Four Spanish banks’ merge to form third largest Spanish savings bank
25 May 2010
Four Spanish savings banks will merge a part of their operations to form the country's fifth largest lender. The banks announced the merger plans amid concern over the solidity of the country's savings banks.
Cajastur, Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (CAM), Caja Extremadura and Caja Cantabria informed the Bank of Spain of the new banking group's creation that will employ a 14,000 workforce and have €135 billion in assets and operations across 2,300 offices.
CAM and Cajastur will each hold 40 per cent, Caja Extremadura 11 per cent and Caja Cantabria 9 per cent in the new entity.
The boards of management and office networks would be retained by boards of management of the individual banks even as they combine functions such as risk control and credit assessment.
The merged entity would the third-biggest savings bank following La Caixa and Caja Madrid.
Concerns over the solidity of Spain's savings banks had been expressed following the Bank of Spain's taking control of the running of Cajasur over the weekend.
