Francesc Moragas (1868-1935), founder and first managing director of ”la Caixa”.
Fundación Bancaria Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, “la Caixa”, is the result of transforming “la Caixa” into a banking foundation in June 2014, in compliance with the Savings Banks and Banking Foundations Law of 27 December 2013.
La Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros de Cataluña y Baleares, ”la Caixa”, was founded on April 5, 1904 by the Catalan lawyer Francesc Moragas Barret with the support of various Catalan civil institutions. It was created with the aim of encouraging savings and retirement planning, objectives which today might appear to be merely financial but were, in that historical context, clearly intended to help the working poor to achieve a measure of financial independence and security.
Headquarters of ”la Caixa” in Via Laietana of Barcelona in the 30s.
On April 16, 1904, King Alfonso XIII officially inaugurated the Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez at the Beaux Arts Palace in Barcelona, the setting for many of the city's most solemn events. At the inauguration, the monarch was named Honorary President and protector of the new entity.
Moragas, the first managing director of ”la Caixa”, had an idea: to create a private institution which, in those socially turbulent times, could offer workers and business leaders an instrument to provide retirement and disability insurance. At about the same time Moragas and his associates included savings instruments as well. Thus was born ”la Caixa”, an entity with a new economic and social concept of savings and the first to provide social insurance.
Francesc Moragas promoted an ambitious, professional concept of management which was very different from the predominant model in other savings banks at the time. He offered diversified savings products and created branches in Catalonia's main towns and cities, introducing modern financial management. The territorial expansion of ”la Caixa” continued apace in Catalonia and the Balearic islands with the aim of spreading the advantages of modern finance. In this sense, it should be noted that ”la Caixa” was a Spanish pioneer in social assistance, one of the basic pillars of the current social security system.
”la Caixa”, whose social goal of ending social exclusion was linked with the socioeconomic development of its territory, soon explored new methods of social action. It was also show its innovative character by changing the concept of social work in savings banks.
Until then, ”la Caixa” and the other savings banks dedicated all earnings to reserves, limiting social spending to awarding prizes to depositors and to making small donations to charitable and cultural institutions. Starting in 1917, ”la Caixa” began to allocate part of its earnings to social projects and, in 1918, decided to integrate Welfare Projects into its organization to ensure that they would be managed efficiently and professionally. Rather than providing charity, the idea was to provide a range of social assistance, cultural, and civic services that would improve people's quality of life. Over the years, these innovations were recognized in Spanish legislation.
At the end of the 70s ”la Caixa” decided to create an original new corporate identity to set it apart from other Spanish financial institutions. The idea was to endow ”la Caixa” with a unique personality, both easily identifiable and easy to identify with. The Landor Associates company was hired to tackle the task. Of all the proposals on the table, the most appropriate and innovative was selected. Joan Miró, the most universal Catalan artist, was commissioned to create a tapestry from which an emblem could be taken.
(1) Once ”la Caixa” has been transformed into a banking foundation it is foreseen to transfer all assets and liabilities not related to social welfare (“Obra Social”) to Criteria. This includes the full holding of CaixaBank shares and issued outstanding debt which on 31th of March 2014 amounted to 7,805 M€.
(2) As of 31th March 2014 (55.9% fully diluted in 2017).
(3) Outstanding real estate assets resulting from the Group reorganization in 2011.
In June 2014, “la Caixa” becomes Fundación Bancaria Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, “la Caixa”, in compliance with the Savings Banks and Banking Foundations Law of 27 December.
Within the transformation process, the following agreements have also been reached: on the one hand, the dissolution and liquidation of the “la Caixa” Foundation, which transfers its activity to the Banking Foundation, and on the other hand, the transfer of the “la Caixa” shares in CaixaBank in favor of Criteria CaixaHolding - integrally held by “la Caixa” - so that the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation will go on to hold a share in CaixaBank through Criteria.