Banco Sabadell CEO at Esade Matins: “The take-over bid is unlikely to succeed: there’s been no agreement, the price is too low, and shareholders don’t have all the necessary information.”
“The take-over bid is unlikely to succeed: there’s been no agreement, the price is too low, and shareholders don’t have all the necessary information,” explained César González-Bueno, Banco Sabadell CEO at the latest Esade Matins session entitled “Present and future of Banco Sabadell. “A merger of two banks whose location and business are complementary is one thing, but a merger of two banks that severely curtails competition in a geographic or business area is something quite different. SMEs in Spain need to work with several banks in case of difficult access to credit: they look to diversify their finance,” continued González-Bueno. “As for striking a balance between size and efficiency, I don’t think it’s right, generally speaking, to link size to profitability because of the equilibrium between a bank’s efficiency and consumer protection - and this is precisely the discussion happening about the take-over bid.”
The Banco Sabadell CEO also spoke at Esade Matins about the future of banking, which he regarded as good. “Interest rates seem to be settling down, we’re keeping pace with digitalization, but the intangible trust factor won’t change.”
Transformation and customer focus
The speaker, who also talked about his academic and personal track record during the session, highlighted that “Banco Sabadell’s appreciation is the best value in 2024” and that its “outlook is good.” He revealed that since joining the bank in 2021, a strategic plan to recover the bank’s profitability has been drafted and implemented: a plan that has also enabled this great bank to be feasible alone. “The bank has been radically overhauled, particularly in the area of personal banking where we’ve achieved great milestones regarding accounts, consumer transactions and cards, making us online leaders in addition to being specialists in handling products as crucial as mortgages, insurance, savings and investment.” “Business banking is our crown jewel, we’re good with SMEs, we’re the bank for business. In other words, we’ve bolstered our franchise,” he stressed.
Esade Matins are forums where the heads of keynote companies and institutions can address their own challenges and aims, and discuss their track records in them. On this occasion, César González-Bueno, Banco Sabadell CEO, was joined by Daniel Sánchez, chairman of Esade Alumni, Jaume Guardiola, chairman of the Esade board of trustees, and Luis Vives, director of Corporate Relations and Engagement at Esade, who moderated the conversation.
