The board of directors of Unicaja has unanimously agreed to appoint José Sevilla as the new president of the entity, replacing Manuel Azuaga. The move completes the changes at the top of the sixth Spanish bank by market capitalization and resolves the governance crisis after the merger with Liberbank in 2021.
Sevilla was CEO of Bankia during the presidency of José Ignacio Goirigolzarri and a key executive in the restructuring of the entity before its integration into CaixaBank. Among his last functions was that of director of Renta 4.
The board of Unicaja has just appointed him an independent director with the aim that, once the European Central Bank (ECB) gives its approval, he can be appointed president of the board of directors, a position that will then be ratified at the shareholders' meeting.
Azuaga, 76, submitted his resignation at the end of November after seven years in office and, at that time, the bank announced the search for a new president with the help of external advisors, which has allowed it to have a shortlist of candidates.
In accordance with the terms of the merger with Liberbank, Sevilla will be president without executive functions, which will correspond to the CEO, Isidro Rubiales, appointed in July of last year. The main shareholder of the bank is Fundación Bancaria, with 30.2% of the capital.
Rubiales, a director of the house, had replaced Manuel Menéndez, in a move that resolved in favor of Andalusian interests a two-year confrontation for power with the directors from the old Asturian and Castilian savings banks.
The exchange ratio for the merger granted 60% of the capital to Unicaja and four seats on the board of directors, compared to 40% and three seats for Liberbank. However, the president of the Unicaja Foundation, Braulio Medel, took the Asturian side, which triggered a battle that claimed the position of eleven Unicaja directors in just two years, set off the alarms at the Bank of Spain and has now been resolved.
