Bankia : “We want to maximise Bankia’s value to make progress in repaying the bailout to taxpayers” says José Ignacio Goirigolzarri

• The volume of financing to companies located along the Henares Corridor, where the conference took place, grew by 15% year-on-year
• 'We are redoubling our commitment to continue working in a highly professional way so that Bankia continues to be the most profitable, solvent and efficient bank in Spain' said Goirigolzarri
• Bankia's chairman reiterated that 'our focus will be our customers, listening to and serving them' so that the bank 'is perceived as being close, simple and transparent'

Bankia's chairman, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, today said that his challenge 'is to maximise the bank's value… and to be able to make progress in repaying the bailout to Spanish taxpayers'. 'We are therefore redoubling our commitment to continue working in a highly professional way so that Bankia continues to be the most profitable, solvent and efficient bank in Spain'.

Goirigolzarri made his comments at the closing event of the business conference entitled 'Future challenges for companies in eastern Madrid: innovation, digitalisation and internationalisation' that was held in Alcalá de Henares in the Region of Madrid and organised by the Madrid Business Confederation (CEIM), the Confederation of Employers and Industries of Spain (CEOE) and the Henares Employers' Association (AEDHE).

The strong performance of the business 'makes us confident that we will achieve our challenge of maximising Bankia's value, which is the best way of supporting the economy and the well-being of our country', said Goirigolzarri.

'I believe that we are on the right track', he said citing the figures for the volume of financing lent by Bankia to companies along the Henares Corridor where the conference was held, 'which has grown during the year by 15% year-on-year'.

Goirigolzarri highlighted the importance to Bankia of the area around the Henares Corridor, which is 'a residential, industrial and business district of important strategic value' in which Bankia has 60 branches and business centres employing 300 of the bank's professionals serving the more than half a million inhabitants in this area, equivalent to 8% of the total of the Madrid Region.

Clear focus on the business segment

Goirigolzarri reiterated the bank's commitment to the business segment in his speech to the large number of business leaders at the conference. 'Bankia is a bank with a clear focus on companies' he said, going on to say that a fundamental part of the bank's value proposal 'is to be capable of offering the best advice' to help businesses with their projects.

Goirigolzarri emphasised that 'our focus will be our customers, listening to and serving them'. Bankia's final objective is to be perceived by consumers as 'a close, simple and transparent bank' and this will affect every aspect of the bank's activities, 'from the design of its products, which we want to be easy to understand, transparent and with no small print, through to the configuration of our virtual channels or in the dialogue we have with our customers'.

He acknowledged that all of this 'will require us to develop consistent and ongoing actions over the coming years… which we already successfully began in January' when the bank decided to eliminate all fees for customers that automatically pay their income into the bank and which was extended to self-employed customers in May together with a package of products and services specifically designed for this segment.

'We want to create the best proposal in the market in terms of service quality at a competitive price… which will push us to become a highly efficient bank' said Goirigolzarri, before adding that 'excellent service quality cannot be sustainable over time if it is not based on excellent efficiency'. The bank's chairman went on to conclude that 'if we want to achieve this differentiating position in the market, Bankia must continue to be the most efficient bank in Spain'.