The decision was finalized after Liberbank’s deal with BMN and Unicaja failed and the former joined Ibercaja and Caja3, who had already agreed to merge.
The merger is said to be the latest in the series of such deals that reduced the number of such banks from 45 to less than 10.
The new bank will hold troubled loans to developers of about €12bn wherein Ibercaja will constitute 46.5% of the new bank, Liberbank and Caja3 will be 45.5% and 8% respectively.
Spanish banks have been hard hit in the recent months due to the country’s fragile fiscal situation, which had led to requesting a €19bn bailout from the European Central Bank.