Merger of BBVA and Sabadell | More than 3,600 Valencian employees await the BBVA-Sabadell merger
The banking earthquake that has devastated Spanish markets this week is keeping the financial sector on edge over the widespread impact it could have. And as a result of the merger of BBVA and Sabadell, a giant will emerge that will take over the management of the former … banking position nationally and third in Europe. Of course, beyond the financial and economic details of the operation, it goes without saying that the new company will restructure the office and therefore the staff.
This second issue is of particular importance for the Valencian Community due to the weight that Catalan education has in the region. Sabadell, which acquired Alicante-based CAM in 2012, is the leading bank by market share in Alicante and has been headquartered in the city since 2017 following this process. According to the trade unions CC OO PV and UGT-PV, there are 2,192 specialists working in the three provinces.
In turn, according to the same sources, BBVA has 1,410 people in the Valencian region. Thus, the announcement of a possible merger has put the 3,602 workers on alert, who are living in uncertainty these days as they do not know whether they will be subject to layoffs, if any, which various business and union sources take for granted due to the office closures .
For this reason, the unions emphasize that adjustments due to excess staff are made “with all guarantees” for the workforce. Of course, first and foremost they demand that negotiations on the financial sector collective agreement be unblocked to renew purchasing power, the lack of agreement on which has led professionals to go on strike in recent months. “In an environment where both companies have achieved record results and excellently rewarded shareholders, it is important for CC OO to formulate an employment agreement that protects the working conditions and employment of both employees,” they point out from CC OO-PV. Among these goals, voluntary layoffs are allowed when there is a surplus, as well as maintaining and improving wages and working conditions.
“Regulators and supervisors must require sufficient safeguards to ensure that these types of operations do not exacerbate problems arising from concentration, isolation and lack of competition,” warns the trade union organization, which insists that in the current environment “it is more justifiable than ever”. the continuity of “special” taxation and conditions to ensure the physical presence of networks and that digital services do not exclude particularly vulnerable customers due to age, income, nationality or geographical location.
Another problem directly related to the overlap of offices is the expected market concentration, which is estimated to monopolize 60% of the Community banking market. This information caused alarm among businessmen as well as the Council. For this reason, the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mason, and the Presidents of the Valencian Business Confederation (CEV), Salvador Navarro, and the Valencian Chambers of Commerce, José Vicente Morata, expressed their “concerns” this Thursday. In fact, the head of Consell contacted “Banco Sabadell directly to inform them that “they are studying this operation in detail and exhaustively” due to the consequences it will have for the users themselves.
“I want to see more financial institutions where citizens can have choice,” Mason told reporters. At the same time, he warned that they would be “vigilant” about the possibility that the corporation’s headquarters would no longer be in Alicante, the city to which Sabadell moved it in 2017 due to the political situation in Catalonia.
The company resulting from the merger, which will be carried out through an exchange of shares, will have more than 400 offices in the Valencian Community. In particular, BBVA has 100 offices in the province of Valencia, 21 in Castellon and 79 in Alicante. In addition, the company is present in a total of 126 municipalities in Valencia. For its part, Sabadell has 61 offices in Valencia, 132 in Alicante and 17 in Castellon. In addition, it is present in a total of 112 municipalities out of the 266 that make up the Community.