The CEO of Banco Sabadell, Marc Armengol, has stated that the entity has the right scale to compete in Spain and has ruled out any banking acquisitions following the sale of its British subsidiary TSB to Santander.
On Friday, Banco Sabadell's CEO, Marc Armengol, affirmed that the entity is not considering and will not consider any banking acquisitions, neither in Spain nor abroad, after selling its British subsidiary TSB to Banco Santander. In a press conference held at the bank's headquarters in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Armengol defended that the entity has "the right scale to compete in Spain" and that its priority is to grow in the domestic market.
Armengol, who took on the role of CEO in May, explained that with the divestment in the UK, the bank will now have "more focus on Spain." "We are big enough to invest in innovation and technology, and small enough to make decisions quickly," he noted. When directly asked whether the bank would consider any corporate operation after overcoming the hostile takeover bid from BBVA, Armengol was emphatic: "We are not studying anything nor are we going to study anything."
However, the executive acknowledged that "it could make sense for some operations between medium-sized banks" due to the economies of scale generated by banking. Nevertheless, he clarified that currently all banks of that size have "solo projects," are profitable, and therefore do not consider mergers. "It is very unlikely that anything will happen in Spain," he added.
The Catalan bank has achieved a strong commercial boost in the second quarter of the year, according to Armengol, who predicted that the entity will meet the promised financial profitability for 2026 and 2027. "The revenues and the stock are doing exceptionally well," he stated. The financial officer, Sergio Palavecino, highlighted that revenues and commissions have grown this quarter and that the year will close with positive increases despite the sale of TSB.
Armengol has declared the "valley of the takeover bid" closed in reference to the hostile bid launched by BBVA, and emphasized that in the second quarter there has already been a "very clear recovery of commercial momentum." The bank is "at very high levels of dynamism and this will continue," he insisted, and revealed that the strategy for the remainder of the year is to accelerate revenues and continue to contain costs.
In the area of private banking, Armengol has stated that the entity aims to "compete on equal terms" with other entities, and highlighted the hiring of Adela Martín to lead this business. "We have an optimal scale to compete better than anyone" in the segments we target, he asserted.
Regarding artificial intelligence, Armengol emphasized that Sabadell has been investing in technology for years, which gives it a "privileged" position against its competitors. The bank aims to "leverage" AI to gain efficiency and provide a "better" service to clients, although he advocated for proceeding with caution. When asked about the Mythos artificial intelligence model developed by Anthropic, Armengol noted that "we saw that this is a threat that could materialize" and reminded that banking has been strengthening its cybersecurity for some time. Sabadell has a plan prepared to react to any vulnerabilities.
Regarding the sale of part of the shareholding by shareholder David Martínez, Armengol avoided making comments but highlighted the "very notable" performance of the stock in recent times, even after distributing the extraordinary dividend from the sale of TSB.
The results presentation, the first for Armengol as CEO, has served to set the course for the entity after a period of uncertainty. With the BBVA takeover bid overcome and the TSB sale completed, Banco Sabadell is now focused on consolidating its business in Spain, where it relies on its size and agility to gain market share.
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