Málaga (EFE).- Unicaja Banco has agreed to the departure of its CEO, Manuel Menéndez, just before its continuity with more functions had to be reassessed, when the transitional period after the merger with Liberbank expired, as reported this Thursday to EFE financial sources.
This march comes two months after the entity’s Malaga bloc regained control of its board of directors as a result of the general meeting held on March 30, in which the Unicaja Banking Foundation -the bank’s largest shareholder- had a key role.
Menéndez, from Liberbank -an entity based in Asturias and absorbed by Unicaja in 2021-, was in the crosshairs of the Malaga bloc a long time ago when the exchange equation of that merger was reversed, which formally gave a majority to the sector from the old Unicaja -with roots in Malaga-, but in practice it did not turn out that way.
This departure was foreseeable given the alteration of the distribution of power agreed upon in the operation, which occurred with the help of the former proprietary directors of the Unicaja Foundation and the former president of the Unicaja Foundation, the historic Braulio Medel, who finally had to resign the last year beset by strong criticism.
Unicaja Banco, the fifth Spanish financial institution, will thus imminently address the renewal of its leadership and will do so when there is still room for the transfer of power or succession planned before the end of the transitional period after its merger with Liberbank.
Meeting of the Unicaja Foundation
Events have precipitated and a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Unicaja Foundation has been convened for today, in which relevant issues related to this crucial moment for the future of the financial institution will be addressed, the sources have assured.
After the meeting of the body of the foundation, of evident influence due to its weight in the bank, movements could follow, such as the holding of a council, while Unicaja Banco has not commented on this situation.
The Unicaja Foundation already gave a notice by abstaining in the approval of the management of the board of directors during the shareholders’ meeting.
The departure of Menéndez and the replacement of the four proprietary directors of the Unicaja Foundation have occurred in the new stage of this foundation, chaired by José Manuel Domínguez, which opened a new period after the resignation of Medel at a transcendental moment for the bank .
The Protectorate of Banking Foundations, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, came to express serious doubts that Medel had the necessary commercial and professional suitability and honor to carry out its functions and requested a report on the governance of the foundation.
Unicaja will change its governance model
The end of the transitional period of two years after the merger of Unicaja with Liberbank should take place at the latest on July 30 and this will mean changing the governance model of the entity.
In this way, the position of president, held by Manuel Azuaga -coming from the old Unicaja-, will lose executive functions and it was planned to decide if Menéndez would continue in office and with more power or another first executive would be chosen. Now we will have to look for someone to replace him.
Most of the functions that now fall to the presidency must be transferred to the designated CEO.
The victory of the Malaga block of Unicaja Banco in the fight for its control, after voting against the ratification of two independent directors at the last shareholders’ meeting, gave way to this key process of renewing the leadership of the entity.
The institutional crisis that has surrounded Unicaja in recent years has its origin in what the Malaga sector considered an inversion of the exchange equation agreed upon in the merger.
After the merger of Unicaja and Liberbank, there was an alteration in the established distribution of power -60 percent of the former compared to 40 percent of the latter- as the previous directors of the Unicaja Foundation aligned themselves with the Asturian side and invested the weight of the balance EFE
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