BARCLAYS Bank's operations in Spain have been bought out by La Caixa for the sum of 800 million euros.
Personal banking, asset management and corporate banking will be taken over by CaixaBank, which will acquire 550,000 of Barclays' customers, 270 branches and 2,400 employees.
Barclays Bank, S. A. U. will continue to have a presence in Spain, albeit a much smaller one,
and will focus on its investment banking and Barclaycard lines of business only.
As at June this year, Barclays in Spain had 18.4 billion euros in loans and mortgages held by customers, with 9.9 billion in deposit accounts and 4.9 billion euros' worth of assets under management – a total business portfolio of 33.2 billion euros.
CaixaBank chairman Isidre Fainé says the purchase operation will 'bring a highly-qualified and professional team' to the company from Barclays – blue-chip employees 'focused on offering excellent-quality service' to their customers.
The buy-out is subject to getting the green light from the relevant authorities and regulatory bodies, but is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
