Goirigolzarri at the helm and 51,000 employees. This will be the largest bank in Spain after the merger of CaixaBank and Bankia

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The phones didn't stop ringing last night.

On the table, a delicate and accelerated operation in the heat of the economic crisis.

CaixaBank and Bankia finalize their imminent merger.

Negotiations are still just that, they have the most complicated placet, that of the Government, which holds 62% of control of Bankia through the Frob.

And with these wickers, both entities did not take long to report the negotiation to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), as required by law.

The machine is running.

But what does the merger of these two banks mean for Spain?

To begin with, we are at the birth of what will be the largest entity in the country.

Both by number of assets, branches, and employees.

But let's go in parts.

Who will take the helm?

Although by size, CaixaBank is the dominant entity in this merger-absorption.

It will be, according to financial sources,

of the same.

Until now, the president of Bankia has a very good image both in the eyes of the sector and the Government itself.

The CEO of the resulting entity will be the current CEO of CaixaBank,

.

The largest bank by assets.

Until now, the largest Spanish bank, due to the volume of its assets, was BBVA.

CaixaBank followed.

And in third position was Banco Santander.

The creation of the new bank, whose name has yet to be defined, changes the podium.

Between CaixaBank and Bankia they will add assets

.

The largest branch network

CaixaBank has a very extensive network of branches.

Specifically, it has 4,400 distributed throughout Spain.

And its weight is especially relevant in Catalonia or in areas such as Navarra, after the absorption of Banca Cívica in 2012. Bankia, for its part, has its greatest deployment in Madrid, with which the merger has a certain strategic sense at a geographical level.

Specifically, the entity chaired by Goirigolzarri currently has about 2,200 offices.

Between the two, 6,600.

Obviously, after the merger, both entities will have to analyze how many of these offices may be superfluous and will accelerate a process of closing branches that has been going on for years.

A recent report by the British bank Barclays recommended

that still operate in our country, about 1,500.

Only in this way, the bank maintained, Spanish entities could increase their profit by 5% before 2022.

The largest bank in employees, too

And if the new Spanish banking colossus would be the bank with the most branches, it will also be the one with the most employees in the country.

CaixaBank comes to this operation with

.

Bankia does the same with

.

In total, 51,000.

And, again, as will happen with the offices, experts are waiting for a restructuring process after the merger to study synergies and clean up possible duplications.

Faced with the drums of possible dismissals, the general secretaries of CCOO, Unai Sordo, and UGT, Pepe Álvarez, have rushed this Friday to request

Caixabank and Bankia staff.

Also the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has spoken in this regard:

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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