The Board of Directors of Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo appoints Bernabé Sánchez-Minguet as chairman
He succeeds Luis Rodríguez González, the first chairman of BCC-Grupo Cajamar, in the role.
The Board of Directors of Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo (BCC), the parent company of Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar, has this afternoon unanimously approved the appointment of Bernabé Sánchez-Minguet Martínez as chairman of the institution, following a positive suitability assessment by the European Central Bank. He succeeds Luis Rodríguez González, the bank’s first chairman since its establishment in January 2014, who is stepping down voluntarily as he approaches his 70th birthday.
Luis Rodríguez has carried out his duties with distinction since BCC’s inception, having led the consolidation of Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar as Spain’s leading cooperative banking group. As the group’s parent, BCC has been responsible for setting common policies, preserving the financial stability of its 19 member institutions, representing the group before regulatory bodies, ensuring that business objectives and regulatory requirements are met, and improving the service provided to the more than 3.8 million customers of the Group’s member banks.
Sánchez-Minguet takes up the chairmanship at a time when Grupo Cajamar has posted record profits, ranks as the third most solvent among Spain’s ten significant financial institutions and has established a presence throughout Spain. His tenure as chairman of BCC will undoubtedly be shaped by the Group’s roadmap of continued diversification, growth and consolidation, harnessing the latest technological advances to position Grupo Cajamar as one of Spain’s top financial institutions.
The new chairman of BCC thanked all the board members for the trust they have placed in him, acknowledged the outstanding leadership of his predecessor and highlighted the important role the bank plays within Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar. He stated, “as has been demonstrated again and again, the commitment, unity and capability of our outstanding team, working with integrity and tenacity, have positioned our Group among the leading financial institutions in Spain, with a particular concern for sustainability and quality of service.”
Sánchez-Minguet added that “progress in digitalisation, together with the cooperative nature of our Group, our closeness to customers and our personal approach, will help us, more than ever, to anticipate our customers’ needs, maintain their trust and continue to contribute to the economic and social development of our country.”
Both the new chairman of BCC and all members of the Board of Directors unanimously expressed their gratitude to Luis Rodríguez for the commendable work he has carried out over the past 11 years, especially for his many contributions and the extraordinary effort, dedication, professionalism and value he has brought to bear throughout his long career within the Group.
Bernabé Sánchez-Minguet Martínez
The chairman of BCC-Grupo Cajamar was born in Valencia in 1961 and holds a degree in Law, with a specialisation in Business Law, from the University of Valencia. He studied English and German at Trinity College London and the Goethe Institut and has also completed specialised training courses in banking management, cooperative management, insurance, and personal and managerial skills development.
With an extensive career devoted entirely to the Spanish cooperative banking sector, he has spent his entire professional life at CajaCampo, Cajamar Caja Rural and Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo.
He joined CajaCampo in 1983, holding successive roles as controller and branch manager and later, within the central services, taking responsibility for Internal Audit, Investment Management and the General Secretariat. In 1990 he was appointed deputy general manager and in 1994 general manager of CajaCampo, a position he held for 17 years until its merger with Cajamar in 2011.
From 2011 at Cajamar Caja Rural, and from 2015 at Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo, he served as Corporate and Investment General Manager, also overseeing and coordinating matters relating to Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar and its member institutions based in the Valencian Community. In June 2015, when he was appointed executive counselor of Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo, he added to his coordination duties within the Group those of the director responsible for Resolution and Sustainability matters, chairing the relevant committees, while also representing the Group in national and international bodies, associations and forums related to cooperative banking.
General Meeting of Shareholders
At the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo-Grupo Cajamar held this morning, the management report and accounts for financial year 2024 were approved. The shareholders also ratified the re-appointment of board members Antonio Cantón Góngora as an independent counselor and María López Fernández as a dominical counselor.
The outgoing chairman of BCC-Grupo Cajamar, Luis Rodríguez, expressed his gratitude to all the Group’s professionals, as well as to the shareholders and members of the Board of Directors, “for their support and their efforts throughout these years to make the Group a model of excellence for Spain’s credit cooperatives and to expand our cooperative banking model throughout the country.”
At the start of his remarks, he paid tribute to the victims of the October and November 2024 floods and praised the exemplary conduct and commitment shown by the entire Group at that difficult time. “They not only responded as diligent professionals of a financial institution; they also devoted resources, time and effort to supporting all the affected municipalities. We can be proud to have people like them in our organisation.”
Luis Rodríguez noted: “We are entering a new cycle, in which we have continued to improve our non-performing loan and solvency ratios, comfortably meeting regulatory requirements. These results—€326 million at the close of 2024—are a testimony to the sustained efforts of our entire organisation and have resulted in the upgrade of our credit ratings by the three agencies that assess us: Fitch Ratings, DBRS Morningstar and S&P. We now have an investment grade rating with all of them. But we must continue to aim to achieve the highest possible ratings in the years ahead.”
In closing, he spoke about the future, noting that although it will no longer be his responsibility, “throughout last year we worked on the design of a new 2025-2027 Strategic Plan, which, as you would expect, puts the emphasis on environmental sustainability, as well as strengthening our customer relationships and the ongoing drive for efficiency and productivity.”