say, last Wednesday Burniol, after having been summoned in an extraordinary plenary session, was against the appointment of Coronas and already hinted that he would put his position on the table for it.

Once his decision is formalized, the question arises as to who Fainé will appoint as Burniol’s replacement among the members of the board. López Burniol had been linked to La Caixa for more than 20 years in various positions. In recent times, other surprise departures have been taking place in this environment, such as that of the president of Caixabank himself, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri.

Born in Alcanar (Tarragona) in 1945, López Burniol has a degree in Law from the University of Navarra and notary. He is a recognized and respected figure in the Catalan elite not only for his positions at Caixa and the Círculo de Economía, but also for having been dean of the College of Notaries of Catalonia and vice president of the General College of Notaries. He was a director of the general assembly of La Caixa in 2005 and was part of the Foundation’s board of trustees, from which he has now resigned, for a decade. He had been vice president for more than seven years.