Fernando Casado, Full Academician of the Real Academia de Ciencias Económicas y Financieras (RACEF) was yesterday appointed as the new President of CatalunyaCaixa, the entity arising from the merger of Caixa de Catalunya, Caixa Tarragona and Caixa Manresa. Casado, who substitutes Narcís Serra as head of the new savings bank, after his appointment he stated that is main objective is to “contribute professionalism” in order to improve the entity. “CatalunyaCaixa – he said – is a project that is rooted in Catalunya and with great expectations within a context that offers problems and opportunities”.

A candidate arising from consensus, Casado was proposed by the Provincial Council of Barcelona and also with the support of that of Tarragona, the two founding entities of Caixa Catalunya and Caixa Tarragona, which emphasised his professional and academic background and his role as head of the Institute for Family Businesses. CatalunyaCaixa commenced operations on the 1^st of July, as the second largest savings bank in Catalunya and will now have a network of 1215 branches and 8000 employees in the whole of Spain.