One might not expect to find a relaxed and smiling chairman behind his desk at Bankia, the biggest financial casualty of Spain’s double-dip recession, but José Ignacio Goirigolzarri may have good cause to feel confident about the progress achieved since May 2012. That was when the former CEO of BBVA, Spain’s second largest bank, took the reins at Bankia, with the brief of turning around an institution that was struggling for its very survival.
Bankia’s problems arose over its large exposure to the property sector, the collapse of which had sent the Spanish economy into freefall. In December 2010, seven savings banks, known as cajas, created a conglomerate called Banco Financiero de Ahorros (BFA), which was in effect a mutual support mechanism set up to deal with the group’s urgent capital needs. The major shareholder was Caja Madrid, Spain’s second largest caja, which held a 50% interest. In May 2011, BFA was restructured, with the group’s banking assets transferred to Bankia.