• ERE CaixaBank assures that it will "actively" seek to agree to lay off 7,700 workers and Goirigolzarri is "convinced" of the agreement

First it was the Vice President of Economic Affairs,

Nadia Calviño,

and then President

Pedro Sánchez himself

who spoke out against the salary increase agreed by the

CaixaBank

Board of Directors

for its President,

José Ignacio Goirigolzarri

, and the CEO,

Gonzalo Gortázar

. The critical stance with the increase in wages in the midst of a layoff process through an ERE that will affect 7,791 workers resulted in the shareholders meeting in a vote against the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (

FROB

) at this point on the agenda.

The FROB remains in the entity after the merger with Bankia with 16.11% of the shareholders, which means that it could not prevent the board from approving by majority the modification of the

remuneration policy

for the directors, while it has abstained of the rest of the proposals related to remuneration. This does not have the symbol value that marks the Government's position in the face of the high emonuments that Goirigolzarri will receive, which go from 500,000 euros in Bankia to 1.65 million, with the possibility of adding 200,000 euros more in variables and a long-term incentive, materialized in actions of the entity during different years from the year 2025, in case of meeting the established objectives.

Faced with the controversy, the Chairman of CaixaBank wanted to explain to shareholders that the bank's salary policy is set by the remuneration committee, "with an independent majority and that it is based on objective policies with the advice of external specialist companies." In addition, he pointed out that every three years at most it must be submitted to the approval of the board and that with the merger with Bankia it has gone from 27 directors in total to 15, "44% less."

"The remuneration of directors at CaixaBank is

clearly lower than the average for the sector

in Spain, to be the third entity in capitalization and the first in results. In 2020 it was around 50% of the average of other Ibex banks, excluding Bankia, "explained Goirigolzarri, who pointed out that for non-executive directors there are no changes:" They will continue with the same fixed remuneration they have had since 2015. "

The salaries he defended were his own and that of Gonzalo Gortazar. As soon as his remuneration is tripled, he defended that the proposal is carried out "with the change of the council's bodies due to the merger." "As stated in the agreement, an executive presidency has been created responsible for the areas of Audit, Communication and Institutional Relations and the Secretary of the board. The [salary] proposal is in line with the traditional CaixaBank systems and is

lower than the comparable market references

", he clarified.

Regarding the rise to the CEO, he recalled that the fixed part did not experience changes in 2021 compared to 2020, the year in which Gortázar resigned from the variable, "which means that he had a

21.5% reduction

in his remuneration."

Looking ahead to 2021, the fixed and variable salary amounts of the CEO are maintained for the fifth consecutive year.

"The remuneration of the CEO is

substantially below what would correspond to him

, according to industry references and comparable entities," he ruled despite criticism from union representatives who spoke to shareholders.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • CaixaBank

  • Spain

  • Black Cards

The Bank of Spain is left out of the analysis on the new salaries of Goirigolzarri and Gortázar

The Bank of Spain can no longer limit the salaries of bankers as required by Calviño

EconomyThe bank warns that the cuts will continue: "We have twice as many branches as in the EU"

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