| Emilio Ybarra | ||||||
The departure of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria’s co-chairman Emilio Ybarra was half expected. But the resignation of CEO and vice-chairman Pedro Luis Uriarte, announced on the same day, shocked the market.
Ybarra was due to retire in March anyway two and a half years on from the merger of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV) and Argentaria. He said integration was completed early and with great success and that although during a merger co-chairmanship made sense “there is no longer any reason for the existence of two chairmen”.
The charismatic Uriarte is widely admired. He started at BBV in 1973, was appointed CEO in 1994 and managed BBVA through the merger to produce one of Europe’s largest and most profitable banks.
Sources close to the bank say Uriarte had differences with Fransisco González, now BBVA’s sole chairman. González was named chairman of Argentaria in 1996 with a government mandate to privatize the bank. As the first non-Basque chairman his tenacious manner clashed with the traditional BBV culture.
With Uriarte’s departure González has a free rein to push forward with a new management team and strategy. The new group CEO, appointed by González and approved by Ybarra, is José Ignacio Goirigolzarri. A BBV man, he will help maintain the balance of power within the bank.
BBVA’s major rival, Santander Central Hispano, was dogged by bitter internal disputes in the summer, which ended in the departure of one of its co-chairmen, José María Amusátegui. But BBVA denies any internal conflict and simply explains that the transitional period is over and it now needs new blood.
