News

• Banco Sabadell meets with its managers to explain the main guidelines of its strategy for 2018-2020.
• The Chairman of Sabadell explains that the improvement in profitability, the focus on UK and Mexico, technology capacities and customer experience are the priorities of the new Strategic Plan.
• CEO, Jaime Guardiola, emphasises the excellent results achieved in 2017 across all business areas, as well as the normalisation of problematic assets.

Today, Banco Sabadell gathered more than 1,800 people together at the Palacio de Congressos de Cataluña for its Annual Management Meeting, an event in which the results achieved this year were disclosed, as well as the outlook for the new Strategic Plan 2018-2010, created under the strategic position of “Anticipating and Caring”, which is expected to be approved next year. The main pillars of the plan are the improvement in profitability, as well as the consolidation of the franchise in United Kingdom and Mexico, strengthening the brand, improving customer experience, and boosting technology capacities.

Chairman of Banco de Sabadell, Josep Oliu, has explained the concept of “Anticipating and Caring” as “proving ourselves to society as an organisation which strives to act in an ethical and responsible manner, while always seeking to generate a positive impact. To our shareholders, we must be seen as an organisation which strives to deliver attractive and sustainable returns. To our customers, Sabadell is a bank which anticipates their worries and needs; and looking at the team, we are an institution which anticipates its employees’ needs.”

Looking to the future, the Chairman also explained that “we must maintain our leadership in the SME segment, with a competitive and systematic commercial offer which is relevant, consistent and effective”. The Chairman also wanted to remind us that “it is fundamentally important to increase value creation for our shareholders". Our shareholders have invested their savings in us, and they are the foundation which has allowed us to enjoy the position we are in today”.

To summarise, Oliu explained that “we are the protagonists of a major project and of a great company of the future”, and that for 2018-2020 “we are going to remain close to our customers, improve our profitability and develop our franchise in the United Kingdom and Mexico”.

CEO, Jaime Guardiola, expressed his satisfaction with the achievements in 2017, a year marked by the “return to commercial normality”. With regard to TSB, Guardiola explained that “the integration of Proteo 4UK is an unprecedented project in Europe, a project in which more than 1,000 professionals have participated.” He added that the integration of Proteo 4UK would result in significant cost savings for the Group and that “it would offer a significant boost to our growth in the United Kingdom”, where the SME business is expected to be set up once the technology migration has been completed, from the first quarter of 2018.

Guardiola also positively valued the reduction in problematic assets. One year ago, the bank set itself a target of reducing its non-performing assets (NPA) by €2,000M. “Our target was ambitious”, and it shall be fulfilled.”

Regarding the bank’s activity, Jaime Guardiola positively valued the “excellent commercial performance across all businesses and geographies”.