Goirigolzarri steps down as president of CaixaBank and advocates a quiet replacement

Bilbao. As with plane crashes, there was not one cause, but several that accumulated over time, ultimately leading to the glass overflowing. He thought about it for several weeks and even decided that early 2025 was a good time to announce his resignation, before the spring, the shareholders’ meeting and, therefore, the time to agree to the re-election of four more people. years. Too much time in discomfort to take on such a task. A few days ago, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, who will remain president of CaixaBank until December 31, announced to the all-powerful “factotum” of the Caixa group, Isidro Faine, his intention to leave his post.

Yesterday the board of directors of Spain’s leading bank, made up of business figures, accepted the “quiet relief” it had been seeking. Tomas Muniesa, still vice-president of the organization, a man who enjoys the full confidence of Faine and who left behind the clothes of a CC OO union member to immerse himself in the “world of Kaisha”, will take over control just when the grapes and twelve bells ring. end of 2024.

Goirigolzarri’s voluntary resignation took almost everyone by surprise, with the exception of his closest friends, to whom he had already telegraphed that he wanted to leave “soon.” True to his style, he chose the moment when he believed it would cause the least damage to the bank, at a time when results were prosperous and when no one questioned the bank’s leadership in the national market. Its CEO, Gonzalo Gortazar, is a guarantee of continuity in this direction.

With little authority

The presidency of CaixaBank, which he assumed in 2020 after the merger agreement with Bankia, was not entirely comfortable for him. Firstly, because he was always a first-line leader and came with clipped wings. He barely retained the ability to make decisions in the areas of auditing, communication and institutional relations. Step by step, month by month, his former team Bankia, with whom he formed a real professional family, was swept out of the organizational structure. 30 percent control of Criteria Caixa, the corporation that effectively runs the group and is headed by Faine, was firmly established.

As if this were not enough, the project, which the European Central Bank has already put into circulation, wants to put an end once and for all to the executive powers, however limited they may be, of all bank presidents. Not only he, but also Carlos Torres, Ana Botín and even Kuchabank President Anton Arriola are in the crosshairs of the supervisory authority. The ECB wants bank presidents to be “shepherds” who would calmly guide board members, but at the same time, all executive power would be in the hands of CEOs. He was not satisfied with the position that fate had prepared for him in the medium term.

“The logical fatigue of 47 years of professional activity for a man who strives to spend more time with his family also greatly influenced his decision,” says the man who is still trusted by the president of CaixaBank.

But, they note, there is more discomfort. Goirigolzarri was never one to take it easy in an environment steeped in politics. He took on the task of Mariano Rajoy’s government to revive Bankia because he believed that it not only gave him the opportunity to lead a financial institution, but also represented a personal challenge and even a social challenge. But having the government as a partner – FROB controls 17% of CaixaBank – is not easy when it is also as interventionist as Pedro Sánchez’s executive, forcing any public statements to be weighed so as not to offend ideological sensibilities.

Flavors of politics

Although he is extremely reserved in his assessments, there are those around him who also believe that they see an expression of disapproval over the binomial that has developed in recent years between Sanchez and the Caix group. This courtship is equally promoted by Sánchez and Faine, who position the Catalan group as a kind of financial support in difficult situations. This was evident in Naturgy due to the desire of two investment funds to sell their participation; in Telefonica, increasing its stake to 10% to act as a dam against the attacks of Arab capital, and more recently in Talgo. An open operation, in which they have already proposed to the Executive Director to support it and avoid the risks of moving the company, is also subject to the structural speculation of the investment fund.

However, there is no single reason for his departure. There are drops that, having accumulated, also caused their own special flood.