Unicaja Finalises Liberbank Takeover

Malaga based bank Unicaja has completed its take over of Madrid based Liberbank to become the fifth largest bank in Spain.

Liberbank is a leader in the retail banking leader in much of central and nothern Spain, including  AsturiasCantabriaCastile-La Mancha and Extremadura.

The two banking groups announced their merger in December 2020 and came amid a wave of banking mergers in Spain.

The president of Unicaja, Manuel Azuaga, said the merger would allow the new group to “better face the challenges of the sector.”

Unicaja Banco, is a leading bank in Andalucia and was established in 1991, as a result of the merger of five Andalusian local savings banks while Liberbank was also a result of previous mergers of regional banks.

The new entity will be the fifth largest in Spain by assets behing  CaixaBank, Santander, BBVA and Sabadell, with 113 billion Euros in assets with some 4.5 million customers.

Manuel Menéndez, CEO of the new company, said that the merger “will provide value for shareholders, customers and employees, improving efficiency and profitability levels, and will strengthen the market position in retail banking, with a robust and quality balance.”

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