The new CaixaBank will cut its workforce by 7,000 employees: these are the other major job cuts in the banking industry
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The new CaixaBank has just started its journey after finishing the formal procedures for the integration of Bankia. The bank's shares are already listed on the stock exchange, although its platforms have yet to be integrated, something that is not expected to happen until the fourth quarter of the year.
Before that, the integration of the workforces will take place and with it the departure of employees. One of the reasons that have led the two entities to merge is the synergies that exist. This means that by merging the two entities it is possible to cut back in some areas. For example, if there are two offices nearby, one of them can be closed, saving the entity the fixed costs of the office itself, but also of employees.
For this departure of workers, the entity will begin negotiations with the unions after the Easter vacations. Although there are still no official figures on the number of departures, figures of around 7,000 employees are being considered.
If these figures are maintained, it will probably be the most important employment adjustment in a sector that has seen a drastic reduction in employment since the peak of the bubble. From 2008 to the close of 2019, the latest data available from the Bank of Spain, the sector has shrunk by 94,000 workers.
Figures that will be increased by the data for 2020 and with the redundancy plans that are underway. Santander reached an agreement with trade unions to cut some 3,000 employees and Sabadell is planning around 1,800 departures. To these will be added the job cuts at CaixaBank, which the bank wants to make all at once, although it is likely that the departures will end in 2022.
These are the biggest job cuts that the banking sector has experienced in these years of restructuring of the sector, closure of branches, and the unstoppable advance of digitalization:
The merger of Caja Madrid with six other savings banks gave rise to Bankia: 4,000 employees
Bankia has been one of the entities that has suffered the most employment adjustments in its history. After the bankruptcy of the savings bank system, the Government created the so-called cold mergers, which under the technical name of SIP (Institutional Protection System) conceived a system of consolidation of credit institutions. This was the origin of Bankia, which arose from the merger of 7 savings banks -Caja Madrid, Bancaja, Caja Insular de Canarias, Caja Ávila, Caixa Laietana, Caja Segovia and Caja Rioja-.
The creation of this new bank, which later underwent a controversial IPO, led to the first job cuts. The merger of the 7 savings banks led to the departure of 4,000 workers, who were organized in about 3,200 early retirements and the rest in voluntary redundancies.
The rescue of Bankia ended with the departure of 4,500 workers.
After the rescue of Bankia, which needed an injection of 22,424 million in public aid to float after its flotation, the entity had to adjust its costs as a result of the agreements with Brussels.
Among these measures were job cuts. The unions and Bankia have reached an agreement in principle for an ERE that will affect 4,500 people instead of the 4,900 initially planned, which in any case makes this redundancy plan one of the largest in history.
CaixaBank cut 2,600 workers after the integration of Banca Cívica in 2013
The bankruptcy of the savings bank system ended up with several banks absorbing their businesses which resulted in a cutback of staff and branches. CaixaBank took over Banca Cívica (comprising Cajasol, Caja Navarra, Caja Canarias and Caja Burgos) in 2012.
This absorption caused CaixaBank (at that time still La Caixa) in its integration plans to include the departure of 2,600 employees, a figure that at the beginning of negotiations was to reach 3,000.
Santander after the purchase of Popular: a cut of 3,000 workers.
The bankruptcy of Popular in 2017 and its subsequent purchase for one euro by Santander, an operation that was closed in one night after the intervention of the Single Resolution Board, also ended with a strong staff adjustment.
Just over 3,000 workers of the entity left in an ERE in 2019 where there were voluntary departures and some forced layoffs. To these departures will be added the new ERE approved by the red bank after negotiation with the unions.
BBVA after the absorption of CaixaCatalunya reduced the workforce by 2,000 people.
The bank absorbed CaixaCatalunya after the entity could not be viable on its own.
In 2015, the entity reached an agreement with the unions for a workforce reduction of 1,500 employees, although at the beginning of the negotiations it had been shuffled that it would be 2,000. The bulk of these departures were early retirements.