Banco Sabadell makes official the transfer of its headquarters to Catalonia after seven years in the city of Alicante. The board of directors of the entity has approved the ‘move’ in an extraordinary meeting held this Wednesday to give the green light to this movement. “The circumstances that motivated his transfer no longer exist,” they argue in the statement sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
The highest corporate governance body of the entity makes the decision with Salvador Illa as president of the Generalitat and in the midst of BBVA’s takeover process for the group. The bank was one of the first listed companies on the Ibex 35 to pack its bags in 2017 and leave due to the political instability caused by the 1-O referendum and the unilateral declaration of independence.
With different circumstances, the entity returns to the city of Sabadell, place where it was created in 1881 and where it maintained its headquarters for 136 years. Specifically, they will be located in Plaza de Sant Roc, number 20. In the statement they detail that the change of registered office will not have “no consequences” for customers, who will continue having the same services and operations, nor for professionals, “who will maintain their current locations,” they say.
In this sense, explain that the only “fact of significance” of this decision will be that the general meeting of shareholders starting this year will be in Sabadell. To compensate, Alicante will host the annual meeting of Advisory Councils, as well as the Marine Sustainability Award that Every year the Banco Sabadell Foundation delivers. “The board of directors has reinforced the commitment to continue contributing to the economic and social development of Alicante and the entire Valencian Community,” they emphasize.
Despite this, since Sabadell Bank They defend support for SMEs and the self-employed in the region, which “they will continue to promote through the ‘business hub’ they have in Valencia. In addition, the bank has the Alicante Technological Competence Center (CCTA), in which some work 300 people directly and employs another 400 indirectly. Its activity focuses on promoting and strengthening the bank’s artificial intelligence and digital strategy by launching cutting-edge projects.
One of the most striking aspects of this return is that it coincides in time with the hostile takeover bid by BBVA to take over Sabadell. Sources from the group of Basque origin indicate that they “respect” the return that, in no case, changes the “goodness” of an operation that “it is good for Spain, for Catalonia and for the rest of the territories where Banco Sabadell is located.”
From the Central executive frames this step as a return to normality in this CCAA, an argument also endorsed by the unions. For his part, the leader of the central Executive, Pedro Sánchez, has avoided speak out on the matter at the Davos Forum. He has only limited himself to alleging that factors such as “territorial cohesion” influence this process, so it is necessary to wait for the opinion of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) about it.
The regulator has been studying the potential absorption in detail since last November. A job that will be delayed until at least February. Under normal conditions it lasts three months without taking into account that the period stops every time you request more information. Carlos Torres, president of BBVAhas promised that the new resulting bank – whose headquarters would be in Bilbao – would have two operational centers: ‘La Vela’ in Madrid and the Sant Cugat del Vallès facilities in Catalonia, from which they seek to promote Barcelona as a European ‘hub’ of innovation.
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