Excluding the effect of the merger, Caixabank recorded an adjusted profit of €2.022 billion in the year to September, due to commercial activity and lower provisions, compared to €726 million a year ago. According to Norbolsa analysts, “Caixabank’s results are better than expected at the bottom line (+23.1% vs. estimate) mainly due to a very low cost of risk in the quarter (18 b.p. vs. 45 b.p. e). Apart from…
Caixabank (CABK) has finally reached an agreement with the unions to carry out an adjustment plan of 6,452 employees, equivalent to 15% of the workforce, after reducing the initial proposal by 1,839 people (22%). The departures are expected to take place between November this year and March 2022. And all of them will be voluntary. According to analysts, the associated impact on the profit and loss account is estimated at…
The Catalan bank has informed the trade unions of the adjustment resulting from the merger with Bankia. The plan, in principle, includes the lay-off of 8,291 workers, 18% of the group’s workforce in our country, although the final figure could be lower depending on the negotiations that began last week. Until now, the most significant restructuring plan in the Spanish financial industry was carried out by Bankia in 2013 and affected 4,500 workers.
Before clompleting its merger with Bankia, Caixabank wants to reorganise its balance sheet and will put up for sale portfolios of problematic assets worth 1 billion euros. The doubtful assets CaixaBank intends to divest have been divided into two portfolios. The first, called ‘Project Hermitage’, is made up of ‘unsecured’ credits valued at some 600 million euros. The second one, under the name ‘Louvre Project’, consists of credits worth some 400 million euros with a real estate guarantee.
Last night the boards of Bankia and Caixabank approved its merger. The operation, which will retain the CaixaBank brand, is structured as a merger of Bankia into CaixaBank. The combined entity’s total assets will exceed €664 Bn, a volume that will make it the largest bank in the domestic market, with an important position at a European level and a market capitalisation of over €16 billion. The management aims at a target of 770M euros of cost savings and revenue synergies of €290M.
Alphavalue | The ECB´s reflationary strategy has caused doubts among investors about the business plans of Spanish banks, in particular Caixabank, articulated in terms of the improvement in the net interest margin over the expected future rise in interest rates (which, incidentally, we do not expect any time soon).
Morgan Stanley | We lower profit estimates for Spanish banks at an average 4.6-5% for 2020-2021 given the sensitivity of these to a further flattening of the rate curve as a result of a more dovish ECB.
Link Securities | CaixaBank has announced that the Bank of Spain has notified it formally of its minimum level of eligible assets (MREL), as has been determined by the Single Resolution Unit (JUR, in Spanish).
Until the tense situation in the country is resolved, we believe the Spanish stock market will continue to suffer more than its European peers. As an example of this, in the week up until October 4, Spanish equity funds lost $229 million, according to market data firm EPFR.
Link Securities | Despite the ongoing uncertainty in the wake of last Sunday’s referendum in Catalonia, investors returned to the Spanish markets yesterday, buying up both equities and bonds. The main driver behind this renewed interest is the decision by top Catalan banks, Sabadell and Caixabank, to move their headquarters away from their home base.