Joseph Oliupresident of Bank Sabadelldefended this Monday in London that “consolidation between European banks is desirable, but it is not always good within the same country”, to differentiate the attempt to take over the German Commerzbank by Italian Unicredit and the public purchase offer of BBVA on your entity.
“When national consolidation reaches its limits due to problems of skillthe necessary aspects such as strength, size, technological power, etc., can be achieved through cross-border operations which create stronger and bigger banks, bring Europeans closer together and maintain competition in local markets”, he explained in his speech as this year’s guest of honor at the Chamber of Commerce Spanish in the UK (last year this award was given to the President of Telefónica, José María Álvarez-Palleteand the precedent in the King Philip).
The president of Sabadell added that “national authorities must understand these issues and analyze the model they favor in terms of local competition and the way in which European consolidation must be carried out for the benefit of the entire European Union” . consumers. If they do so and define an appropriate regulatory framework, they can let the walk do the rest.”
Oliu thus responds to the article published last week by the president of BBVA, Carlos Torresinside FFinancial timein which he calls for the elimination of obstacles to bank mergers in Europe: “The authorities must facilitate and remove barriers to allow a internal consolidation or international operations. This is the only way to entities “European companies and their financing power are growing quickly and efficiently,” Torres said.
Consolidation is not always good
According to the president of Sabadell, “consolidation is undeniably a way to strengthen the financial system, but consolidation it’s not always good nor always believe shareholder value. If consolidation processes result from a vision that can be shared and adopted by the different actors involved, as well as by employees, customers, society and politicians, they will generate value. Otherwise, the value will be at risk.
“Politics, human feelings, sensitivity, communication, social understanding, sense of identity. “These are extremely important concepts when it comes to running a business and they cannot be left aside,” he adds.
Oliu’s conclusion is that “based on these considerations, my personal opinion is that today Sabadell and BBVA offer more value alone than they would have together.”
