Carlos Corpuz expressed his “concerns” to the ECB about BBVA’s takeover of Sabadell | Economy

The European Central Bank is aware of the Spanish government’s strong opposition to the merger of BBVA and Banco Sabadell. A day after the Catalan elections, this Monday, Economy Minister Carlos Bodi met with Claudia Buch, president of the supervisory authority for eurozone banks dependent on the ECB, and explained his arguments against this operation. “I told you about the concerns (we have) about the consequences in terms of concentration and therefore in terms of competition that this operation could have,” the Spaniard said upon arrival in Brussels for a meeting of eurozone ministers. finance.

At the meeting with the Authority, the head of the Single Supervisory Mechanism “limited itself to explaining the role of the ECB as a supervisory authority and the requirements that it analyzes from a prudential point of view, without pointing to any specific statements. – explain from this organization. The central bank also clarifies that the meeting took place at the request of the Spanish minister.

For its part, Body did not reveal details about how the meeting went and limited itself to saying that it was “curious” to hear the executive’s arguments. “We talked very calmly about the situation with competition and concentration of financial markets in Europe, because this is an issue that is relevant for the EU as a whole, and not just for Spain,” he noted.

The Spanish government’s strong opposing stance against the operation, just an hour after BBVA announced it was about to launch a hostile takeover of Banco Sabadell last Thursday, has caused some surprise in some financial areas of the Union structure. Before it is the official turn of the executive, this must be done by the Spanish stock market regulator (CNMV), the Bank of Spain and the ECB, as well as the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). And, in addition, only the latter is responsible for deciding on the possible impact of concentration on competition.

“Full” payment of the Recovery Fund

In addition to talking about his meeting with Buch, the economic chief also used his visit to Brussels to demonstrate his confidence that Spain will receive “full payment” for the fourth tranche of the Recovery Fund. Spain submitted the request late last year and in March, having almost exhausted the original deadline, agreed with the European Commission on a two-month extension until May 20, a date that falls on next Monday.

This confidence is based on the fact that, according to the Authority, “in the coming weeks” the reform of unemployment benefits will be approved, which Podemos, PP and Vox overthrew at the beginning of the legislature by voting against a decree-law that the Executive had already approved by the end of the year . The government has now agreed this change with the unions (employers have refused to participate on the pretext of lack of sufficient negotiations) and is confident that it will succeed in Congress thanks to the votes it already had in the first attempt, as well as the votes of the formation. led by Ione Belarra, who this time guaranteed her support.

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