CaixaBank is diluting the trading empire created by one of the key executives within the group over the past decade. The Catalan bank surprised by the hiring on Wednesday Juan Antonio Alcaraz, a banker who stayed out of the media spotlight but exercised tight control over the revenue-generating arm of CaixaBank. He was also one of the senior executives who had accumulated the most power in recent years as the company continued to grow to become the leader in the Spanish market.
The strength of a commercial bank like CaixaBank lies in its line of business. And Alcaraz had under his command the branch network, retail banking, private banking and corporate banking, which are the engine of the bank’s income generation. He was also president of payments subsidiary (CaixaBank Payments & Consumer) and digital bank Imagin. A true power in the shadow, more or less autonomous, of CEO Gonzalo Gortázar.
Thanks to the Catalan company’s traditional commitment to increasing its presence throughout the country, Alcaraz had a commercial empire that never stopped growing. And in 2021, following the integration of Bankia, she continued to expand her networks. With this transaction, the bank became the market leader in terms of domestic market share in the core segments of retail banking. The branch network grew significantly from 3,570 to 5,700 branches. And although the company embarked on a massive shutdown plan to eliminate the duplication caused by the merger, CaixaBank became a commercial steamroller with an overwhelming presence across the national territory. And at the top of this business pyramid was Alcaraz.
Once the integration is complete, the bank has decided to dilute this vast empire and split into three the responsibilities that Alcaraz had previously concentrated alone. Hereinafter, Jaume Masana Ribalta will run the business Mariona Vicens will be the director of digital transformation and Jordi Nicolau the Director of Payments and Consumers. A tricephaly for the division, leading the organization towards a less pyramidal structure, in which the three managers have a limited scope of action under their responsibility and are under the close supervision of Gortázar, who henceforth stands out even more in the bank’s organizational chart as a great leader, with no powers in the shadows.
CaixaBank’s official statement when announcing Alcaraz’s dismissal that the bank intends to start a new phase once the Bankia integration is complete. The company has entered a new dimension and for this it wants to equip itself with a modern structure in the machine room, specialized in new businesses and adapted to digital transformation and oriented towards sustainable business. Alcaraz is an old-school banker who has amassed a 15-year track record at the bank. He was already one of the strong men of Isidro Faine, the current president of the La Caixa Foundation, which is currently the company’s majority shareholder with 30% of the capital and with whom he usually delegates. Both worked hand-in-hand between 2007, when Alcaraz joined what was then La Caixa, and 2016, the year Fainé left the company’s presidency after 35 years at the helm.
During his career at CaixaBank, Alcaraz weathered the financial crisis that began around the turn of the century and initiated the consolidation of the banking sector. Also with the drought caused by the decade of low interest rates and with the Covid-19 pandemic. He emerged stronger from everyone. Likewise, it has faced the digitization of business that has revolutionized the sector whose battle for customers and sales is being fought online.
After building the largest business empire in Spanish banking, Gortazár has decided that Alcaraz’s work is done and turning the page. The manager, who is valued in the industry, has to look for new horizons far from home from now on.