Unicaja does not rule out a new workforce adjustment in a context where, despite higher interest rates, it needs to improve its profitability. This has been indicated by the group’s financial director, Pablo González, who has indicated that the board of directors is studying a new cost reduction, which could include an ERE -without setting the scope and voluntary conditions-, with the aim of improving profitability improve on the cost side. The bank has just presented its quarterly results, which show a decrease of 43% to 34 million euros. With these accounts, shares of Unicaja Banco fell nearly 8% in the Stock Market’s first bars. The group explains that this drop in profit is explained by the impact that the temporary bank tax has had on its accounts, which has had an impact of 63.8 million euros. The entity has a capital surplus of EUR 1,711 million compared to regulatory requirements. While the bank is considering various options for leveraging it in the short or medium term, it has indicated that the trend is to continue generating capital. One of the options for Unicaja is to increase shareholder compensation through a share buyback program, something that would already be on the table with the board of directors. In this regard, the Chief Financial Officer recalled the experience of both the entity and Liberbank before the merger by absorption in share buybacks. The second option would be to invest in the business itself to make it more profitable. Specifically, the possibility is being considered of investing it in one of the companies where the bank sees room for improvement but is already there, such as consumer finance or private banking. Within this second option, González notes that Unicaja is looking into improving profitability on the cost side as well. “The municipality is studying a possible cost reduction through a new personnel adjustment,” he said. However, he indicated that this measure should be agreed with the legal representatives of the employees, “as has already been done on previous occasions”, said the finance director. It should be noted that the entity already recorded a 7.2% decrease in the inter-annual rate of its personnel costs in the first quarter after undertaking an ERE in 2022 that envisaged the departure of 1,513 employees as a result of the merger by absorption with Liberbank . At the end of 2021, Unicaja already agreed to an ERE with the unions after the merger with Liberbank. That agreement set a maximum output of those 1,513 employees, 15.6% of the total workforce it had at the time. These exits would be added to the 1,200 early retirees, 730 employees on leave from Liberbank and 437 of those from the former Unicaja Banco that has already been agreed. In other words, more than 2,700 employees left the new bank in just a few months.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
