Spanish-lender BBVA is eyeing up a bid for
Barcelona-headquartered savings bank, CatalunyaCaixa, according to
Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
CatalunyaCaixa is the fourth-largest savings
bank in Spain, the result of a merger last July between Caixa
Catalunya, Caixa Tarragona and Caixa Manresa.
CatalunyaCaixa serves around 4.1m customers
via a distribution network comprising 1,200 branches and has assets
of over €81m ($110.8m)
A wave of consolidation across the Spanish
banking sector is expected; on 10 October, Spanish lender Banco Popular
agreed to acquire Banco Pastor in an all-share deal worth around
€1.35bn.
La Caixa ranks first in Spain by branches
(5,316 outlets), ahead of Santander/Banesto with a combined 4,687
outlets; Bankia (3,946) and BBVA(3,092) rank third and
fourth-largest by that measure.
Banco Popular (2,118 branches) combined with
Banco Pastor (603 outlets) will have a combined network of 2,706
units.
