The General Board of CAN approves joining the Civic Banking Group
The General Board of CAN approved the process for CAN's integration into the Civic Banking Group at an extraordinary meeting held this morning. The proposal met with 29 votes in favour, none against and one abstention.
In his speech, the Chairman of Caja Navarra, Miguel Sanz, referred to two “processes key to the future of Caja Navarra which place it at the forefront of the sector”: the creation of a Consolidated Economic Group and the statutory reform. Regarding the first, “groundbreaking in its ideation”, he highlighted that it is a project “governed by strictly business-based criteria, which seeks efficiency, business complementarity, the elimination of overlapping and a shared desire to spread the civic banking strategy from our territories of origin to the rest of the national and, particularly, international markets”.
On the statutory reform, he announced that “the statutory text agreed on by the two administrations will soon be approved by the Ministry of the Economy and Treasury, and the Government of Navarra”. “Both processes are key to the future of Caja Navarra and place our bank in a privileged position from the point of view of business, professional development and our relationship with society in the face of a future without doubt set to be tremendously demanding and competitive”, he added.
CAN's two partners in the Civic Banking Group, CajaCanarias and Caja de Burgos, whose Boards of Directors have already approved the project, will convene their General Assemblies (equivalent to CAN's General Board) on the 25th and the 27th of March, respectively, to reach their final decisions. The Group then needs approval from the supervising bodies, whose administrative authorisation is required in order to start work as a Consolidated Economic Group.
The Civic Banking Group first saw the light of day in October 2009, when Caja Navarra and CajaCanarias agreed to form an economic group and unify business. Caja de Burgos then joined the process in December. While the three banks make headway in their integration plan, two new savings banks may join the project: on Tuesday the 9th of March, Caja Ávila and Caja Segovia signed the protocol of intent, a document which sets the studies and negotiations required to join the group in motion.
The formula of integration will be through the creation of a Consolidated Economic Group (GEC) which will release consolidated results and stand before the supervising bodies and international markets as a single entity. However, the formula allows each savings bank to keep its legal status, run its own social project work, keep its brand and manage its own commercial networks in its territory of origin, maintaining its local roots and commitments to economic, social and institutional development.