• Merger. Competition authorizes CaixaBank to absorb Bankia but limits its power in 86 areas of Spain

Historic day for the banking sector in Spain, with the start of the new CaixaBank.

The already president,

José Ignacio Goirigolzarri

, and the CEO,

Gonzalo Gortázar

, have appeared this Friday in Valencia at the entity's headquarters.

Specifically, at the headquarters of the now officially new 'superbank', after the approval of the absorption of Bankia given this week by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).

"We want to lead the transformation process of the financial system that is going to take place in the coming months and years", stated Goirigolzarri.

Gortázar has insisted on this line: "We started from pole."

In effect, the first banking group in Spain opens with a client portfolio that exceeds 20 million, before which the

CNMC

has already dictated that the new CaixaBank must limit its power in up to 86 areas of the country.

In other words, it basically puts an end to its monopoly position in part of the territory to avoid the financial exclusion of thousands of citizens due to the expected closure of offices.

No less important is the size of its workforce, which exceeds 50,000 employees.

That is, a volume that already augurs a tough

labor adjustment

process

whose negotiation is expected after Easter, as confirmed by both managers, although without giving any kind of figure on the impact that the layoffs could have.

The only thing that Gortázar has advanced are the criteria that will be applied: "We want to do something that is not traumatic and that prevails voluntariness and meritocracy."

In addition, despite the fact that everything indicates that older employees will be the main affected by the restructuring process, the CEO did not want to send a message to this group to questions from the media, but has pointed out that

age it will not be a criterion

.

The "organizational restructuring" will not be the only challenge in the coming months that the entity will have to face, which is also marked as a milestone

"technological integration"

in the coming months, so that all customers have access to the same services.

The

unification of the brand

is another of the pending tasks, both from the point of view of the corporate buildings - it will begin this weekend - and the office brands.

In this case, the idea is to reach June with the CaixaBank brand in all Bankia branches.

Asked about the possibility of

taking a leap at the European level

and establishing a large cross-border bank in the future, Gortázar wanted to make it clear that in the next three years the focus will be solely on consolidating this merger operation: "We are going to have the maximum attention in the Spanish market ".

"The debate will come when these three years have passed," he said.

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