Mario Fernandez, former vicelehendakari and former president of Kutxabank, has passed away this Tuesday at 81 years of age, after a prolonged illness. Fernández led the merger of the Basque savings banks BBK, Kutxa and Vital and the creation of Kutxabank in 2012 and was elected executive president of this entity until he resigned in 2014. lawyer, banker and politician Bilbao native had been retired from public life for years.
Mario Fernández was vice president in the Governments of Carlos Garaikoetxea from 1982 to 1985 and in April 1984 he was elected parliamentarian by the PNV and continued in the Basque Executive until he left office in January 1985. He was also president of the Joint Transfer Commission.
Fernández had a degree in Law from the University of Deustoof which he was a professor of Commercial Law since 1966.
In 2009 he was appointed president of BBK replacing Xabier de Irala and, after the merger of the three Basque savings banks and the creation of Kutxabank in 2012, he was elected executive president of this entity until he resigned in 2014. During his presidency the financial entity absorbed CajaSur.
Before joining Kutxabank, from 1997 to 2002 he was General Director of Legal Affairs and member of the Management Committee of the BBVA Group. However, his relationship with BBVA began previously, when, from his own office, he provided advice on acquisitions of banks and pension fund management entities in Latin America and participated in some of the financial operations.
After his departure from Kutxabank in 2014 he was investigated by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for a crime of misappropriation in relation to irregularities committed during his administration to financially benefit former government delegate Mikel Cabieces. Both were sentenced in 2017 to half a year in prison.
In February 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed against the sentence handed down by the Provincial Court of Bizkaia, dated March 20, 2017, by which it sentenced the former president of Kutxabank Mario Fernández to half a year in prison for a crime of misappropriation. After hearing the Supreme Court ruling, Fernández resigned from his position as a member of the Repsol Board of Directors.
Contribution to Basque self-government
Through social networks, the Government delegate in the Basque Country, Marisol Garmendia, has expressed her condolences for the death of “one of the most relevant politicians in the consolidation of the Basque Government, who contributed with intelligence and management capacity to the deployment of the Gernika Statute and Basque self-government”. The Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, has also expressed his condolences.
The president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, has considered that Fernández was “a person with easy words, clear ideas and Basque national convictions profound” and “a great vice president” and accumulated “an impressive background both in banking and in the legal profession.” He has also highlighted his work first at the head of BBK and then, after the merger of the three Basque savings banks, at Kutxabank.
The bank chaired by Antón Arriola conveys “its deepest condolences” to family and friends of Mario Fernández. “A reference professional, inside and outside our borders, Mario’s career has been marked by his prestige and his willingness to serve Euskadi“, the entity has highlighted in a statement.
“During the presidency of Kutxabank, Mario completed one of the most decisive projects for the financial system of the Basque Country, the merger of the Basque savings banks and the configuration of a bank positioned as a leader in solvency and efficiency of Spanish banking and a financial reference for families and companies in our territories,” he added. Likewise, BBK has valued the “contribution and trajectory” of Fernández and has conveyed his condolences to the family.
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