Unicaja is still trying to sew the seams opened by its latest governance crisis and has officially appointed this Friday Isidro Rubiales as the new CEO of the entity, replacing Manuel Menéndez and once received the authorization of the European Central Bank (ECB).
The board of directors of the entity, after a meeting held this Friday, has endorsed the appointment. "The Board of Directors, at its meeting held today, has agreed to appoint Mr. Isidro Rubiales Gil as CEO of the Company and delegate to him all the powers of the Board of Directors, except those that cannot be delegated," reads a communication sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
Likewise, the change of category has been approved by the chairman, Manual Azuaga, in such a way that he loses his executive functions, remaining as non-executive chairman, and becomes an 'other external' director. In this way, Rubiales remains as the sole executive director of the entity.
According to the note, "once this appointment has been agreed, the provision contained in the Joint Merger Project -with Liberbank-, according to which the chairman of the board of directors has become non-executive" and with the category of external director, has been complied with.
The entity officially elected Rubiales, who was in charge of the bank's Control division, on July 31, thus settling one of the unknowns left behind by the crisis opened in the board after the merger with Liberbank in July 2021 and the reorganization process undertaken after the operation.
On 20 September, Unicaja announced the authorisation received from the European Central Bank (ECB) to appoint Rubiales as CEO and also to appoint Antonio Carrascosa, Rocío Fernández and Inés Guzmán as independent directors. In the session of this Friday, the council has appointed Fernández as coordinating director, replacing Carolina Martínez.
The bank still has to appoint a new director to replace David Vaamonde, who left his position as a proprietary company in August after the fund he represented on the board, Oceanwood, reduced its stake from 7% to 0.35%.