The National Confederation of SMEs (CONPYMES), an organization that represents more than 2 million small and medium-sized companies in Spain and of which ANAFRIC, is a member, has been outright against the banking concentration that would result from the successful public offering of acquisition of shares that BBVA launched today Thursday from Banco Sabadell, and which represents the first hostile takeover bid in the history of the Spanish stock market.
The president of CONPYMES, José María Torres, considers that the banking concentration that has been occurring in recent years, and that would increase with the merger of the two aforementioned entities, is already causing “serious consequences” in the financing of both small and medium-sized companies as well as the rest of the citizens of our country, given the reduction and concentration of the existing financial offer. It must be taken into account that, if this operation succeeds, in practice there would be only 3 large banks that would control three quarters of the Spanish financial market, along with another 4 small banks that would control the remaining quarter, which contrasts with the most of 100 banking entities and savings banks that existed three decades ago.
For this reason, as Torres warns, this new banking concentration “would accentuate the oligopolistic situation in a strategic sector, such as banking, aggravating the difficulty of small and medium-sized companies in accessing the granting of credits and financing lines, in many cases essential to be able to continue developing their activity.”
For this reason, CONPYMES considers it necessary for the Government to articulate the necessary legal and control mechanisms that guarantee a sufficient level of real competition in the banking sector so that both the Spanish business productive fabric and citizens in general can freely and diversifiedly access the financing they need.
