The return of major companies to Catalonia in recent weeks, having taken their registered offices elsewhere due to political turmoil, could pave the way for more firms to make the move back and is a sign of the region’s economic potential, according to the regional and national governments.
This week the La Caixa banking foundation and its investment arm Criteria announced they are moving their registered offices back to Barcelona. They moved to Palma de Mallorca in 2017 as part of a corporate exodus from Catalonia caused by the region’s efforts to secede from Spain.
La Caixa said that “the circumstances that caused the temporary transfer of both headquarters to the city of Palma in 2017 no longer exist”.
Salvador Illa, the Socialist president of the north-eastern region, described the return of La Caixa and Criteria as “a sign that we are on the right path”. The economy minister in his government, Alicia Romero, went further, suggesting it showed that Catalonia could “recover economic leadership”.
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The tumult of 2017, which saw the region’s parliament declare independence before the central government implemented direct rule, caused an estimated 4,500 companies to move their registered offices out of the region. Meanwhile, Catalonia lost its status as Spain’s leading economic power, slipping behind the Madrid region.
Sabadell, Spain’s fourth-biggest bank which had moved its offices to Alicante during the political crisis, returned to Catalonia in January. Mr Illa and the Socialist-led Spanish government attribute these developments to a calmer political atmosphere in the region driven by policies which have involved engaging with and making concessions to pro-independence parties.
“We can expect a gradual return of the companies that left because that is a response to normality and judicial stability,” said Spanish economy minister Carlos Cuerpo. “It’s a virtuous circle and it is the opposite of what we saw in 2017.”
Catalonia, whose economy is driven by tourism, industry and services, currently represents 19 per cent of Spanish GDP, which grew by 3.5 per cent in 2024.
However, while the return of Sabadell, La Caixa and Criteria is seen as setting a precedent, it is not expected to trigger an immediate avalanche of companies moving back to Catalonia. There are no reports of other large corporate players planning to make the move.
Pro-independence politicians have also welcomed the news of La Caixa’s return. Oriol Junqueras, leader of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and who was imprisoned for his role in the events of 2017, said he expected lender Caixabank, in which La Caixa has a major share, also to return soon. Jordi Turull, of the hard-line Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and who was also jailed, said the decision by La Caixa was “the correction of a mistake”.
