Caixa Laietana to merge with Caja Madrid, Bancaja and four others

Mataró (CNA).- The board of directors of Caixa Laietana has given its green light to the merger led by Caja Madrid. The merger will keep the commercial brand names of the individual savings banks. Caixa Laietana will join six other savings banks: Caja Madrid, Bancaja, Caja Insular de Canarias, Caja Segovia, Caja Ávila and Caja Rioja. All together they will overtake La Caixa as the third Spanish banking group.
Caixa Laietana has approved this Monday the Integration Protocol as well as the Viability Plan for the formation of an ‘Institutional System of Protection’. This legal figure of Spanish financial legislation foresees a mechanism of self protection for credit institutions that are linked as a single group but keep their brands. Caja Madrid, the second largest savings bank in Spain after the Catalan giant La Caixa, is leading a large merger with seven other savings banks. Since its options in the reorganisation of the financial landscape were decreasing, Caixa Laietana has now decided to join the operation.

The new group will send documentation to the Bank of Spain today for its approval. It will also ask for 4,465 million euros from the Fund for Controlled Restructuration of the Banking Sector. The Valencian Bancaja savings bank has also given its final OK today. Caja Madrid will have the control of the new group, with 52.06%. Bancaja will have the 37.7% and Caixa Laietana a small 2.33%. The new banking group will have 340,000 million euros of customer resources, becoming the first savings bank group in Spain and the third financial institution after the private banks Santander and BBVA.