Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri is facing the end of an era and so is the banking sector, in a way. This Wednesday, the historic banker presented his resignation from the presidency of the CaixaBank after a long career which led him twenty years ago to the doors of management BBVAone of the largest banks in Europe. The failure that prevented it, however, was beneficial for Spain, because it allowed it to take the reins of the country. Bankia and save it from collapse in the middle of a financial storm.
The banker, Born in Bilbao, passionate about athletics, educated with the Jesuits and student of philosophysigns with this departure the last line – at least for the moment – of a long curriculum vitae whose main protagonist is BBVA, the bank of his life. More than three decades which trained him first as a commercial banker, then as a corporate banker, which would eventually make him an expert in mergers.
A bank that, even if he probably wanted to, was unable to chair it, but he will go down in history as the captain who turned around a bank that was adrift, Bankia, and was crowned president of the most successful entity. largest in Spain, CaixaBank.
The bank of your life
Goirigolzarri’s life is inevitably linked to Bilbao, his hometown and where he studied economics at the Commercial University of Deustowhere he later taught as a professor. He also studied finance in the United Kingdom.
He also began his professional career in the Basque city, where Bank of Bilbaoseed of the current BBVA. It was in 1977, when he was barely 23 years old, that he joined the field of Strategic Planning.
He rose to the general management of BBV in 1994, when he joined the entity’s management committee, where he was also responsible for commercial banking in Spain and operations in Latin America.
He stayed there for the integration of Argentaria into BBVa former public entity, in 1999, which was in the service of the president of the bank at the time, Francisco Gonzalezto reorganize the entity’s management and remove its history Emilio Ybarra about the Jersey opaque accounts scandal.
Carlos Torres, president of BBVA; José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, president of CaixaBank, and José Sevilla, president of Unicaja, speak with the new governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escriva.
Reuters
Madrid
Goirigolzarri remained in the senior management of the bank, becoming number two. As CEO of BBVA, he worked hand in hand with González, another historic banker who ended up leaving the entity when he was hit by the Villarejo affairin which the judge asked a few months ago to prosecute him.
The then CEO of BBVA had a bright future ahead of him, which in the sector was supposed to continue with the presidency of the second bank in the country, which was then in direct competition with Santander of Emilio Botin.
BBVA exit
Francisco González turned 65 – the deadline to exercise the presidency of BBVA – in 2009 and in banking circles it was obvious that Goirigolzarri would replace him with Jose Seville as number two.
The one who would later become CEO of Bankia and, later, president of Unicaja, was also part of the BBVA youth academy, through which he also passed. Jaume Guardiola.
The former CEO of Sabadell and current president of Economy Circle He worked with Goirigolzarri while serving in management roles in Mexico during BBVA’s expansion into Latin America. Sevilla, for its part, was part of the steering committee.
However, friction with the president They thwarted these plans. González, who wanted to remain president, decided to increase the retirement age of BBVA directors so that he could stay for a few more years, until age 75.
The Chantada banker was named honorary president of the bank at the age of 74, a position from which he resigned in March 2019, seven months before turning 75.
At that time, Goirigolzarri was already part of Bankia’s history. The banker ended up leaving BBVA in 2009 in a exit by mutual agreement who left him a millionaire’s pension for life.
Rescue from Bankia
An early retirement after which he took a leave of absence which was interrupted when he received a call from Luis de Guindosthen Minister of the Economy.
In spring 2012, Bankia, then under the leadership of Rodrigo Ratowas on the verge of collapse. After its controversial IPO, during which thousands of customers lost their investments, the entity had to clean up and restructure. Goirigolzarri appeared there.
De Guindos, then in charge of the solution to the financial crisis, gathered the support of the country’s leading bankers (Francisco González, Emilio Botín and Isidro Fainé) to remove Rato from Bankia and appoint Goirigolzarri. He asked the Bilbao native to take the reins of the entity.
This is what the current president of CaixaBank did, who had the support of Bankia’s millionaire rescue plan. Public aid has exceeded 20 billion eurosa cushion which, combined with his extensive experience, allowed the banker to restore the solvency and profitability of Bankia. To do this, he formed a tandem with José Sevilla, who was his trusted man at BBVA.
Fusion expert
Goirigolzarri was for many years a major commercial banker, but being CEO of BBVA allowed him to lead, among other projects, BBVA’s landing in Mexico, where the group was able to take over Bancomer and make it the first bank in the country.
It was after a fight with Banamexthen the first bank in Mexico, to counter-propose to shareholders to take control of the bank. BBVA succeeded in establishing itself and acquired in the early 2000s what would become the jewel of the bank.
Reuters
Mexico City (Mexico)
His role was key in the internationalization of the group, which during these years also expanded to the United States and Asia, the establishment in Mexico being the most successful for BBVA.
An episode that led Goirigolzarri to expand his capabilities as a professional. This investment banker who cut his teeth in the individual sector of BBV –Goirigolzarri is the creator of the famous scenario– then becomes a banker with a business vision.
This helped him, years later, to manage the merger of Bankia with Bank Mare Nostrum (BMN).
And, of course, that of Bankia and CaixaBank, which occurred in the midst of the pandemic and amid attempts by the more left-wing sector of Pedro Sánchez’s government to transform it into a public bank.
Close and demanding
Goirigolzarri is close in treatment, but very demanding and very attentive to detailsas those who worked with him tell this newspaper. A “statesman” who is, according to some voices, just as you see it and that he practices in private what he promulgates in public.
Actually, “Only example legitimizes leadership” This is one of the mantras that those who worked with him remember hearing him say. AND “How is the morale of the troops?”the question he always asks himself when he arrives at a territorial address. Among his objectives, both at Bankia and at CaixaBank, are motivated staff and satisfied customers.
Among the thousands of questions the press asked him in his professional life, he had to listen to one several times: “When are you going to retire?” The answer has always been the same: be available to your board.
And this Wednesday, after 47 years in the financial sectorthis philosophical banker who, it is said, rarely gets angry in the office and of whom no one in the sector speaks ill of him, has set a date for his departure: December 31, 2024.
