Banco Sabadell returns HQ to Catalonia after leaving amid independence push

Banc Sabadell has approved the return of its headquarters to Catalonia seven years after moving to Alicante amid the Catalan independence push.

The entity changed its fiscal address due to the uncertainty due to the political situation in Catalonia at the time, according to the bank's leaders.

The bank makes this move in the midst of a hostile takeover bid by BBVA.

The board of directors approved the move in an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday evening and decided to relocate its headquarters to Sabadell once again.

"City that gave name to the bank back in 1881 when it was founded, and where the company was established during 136 years," a statement shared to investors reads.

The decision to return to their "place of origin" comes as "currently, the circumstances that pushed the bank to move are no longer in place," the text reads.

The company states that the change of headquarters "will not have any consequences for its clients, which will continue to have its same services and operations, and the same point of contact to do any financial operations and receive assessment."

Workers of Banc Sabadell will "not have any impact" with the decision, as "they will continue to work in their current sites," the company wrote in the statement shared with investors.

Sources from the Catalan government avoided assessing the move on Wednesday morning, as the bank had not yet made the decision official. 

Sabadell was one of the thousands of companies that made the decision to leave Catalonia in October 2017 when the self-determination referendum organized by Carles Puigdemont's government, ruled illegal by the Constitutional Court, pitted the Catalan administration against the rest of the state structure.

At the time, it was argued that the decision was taken to stop the flight of deposits from people who feared that the independence process could lead to the loss of their savings.

Seven years later, with the pro-Spanish unity Socialists in charge of the Catalan government, Banc Sabadell has decided that it is time to return its headquarters to Catalonia.

Banc Sabadell stock dropped 0.84% on Wednesday from €2.1370 to €2.1190. Meanwhile, BBVA dropped 0.81% from €10.4400 to €10.4250.

At the end of last year, Ciments Molins became the first company to return to Catalonia.