Directors from CaixaBank and Bankia on Thursday, September 17, approved their merger into Spain's biggest lender in a move which will transform the landscape of Spanish banking.
The Spanish state, which currently holds just under 62% of Bankia, will hold a 14% share in the new group, press reports said. The financial structure of the deal will allow CaixaBank to access tax breaks worth"several billion" euros, thus providing the new bank the wherewithal to"finance staff restructuring and branch closures," he said.
"There is a process underway," Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said last week, pointing out that the European authorities have long been encouraging consolidation in the banking sector."With this deal, the government is getting rid of one big headache," theSince the Bankia bailout, the government has been trying to offload its 61.8% stake in the bank, but economic context has never been right. For now, it has only managed to recover 3.3 billion euros of the 22-billion payout.