CaixaBank and Bankia Boards of Directors approve merger plan to create Spain’s leading bank with more than 20 million customers

The Boards of Directors of both entities have approved the operation, to be executed as a merger by absorption of Bankia by CaixaBank, which must be approved at the General Shareholders’ Meetings.

The new entity, which will maintain the CaixaBank brand, will be the leading bank in Spain with more than 20 million customers, a 25% and 24% share in loans and deposits respectively, and a diversified and balanced geographic presence, according to the press release.

José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, Bankia’s current chairman, has remarked, “with this operation, we will become the leading Spanish bank at a time when it is more necessary than ever to create entities with a significant size, thus contributing to supporting the needs of families and companies, and to reinforcing the strength of the financial system”. “The new entity will continue to carry out the best corporate governance practices.”

Gonzalo Gortázar, the current CEO of CaixaBank, has stressed that „the merger will allow us to face the challenges of the next 10 years with greater scale, financial strength and profitability, which will result in greater value for our shareholders, more opportunities for our employees, better service to our clients and a greater capacity to support Spain’s economic recovery.„

The operation is expected to close during the first quarter of 2021.