Kutxa

The origins of Kutxa go back to 1879, when the ‘’Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad Municipal de San Sebastián’’ was founded in the city of San Sebastián with a view to providing credit for business. In 1896 the ‘’Caja de Ahorros Provincial de Guipúzcoa’’ followed. In 1990 both entities merged into a single savings bank, hereafter known by the commercial name of Kutxa.

In 2006 it had 128 offices in Gipuzkoa, where it was the first financial entity, and some other 145 offices out of this territory. It then commenced a steady expansion period. Its staff amounted in 2006 to above 2,500 employees. However, since the eruption of the economic crisis (2008) and the savings banks’ merger, Kutxa has undergone a restructuring, cutting down significantly the amount and distribution of Kutxa branches.

Criticism

Despite their remarkable performance in the Basque and Spanish context, the Basque savings banks have got directly entangled in the general measures exacted by the Spanish Government on banking. The 2013 governmental decisions, reportedly meant to target bankrupt and mismanaged financial institutions, made no operative distinctions between healthy or corrupt banks. The central government's measures also point to additional political implications in that they may overrule existing Basque attributions and powers on banking and foundations, as set out on the Basque Statute of Autonomy.

The Conservative Spanish Government has pointed to a necessity for transparent and efficient management, but it is itself badly affected by corruption scandals by 2015 (arrest of Rodrigo Rato, former Bankia president, ex-vice Prime Minister, and ex-president of the IMF). The two main Basque political parties, as well as grass-roots associations have voiced their concern for the transformation of the institution.

The Basque branch of the Socialists has not opposed the move, while the Basque Nationalist Party has seen no legal option out, begrudgingly accepting a conversion of Kutxa into a bank foundation. Meanwhile, EH Bildu, the leading political force in Gipuzkoa has bitterly criticized the new course of Kutxa on the grounds that the re-foundation of the institution releases internal control organs, and calls into question the effective continuity of the Community Fund. The left-wing Basque nationalists cite in that respect the mismanagement and failure of Caja Navarra in Navarre, one that refused to join a merger of Basque-Navarrese savings banks in the 2000s.