Covert Privatisation
It is necessary to increase the size and efficiency of Spanish savings banks so that they can compete on equal terms in the national and international market. Pursuing this objective was set up FROB and new legal regulation of institutional systems of protection (SIP) or cold mergers. As such mergers, in which several boxes are integrated into a new entity, unlike the SIP do not change the identity of its members. Make sense give the possibility to boxes integrated into a SIP rather than forcing them to merge? is SIP an embryonic stage of privatization of boxes in Spain? The importance of savings in Spain is and has been undeniable, as entity focused on individuals and Spanish families. But what differentiates the boxes of any other credit institution are its obligations towards society. The savings banks are not private entities and their profits directly impact society through his social work in the territory that is their own.
They have a double nature as a credit institution and as foundations of social purpose, remain their governing bodies adapted to, with representation of local political authorities, clients and groups representing social and collective interests. That being so, not always the representatives of these entities manage efficiently financial business. It is an entity of a social nature, and even acting under commercial criteria, cannot attend the capital market to capture resources by issuing shares. This limitation already attempted to alleviate in 2004, creating the so-called participatory quotas, that offered the same economic rights than actions, but without offering any political rights. Of course, if investors have no right to decide about how its money is used the investment is less attractive. In this context, crisis has made clear the need for greater flexibility to capture basic capital resources and to adjust the operational structures. Savings banks have embarked on a process of restructuring which affects three-quarters of the sector and that will be reflected in a significant reduction of the number of entities in the Spanish market (there are 17 groups of entities of 45 boxes existing in a home), a dramatic decline that seeks to strengthen the Spanish banking system.