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The Escape of Sabadell

The Escape of Sabadell

Alicante is set to lose the headquarters of a major bank, yet it will remain strong, or perhaps even stronger, with Sabadell's departure.

Vicente Llopis Pastor

Vocal de la Junta de Gobierno del Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Economistas de Alicante

Domingo, 26 de enero 2025, 07:40

The Banco de Sabadell was founded in 1881, a time when many local banks existed, which over time have disappeared through mergers or acquisitions by larger banks. Banco de Sabadell, now known as Banco Sabadell, was one of the local banks that emerged in the latter half of the 19th century, most of which have vanished, unlike Banco Sabadell, which continues to exist and is the fourth largest Spanish bank measured by its Average Total Assets (ATA) of around 300 billion euros; only surpassed by Banco Santander, with 1.7 trillion euros in ATA; BBVA with 650 billion euros in ATA and Caixabank with 600 billion euros in ATA.

Its operations have been very successful and were largely focused on associations, entities, guilds, professional colleges, and others. This provided a certain solidity that allowed it to weather all the adverse issues faced by Spanish financial intermediaries, while also making shrewd decisions to acquire some small banks; for example, Banco Urquijo, Banco Atlántico, Banco CAM, which emerged from the disappearance of the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo and lasted only a few years until Banco Sabadell acquired Banco CAM at a public auction for the nominal price of 1 euro, along with more than 5 billion euros to cover potential losses in the real estate sector, among others.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, it has emerged as one of the major banks, through the acquisition of others, with the support of the Spanish Monetary Authority.

Pressure Group

Its Board of Directors is composed of Catalan businessmen and entrepreneurs, which signifies a pressure group in Spanish politics. Following the distrust generated by the false vote to create the Catalan State on October 1, 2017, and without knowing in advance the consequences it might have, thousands of Catalan companies moved their headquarters outside of Catalonia, including Banco Sabadell, which relocated its headquarters to Alicante. Since then, it has been favourably accepted by the clientele of our province and as a result, Alicante is considered a very important financial hub, only surpassed by Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Santander, which is a form of accreditation and confidence in our province at an international level.

Since 2008, the expansion has been enormous and with the situation generated by the false vote on October 1, 2017, which established the independence of Catalonia within Spain, the headquarters of Catalan companies have proliferated in numerous provinces and, of course, Banco Sabadell's, located in Alicante. Its Board of Directors remains unchanged and continues in the hands of Catalan partners. Therefore, Alicante disappears as a financial hub that hosts the headquarters of Banco Sabadell.

For more than seven years, Banco Sabadell's headquarters have been in Alicante. Now its Board of Directors has decided to return to Plaza Sant Roc in Sabadell, and the province of Alicante ceases to be an important financial hub within Spain.

Repercussions

In light of Banco Sabadell's departure to Catalonia, we must consider what repercussions it will have on Alicante. Broadly speaking, it will have the following consequences:

a) Operations with its clients. It will hardly be noticeable, as with modern technologies and the market economy maintained in Spain, what was defined as "market" as "a place of concentration of goods and services through a common unit, which is money," the term place is no longer used, as one can operate, and moreover quickly and instantly from any point in the world and in a few seconds, so the place as genuine of the market has less significance. In other words, it will not affect much.

b) The relocation of its headquarters to Catalonia will hardly affect Banco Sabadell's functionality, among other things because it continues with an identical Board of Directors as now, with a majority of Catalan directors.

c) It will have fiscal consequences as Banco Sabadell pays corporate tax according to where it is located, which is a national tax and will affect Alicante in matters such as rates, local taxes, and some related tax formulas. This will not be of a fabulous amount either.

d) It may affect the employment level, as the "Back Office" structure will be reduced and some employees will be transferred to Barcelona and may even negotiate their resignation as employees. This could involve something more than a thousand people, in a bank that has 25,000 employees.

e) Its credit concessions as a commercial bank are more diluted in Alicante and concentrated in Catalonia.

Losing the Feeling of Having a Major Bank

In conclusion, the Alicante society will lose the feeling of having a large bank, but operations will not be significantly affected. We regret its return to Catalonia, but we understand that it will not mean neglect for its Alicante clients, as with current technologies, operations can be conducted even from the other side of the world, and information and telecommunications technologies (ICT) will serve to mitigate the effects that could occur and will be very few.

Alicante is set to lose the headquarters of a major bank, yet it will remain strong, or perhaps even stronger, with Sabadell's departure.

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