CaixaBank, awarded the Manuel Olivencia Award for Good Corporate Governance in its fifth edition

The panel of judges of the Manuel Olivencia Award for Good Corporate Governance has decided to grant the award, in its fifth edition, to CaixaBank. The accolade honors a listed company in Spain with exemplary governance practices in corporate management and transparency. The panel of judges, chaired by Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, highlighted CaixaBank’s exercise in transparency and accountability, its relationship with its shareholders and other interest groups, the composition of its board of directors—carefully analyzed in terms of diversity and inclusion—and the remuneration policy for the members of the board, among other aspects.

In this edition of the Award, the panel of judges, all recognized experts from Spain’s business and legal world, particularly analyzed different aspects of diversity in the composition of the board of directors. Special attention was given in this assessment to the existence and dissemination of a competency matrix as the tool for analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the board’s composition.

The Award Ceremony will take place in the Cloister of Los Jerónimos at the Prado Museum on Tuesday, November 21. This event will conclude the new edition of an initiative launched in 2018 to offer a reference framework in good governance, and also preserve the memory of the renowned lawyer Manuel Olivencia, vice president of the firm and chair of the committee that drafted the first Spanish code of Corporate Governance in 1998.

CaixaBank is the leading financial group in Spain and a major player in Europe, with total assets of over €611 billion. It also has a strong presence in Portugal, where it controls 100% of Banco BPI. The group has 20 million clients, the largest network of offices and ATMs in Spain and Portugal, and leads in digital banking, with over 11 million clients.

CaixaBank’s vision is that of an innovative financial group with a banking model based on quality, proximity and specialization; and a value proposition of products and services tailored to the needs of each sector. Its leading position in retail banking enables it to play a key role in contributing to sustainable economic growth.

The panel, made up of ten independent experts of recognized standing from Spain’s business and legal world, is chaired by Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, who also chairs Santander Universities and Sanitas health insurance company. He holds a Bachelor of Economics by Complutense University and is a member of the Spanish State Economists and Trade Experts.

The members of the panel are: Juan Arena, former chair of Bankinter and member of the board of Meliá Hotels International; María Benjumea, founder and CEO of Spain Startup; Eva Castillo, former chair of Telefónica Europa and Merrill Lynch Spain and Portugal, and member of the boards of CaixaBank, IAG and Zardoya Otis; Óscar Fanjul, vice chair of Ferrovial; Rosa María García, independent member of the board of Mapfre; Cristina Garmendia, chair of the Cotec Foundation; Ignacio Gil-Casares, external proprietary director of Merlin Properties and member of the appointments and remuneration committees; Luis Isasi, chair of Santander Spain and senior advisor at Morgan Stanley; Francisco Pérez-Crespo Payá, partner at Cuatrecasas; and Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, partner at Cuatrecasas and former deputy prime minister of Spain. In addition, Rafael Hidalgo, counsel at Cuatrecasas, serves as non-member secretary; José Luis Rodríguez, partner at Cuatrecasas, is the award’s director; and Macarena Olivencia, counsel at Cuatrecasas, is honorary chair.

During the process of discussion and voting for the nominations, the panel of judges followed the procedures established in the award rules and the internal regulations and, in particular, the rules applicable to situations involving conflicts of interest, thus avoiding panel members voting in favor of companies if there are possible incompatibilities.

In only four editions, the award has become a benchmark for the recognition of corporate governance best practices by listed companies in Spain. The Manuel Olivencia Award for Good Corporate Governance was awarded to the International Airlines Group (IAG) in 2018, Amadeus IT Group in 2019, Inditex in 2020 and Repsol in 2022.

In every edition, the panel of judges has highlighted the members of their boards of directors, which have an ample majority of independent directors, including their chairs. The panel has also valued their investor relation policies, the duration of the directors’ term of office, the selection of and training policies for the directors, and transparency in remuneration matters. Exceptionally, the panel especially valued aspects related to good governance during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Manuel Olivencia was an accomplished lawyer who combined his vocation for teaching from his chair of commercial law with the desire to share knowledge from his professional work at Cuatrecasas, as a partner of the law firm. His impressive professional curriculum as a lawyer, university professor, undersecretary of education, commissioner of the Expo 92 in Seville and chair of the committee that drafted the Olivencia Code, is supplemented by his personal trajectory and the indelible memories he left in his family, friends, students, colleagues and everyone who knew him.

As a cosmopolite who studied and lived in different countries, he received many acknowledgments throughout his life, both in Spain and abroad. Among his many awards, Olivencia received several Spanish Grand Crosses—the Civil Order of Alfonso X “the Wise,” the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Cross of Military Merit, the Cross of Saint Raymond of Penyafort, and the Cross of St. George of Catalonia. He was named Favorite Son of Ronda and Adopted Son of Seville, and received the Gold Medal of Ceuta, where he spent part of his childhood.