Spanish banking group BBVA is planning to close 285 branches and cut jobs in Catalonia, after acquisition of the previously nationally-owned Catalunya Banc, reported Catalan News Agency.
The bank will lay off 1,700 employees, which is 20% of the local workforce including Catalunya Banc’s staff as a part of a restructuring plan, BBVA CEO Angel Cano was quoted as saying by the news agency.
According to the new plan, 150 branches from Catalunya Banc will be closed.
BBVA, which has 639 branches of its own in Catalonia, has been working on integrating the 728 branches from the recently-purchased entity.
The acquisition of the Catalan bank will bring positive figures to the group’s results by 2016 and, by 2018, it will generate some EUR300m of BBVA’s total annual profits, said Cano while presenting the first quarter results for 2015.
Catalunya Banc, which was acquired in July 2014, is BBVA’s second acquisition in Spain, and in Catalonia in particular, arising from the restructuring process of the financial system.
