CaixaBank has completed the technological and operational integration of Bankia. The bank has concluded the process today, after guaranteeing yesterday afternoon and ahead of schedule that all operations were running normally on all channels and for all customers, with a special focus on those users coming from Bankia who, following the integration, will now operate through CaixaBank online banking.
The integration, which has made it possible to unify all the bank’s information and operations under a single platform, posed a huge technological challenge with the successful migration of 10.4 petabytes of information, the equivalent to 45 times the stored capacity on Spotify or 1.8 billion songs in high-quality mp3 format, starting at 3 pm on Friday 12th November. Likewise, with the technological integration, the bank offers a single catalogue of products and services from now on.
Luis Javier Blas Agüeros, Chief Operating Officer of CaixaBank, said: “The technological integration is a crucial moment in any merger process and, in this case, we faced one of the biggest operations in the history of the Spanish financial sector, in terms of business volume, amount of data and the complexity of the technological structures. It has been crucial to have managed it quickly, minimising the impact on clients and with all security guarantees”.
Up to 29,000 transactions per second
From today, the system manages a volume of up to 29,000 transactions per second and a network connecting over 16,000 servers. This is the technological infrastructure required to deploy the full commercial offer and to guarantee services to all the Group’s customers: 21 million, of which 10 million are also customers of the digital banking channels.
The integration has also involved the unification of the technological platform used by all CaixaBank Group’s employees. Although the Bankia-origin employees have had a CaixaBank IT system for some months, as of the integration, they can now use it not only to check their customers’ information, but also to carry out all their daily commercial tasks. This involves adapting the technological equipment of over 44,000 workplaces and around 100,000 smart PCs and mobile devices.
Operational normality in all the bank channels
Also, Bankia-origin customers have been able to check their account balances and banking position and carry out transactions through the CaixaBank digital channels, CaixaBankNow and imagin, from Saturday afternoon. Customers who made card purchases or withdrew money from ATMs on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, can now see their account balance updated, since, due to the integration efforts, these transactions were not reflected in the account in real time. Over the next hours, some employment plans and pension plans’ net asset values will be updated, once market prices are calculated.
The ATM and POS network for retailers are operating normally, as has been the case throughout the entire integration process. Bizum’s money transfer services are also operating without incidents for all customers, as well as instant transfers, funds transfers and stocks trading.
CaixaBank, Spain’s leading bank
CaixaBank is the leading financial group in Spain. After its merger with Bankia, the bank has assets for €685.74 billion, making it the largest bank in Spain, and placing it among the leading banks in Europe. CaixaBank also has a strong presence in Portugal, where it controls 100% of BPI.
The Group, chaired by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri and with Gonzalo Gortázar as CEO, has around 21 million customers and the largest commercial network in Spain and Portugal, with more than 6,000 branches and more than 15,000 ATMs, and it is the leader in digital banking, with a digital client percentage of 71.4%.
