2023-08-01 04:15:00
The board of directors of Unicaja Banco has chosen the economist from Málaga Isidro Rubialesmanager with a long history in the house and right hand of the current president Manuel Azuagato relieve the Asturian Manuel Menendezwho in June agreed to leave as CEO of the bank after a bitter power struggle in the financial institution between the Malaga sector and the Asturian sector from the absorbed Liberbank.
As LA NUEVA ESPAÑA published, Rubiales was the best positioned to access the position and this despite the fact that the European Central Bank (ECB) had expressed its preference for an external candidate who was oblivious to the power struggles in the bank. In fact, Unicaja contracted the services of an independent candidate selection agency, Spencer Stuartwho presented several names to the bank’s appointments committee, among which, according to various sources, was the former CEO of Bankia, Jose Seville. However, the Unicaja Foundation asserted its shareholding weight within the bank to tip the balance towards a director of the house who is of the highest confidence of the current president, Manuel Azuaga, who will finally cede his executive powers – as required by the merger pact between Unicaja and Liberbank regarding the transfer of powers from the president to the CEO – to Rubiales from Málaga and not to Menéndez from Asturias.
Menéndez will remain in the position until the regulators give the nod to the appointment
The appointment of Isidro Rubiales as executive director of Unicaja will not be effective until the corresponding regulatory authorizations are obtained, including the approval of the European Central Bank, which will carry out a suitability test. Until these authorizations are obtained – which could be delayed at least until September – Manuel Menéndez will continue in office. It will not be until then when the exit agreed with the Asturian economist last June, which includes the payment of one million euros, takes effect. Likewise, the appointment of Rubiales, when it is effective, will allow the execution of the new governance model of the entity, with executive power concentrated in the director and no longer shared with the president.
Unicaja sources highlighted that Isidro Rubiales, who until now was deputy general director to the President of Unicaja Banco, has extensive experience in management positions at the financial institution, in key areas, such as strategy and the relationship with supervisors, “which It provides him with a broad strategic vision in business management and in-depth knowledge of the organizational structure, operation and evolution of the entity, essential in order to face the new scenarios and challenges of the financial sector”.
The same sources added that the Board of Directors “considered and valued the professional profile of Isidro Rubiales, as well as his extensive experience in fundamental areas of the entity’s management and his ability to respond to the challenges that it faces, after the transitional period after the merger by absorption of Liberbank”. Among them, they mentioned giving impetus and continuity to the strategic plan –focused on boosting profitable and sustainable business growth, developing digital capabilities– which aims to keep Unicaja Banco as a benchmark entity in its home territories –including Asturias– and one of the main financial institutions in the country, and continue its trajectory of financial solidity and ties with the territories in which it operates.
The appointment has the support of the unions and is received with a fall in the markets
The appointment of Rubiales was received yesterday in the markets with a fall in the value of the shares of Unicaja Banco of 1.67%. It was one of the Ibex 35 values that lost the most in a day with a general fall of 0.45%.
For their part, the unions with representation in the bank yesterday made a positive reading of the appointment by preferring a manager “who knows the house well” to an external one and also considering that “he defends labor relations and a commitment to the nearby territories to that of the old boxes”.
From Unicaja Banco it was stated yesterday that with the appointment of Rubiales the entity “begins a new stage”. He wants to turn the page after two years of internal struggles that began after the merger by absorption between Unicaja and Liberbank. The tensions, which had already arisen due to the weight of each bank in the resulting entity, already surfaced after the first board of directors of the merged entity, when the four directors representing the Unicaja Banking Foundation – all of them related to former president Braulio Medel– supported Manuel Menéndez –as did other directors from the old Liberbank– so that the CEO, as the person in charge of managing the business, would assume responsibility for the banking strategy, which had initially been assigned to Isidro Rubiales , deputy general director to the president and person of maximum confidence of Manuel Azuaga who yesterday was appointed new executive director. Between those two episodes, a struggle that took first Braulio Medel as president of the Unicaja Foundation, then the directors related to him and finally Manuel Menéndez.
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