Isidro Rubiales, a director of the house, will become the new CEO of Unicaja, replacing Manuel Menéndez, with which the sixth Spanish bank by market capitalization completes a decisive step to fully resolve the governance crisis after the merger with Liberbank.
Unicaja's board of directors has agreed to appoint Rubiales as the company's new executive director, as communicated in a note sent to the CNMV. He will occupy the position that Menéndez had left once the bank has obtained the corresponding regulatory authorization.
Rubiales is responsible for Control and Relations with Supervisors of the bank and works closely with the president of Unicaja, Manuel Azuaga. He has come to perform the highest functions in areas such as Strategy and has prevailed over other candidates in a process in which the bank considered relevant external profiles for its new stage.
At the beginning of June, the bank's board of directors agreed to the removal of Menéndez as chief executive, which resolved in favor of the Andalusian faction a two-year confrontation for power with managers from the old Asturian and Castilian savings banks.
The merger exchange equation 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, sided with Asturias, triggering a battle that claimed the posts of eleven Unicaja directors in just two years and set off alarm bells at the Bank of Spain.
After forcing several trustees of the foundation to leave Medel a year ago, José Manuel Domínguez assumed the presidency and, together with the president of the bank, Azuaga, has been taking steps in the rebalancing of power until once again decanting it in favor of the Andalusian bloc.
The arrival of a CEO with all executive functions was one of the crucial milestones in the merger process. The integration agreements set July 30 of this year as the deadline for the president to abandon executive functions, which should pass to a CEO, whose name is known today.
