Banco Popular fired the first warning shots after the announcement of its results in January, when its chairman, Luis Valls, said he did not rule out the possibility of acquiring or merging with another bank. At the same time, Banco Popular’s general secretary, Manuel Martín, said that, in addition to its Pta200 billion ($1.6 billion) in free capital, the bank could raise another Pta400 billion “within 24 hours”.
“We realized in January that we needed to assure long-term growth to offset tighter margins that would affect the entire banking system,” says Martín.
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