BANKER
A Style of Banking
His Principles
Banco Popular was Luis Valls’s personal commitment and he left an indelible mark on its development and growth. “The Popular was him,” is how those who worked alongside him for decades expressed it, defining a complete alignment between the entity’s operating philosophy and the personality of its president. If he had certain principles, the bank reflected them.
Solvency, efficiency, profitability, transparency, and independence
No more, no less — these were the hallmarks of Banco Popular, which everybody knew. Luis Valls himself outlined and described 1 them after nearly forty years since his arrival at the bank:
Regarding solvency, he said: “We are a classic commercial bank with a minimal industrial portfolio. Stick to what you know best. We have opted for a clientele not consisting of colossal companies, but of medium or small creditors, and for diversification across economic sectors.”
On efficiency, he maintained: “The virtue that Banco Popular has sought to cultivate has not been intuitive brilliance, but technical prudence. And, responsibilities have been distributed through the various levels of command.”
He explained profitability thus: “Perhaps the most accurate characteristic has been to prefer safety and profitability over adventure and size, financial quality over quantity. This modesty has kept us somewhat on the sidelines in the race among the big players in the sector but, on the other hand, it has enabled us to rank first in profitability.”
On transparency, there was no room for doubt: “In the archives there are no numbers hidden from the tax authorities, monetary authorities, the media, or the shareholders. Banco Popular is always an open book.
Finally, he defined independence as: “No person, family, or group has dominated the shareholding, which is widely distributed among people of all backgrounds, people who have reiterated their trust in administrators without internal tensions and with a sense of tradition, continuity, and foresight.”
A humanistic banker
Guido Stein also finds these principles as a banker at a deeper level2. The Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Economics and Business Management maintains that Luis Valls was not only the helmsman with an adeptness for numbers of a bank which was named several times the most profitable in the world. He was also a person who lived “a multifaceted life, inspired by what matters most – that is, which is people and doing what is right.”
In his professional role, he allowed this to permeate. Stein considers that “the expression of a personal vocation (was) rooted in religious convictions inspired by San Josemaría, Founder of Opus Dei, which had an underlying, indelible, and permanent reflection on the decision-making and action criteria that permeated his style of governance and management.”
Bibliography
(1) In an article written by him and published in the newspaper El Nuevo Lunes on February 18, 1991. (2) Professor at IESE Business School and Director of the Negotiation Area, author of the book Decision and Action. Recovering Common Sense: Drucker, Valls, and Buffet, among others (McGraw Hill, 2022), from which these quotes are extracted.
