BARCELONA – A wave of mergers is sweeping across the Spanish banking sector as lenders face up to a pandemic-induced recession, ultralow interest rates and growing competition from financial technology startups.
CaixaBank, Spain’s third-largest bank, and Bankia, its fourth-largest, approved a merger in September which will create the nation’s biggest domestic lender with around 664 billion euros ($788 billion) in assets in the country.
And BBVA, the country’s second-largest bank, announced Monday it was in talks with Banco Sabadell, Spain’s fifth-largest bank, over a possible tie-up.
If successful, it would create Spain’s second-largest domestic bank, far ahead of Santander, which would still remain the…
