Carlos Torres Vila: “We see no competition issues in the transaction with Banco Sabadell”
BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila spoke on Tuesday at a conference hosted by the business confederation Cecot, where he shared with Catalan business owners his vision of the global context and the role played by companies in economic growth and job creation. In his speech, he underscored BBVA's commitment to SMEs, a business in which it wants to continue to grow with the integration of Banco Sabadell. Regarding competition, he pointed out that the decision rests with the Spanish Competition Commission (CNMC), for which BBVA has the utmost respect. “The transaction at no time exceeds the market share thresholds established in the competition analysis. Moreover, if we compare it with previous transactions, many of them are of similar size, so, applying the same methodology, we expect it to be approved with similar parameters," he added. Therefore, in the opinion of Carlos Torres Vila, “We do not see any competition issues in the transaction with Banco Sabadell.”
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Carlos Torres Vila indicated that “the timeline is proceeding to plan.” First, the bank received the support of BBVA's shareholders, with 96 percent voting in favor of the capital increase. This was followed by the approval of the U.K.’s Prudential Regulatory Authority and the European Central Bank. Moving forward, three milestones remain: authorization from both the Spanish competition and the securities market supervisor (CNMC and the CNMV), and “most importantly of all, the decision of each Banco Sabadell shareholder, who are the owners of the bank, on what they want to do with their shares.”
He also confirmed that the transaction is a commitment to regions such as Catalonia and the Valencian Community, where Banco Sabadell has a major presence. The Catalan economy, according to forecasts by BBVA Research, could grow by 2.6 percent in 2024, above the Spanish average, and by 2.1 percent in 2025, which would allow 192,000 new jobs to be created in the two-year period. If this scenario comes to pass, Catalonia will be the Spanish region that creates the most jobs in this period. Moreover, the unemployment rate will fall to 8.3 percent on average in 2025.
The BBVA Chair also emphasized that “our objective is to grow, especially in the SME segment, where we have been growing our market share considerably, especially in Catalonia.”
Carlos Torres Vila, President of BBVA; Xavier Panés, President of Cecot; Oriol Alba, Secretary General of Cecot; José Ballester, Regional Director of BBVA in Catalonia; Francisco Pla, Regional Manager of BBVA in Catalonia, along with Carlos Garriga, Toni Palet, Daniel Puente, Xavier Queralt, Ninna Torres, and Jordi Parera, members of Cecot's executive committee.
Carlos Torres Vila stated during the meeting that Catalan companies are experiencing an excellent moment. Many of them are a benchmark for innovation and entrepreneurship. “We have a strong commitment to Catalan companies and we want to contribute to their development,” said the BBVA Chair. After the combination, “They will enjoy better service from a better bank. Far from restricting lending, we intend to do the opposite. We will be able to finance the economy with an additional €5 billion a year,” he added.
BBVA has placed more than €60 billion in new financing at the disposal of Catalan companies and SMEs over the past three years. In addition, more than 94,000 SMEs and self-employed individuals in Spain have chosen BBVA as their new bank as of last August, of which almost 25 percent come from Catalonia (close to 22,000). This means that one out of every four SMEs that become new BBVA customers is Catalan.
The BBVA Chair also reaffirmed BBVA's strong commitment to Catalonia, where it has a clear vision of growth. “Catalonia will gain a far stronger bank,” he concluded. “It is a winning future project.”