César González-Bueno takes command of Sabadell and divides its structure in Spain into three large areas

Landing in a big way César González-Bueno as the new CEO of Banco Sabadell. The ECB has given its approval to his appointment and as soon as it is official, the entity has also announced a reorganization of the group’s businesses in Spain, setting up an organization chart with a flatter structure in which the promotion of internal talent stands out.

In his first hours as CEO, González-Bueno (61), who replaces Jaime Guardiola due to retirement, has presented the new organization of the bank, which will have as main axes a greater focus on the client and the cost effectiveness. To do this, Sabadell will create three business units in Spain, Individuals, Companies and Corporate, endowing each area with greater autonomy of management and responsibility.

According to the bank, the unit Individuals will be reorganized to adapt the offer of products and services to the needs of customers, so that digitization will be a key element of support to more than 3,500 professionals in the branch network. The Personal Banking department, which will temporarily be in the hands of CÃsar González-Bueno, until the next appointment of its future manager, will be structured in product units, in order to ensure greater proximity to the customer .

In addition, it will have a private banking address to meet the specific needs of this customer segment.

For its part, the management of Companies and Network will be directed by Carlos Ventura, who will also be in charge of the commercial network, and his objective will be to consolidate the position of this division and increase the volume of business efficiently. Business Banking will be structured from now on by segments, from the self-employed to large companies.

Sabadell’s third business division will be that of Corporate banking, which will continue to be directed by Josà © Nieto and structured in customer units to serve and manage the relationship with large corporations. This new organization, CÃsar González-Bueno states in a statement, must allow Sabadell to carry out its strategy focusing on the customer and profitability: “Each business is structured differently because the needs and priorities of their clients are also different. ”

The new CEO highlights that with this remodeling, more than a third of the people who are part of the new top-level management team “have agreed after internal promotion, unequivocal proof of the commitment to talent.”

Will not sell TSB

As for the international subsidiaries, TSB and Mexico, led by Debbie Crosbie and Francisco Lira, respectively, they do not experience organizational changes and their strategy will continue to focus on accelerating profitability and increasing their contribution to the group. At the moment, Sabadell stresses, “no sale process” of these subsidiaries will be started “in the near future”.

Meanwhile, González-Bueno will continue working on the preparation of the new strategic plan, which he plans to present next May. The reorganization of Sabadell also implies a new organization chart designed to provide the different business units with greater agility and autonomy: each one will be responsible for its income statement and its directors will be responsible for part of the corporate functions and capacities of the areas of Finance, Organization and Resources, Operations and Technology, Risks and Legal Advice.

The bank’s general secretariat will continue to be led by MarÃa Josà © Beato and there will be a cabinet of the CEO and Strategic Planning headed by Marc Prat.

Gabriel MartÃnez remains in charge of the Communications area. Leopoldo Alvear, former Bankia manager, will control the Finance department; Xavier Comerma for Risks; Miguel Montes for Organization and Resources, and Marc Armengol for Operations and Technology. For his part, David Vegara will be responsible for Risk Regulation and Control and Núria Lázaro for Internal Audit.

Step next to Oliu

The landing of González-Bueno in Sabadell will also mean that the president of the bank, Josep Oliu, step aside and leave executive functions.

The new CEO is a manager with more than 23 years of experience in the financial sector: he founded ING Direct Espaà ± a and was CEO of that bank in Spain and Portugal, as well as directed the creation and sale of EVO and the refloating of Novagalicia Banco before its sale to Abanca.

Is linked to Banco Sabadell since March 2020, when he was appointed director of TSB, the British subsidiary, for which he is very knowledgeable about the reality of the entity. The Madrid manager takes over from Jaume Guardiola, who is retiring after thirteen years as CEO and who from now on will preside over the bank’s franchise in Mexico.