José Sevilla, appointed this Friday as non-executive president of Unicaja, arrives at the fifth Spanish bank by volume of assets backed by his prestige and professional experience after having been José Ignacio Goirigolzarri’s right-hand man at Bankia and having held various positions of responsibility at BBVA.
Sevilla’s name, whose appointment must be ratified at the next shareholders’ meeting, was also mentioned last year to occupy the position of CEO of Unicaja, replacing Manuel Menéndez, a position now held by Isidro Rubiales from Malaga.
The former CEO of Bankia assumes the presidency of the main financial institution in Andalusia, replacing Manuel Azuaga, who took over from Braulio Medel at the bank in 2016 and who, at 76 years old, announced his departure from the presidency last November . .
A long career
José Sevilla (Madrid, 1964) appeared as a favorite of the main shareholders of Unicaja in the pools to be the successor of Manuel Azuaga, in which names such as Antonio Román, former Business Director at Santander, and the former independent director have also been considered. by Unicaja Ana Bolado.
With a degree in Economics and Business Sciences from CUNEF, José Sevilla was an independent director of Renta 4 Banco since March 2022 and was a key player in the restructuring of Bankia and its subsequent integration into CaixaBank.
He worked at BBVA from 1997 to 2009, where he was general director of Risks and member of the management committee, director of the Presidency and the Americas Strategy and Finance division and director of BBVA Bancomer (Mexico).
In 2012 he joined Bankia as general director of the Presidency and executive director, and through his cabinet he spent the day-to-day management of the bank, a role that was recognized in 2014 when he was appointed CEO, a task that culminated in 2021 after the merger with CaixaBank.
Seville’s objectives in Unicaja Banco
According to financial sources told Efe, the Madrid banker faces the challenge of acting as a counterweight to the entity’s CEO, Isidro Rubiales, who has been in office for a few months.
Also to please the European Central Bank (ECB) after the governance crisis that has affected the entity in recent years due to tensions between the Malaga and Asturian blocs, linked to the Unicaja sector prior to the merger with Liberbank and the Coming from the latter.
During the Bankia refloating stage, Seville maintained a direct relationship with the current vice president of the ECB, Luis de Guindos, with whom it maintains good harmony.
Sevilla also has experience in the field of analysis. Between 1995 and 1997 he was a senior European bank securities analyst at Merrill Lynch; From 1989 to 1985, analyst of Spanish banks and head of the Variable Income analysis department at FG Inversiones Bursátiles, and between 1988 and 1989, junior auditor at Arthur Andersen.