Don’t bank on it: The Briefing for 1 May 2025

The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has approved this Wednesday after a frantic meeting BBVA’s opa on Banco Sabadell. The panel of the Competition Chamber, headed by Cani Fernández and four other members, comes after determining that the commitments presented by BBVA are “adequate, sufficient and proportionate to solve the problems that this concentration entails for competition in the affected markets”.

BBVA’s opa soap opera on Banco Sabadell takes a giant step. The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) , at an agonizing meeting of its competition room that has lasted until 7:15 p.m., has given its approval to the Basque entity in its attempt to buy the Catalan one. A decision that was expected for this past Monday but that the massive energy blackout has delayed two days. Everything now remains in the government field. Competit…

CNMC, at a nine-hour marathon meeting, accepts BBVA’s commitments and hardens those related to SMEs

Competition identifies in the OPA "a threat to effective competition in certain areas of the retail banking and payment services market" but considers the commitments submitted by BBVA to address it as "sufficient"

"Without any votes against?! Unanimously?" The disappointment was evident on Wednesday night in the managing environments of Banco Sabadell and flew from telephone to telephone when the resolution of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) was known, which gave the green light to the BBVA opa about the Catalan bank without structural measures.

Reading time approx.: 2 minutes, 14 secondsAccording to Spanish legislation, the government cannot prevent an offer from being made, but it has the last word on whether a merger goes ahead. The government authority then has 1 month to oppose, which is unofficially known as “phase 3 review.” The competition regulatory agency in Spain approved BBVA's proposal to buy its rival Banco Sabadell, although the combined entity will have to accept several…