HUMANIST
Relationship with Politicians
Luis Valls was interested in people. He wanted to know them, interact with them, listen to what they had to say and learn from them, regardless of their way of thinking or their political tendencies. At a time when political transition was on the horizon but the Spanish population was still highly polarized, he managed to establish friendships across the entire social spectrum, from left to right. He was never bothered about the political opinions of the people he was interested in, and he demonstrated this tolerance as a person and a banker.
The Office for Political Parties
Before the 1977 elections, the Government issued a Royal Decree-law encouraging banks to help finance the election campaign. As Luis Valls explained, there were various reactions. But it is easy to guess his choice about where to begin; as Ángel Ron1 explains, Popular had already anticipated this by creating a specialized office to finance political parties years earlier. “The idea was to advance money to finance the campaign in the form of credit, calculated on electoral expectations and the subsidies they would receive per vote and seat (‘and for no other reason,’ as he always clarified).” If they could repay it, why not lend it to them? he reflected.
Journalist Fernando González-Urbaneja2 got straight to the point in an interview the year before: Would you finance political parties? His answer left no room for doubt: “My role as an administrator of others people’s assets disqualifies me from making donations with the bank’s money for political instead of charitable or religious purposes. I agree with this disqualification and maintain a principle of not giving money to a lost cause. However, if it’s about lending money, one should view the political party as another service enterprise. In such a case, for example, we could advance the money that the Government will grant them.” While some bankers turned a deaf ear to the government’s suggestion (arguing that they saw it as a high-risk operation), others decided to support only those parties which were aligned with the ideologies of their top executives. However, believing that within his own bank, there was representation of all political colors (among employees, clients, and shareholders), Luis Valls decided to take the step, and indeed, Popular was the only bank to lend money to the Communist Party. As those who worked with him for decades comment, it wouldn’t be surprising if Luis Valls himself encouraged Santiago Carrillo to open the first Communist Party account at Banco Popular after it had emerged from clandestinity (see annex)
Finance for All
Starting from the 1977 elections, Popular granted credits like these in all the subsequent general elections. Luis Valls always defended that credit requests, regardless of the applicant, should be analysed at Popular like any other client, whether an individual or a legal entity, with professional criteria, without taking into account ideologies or other considerations. He literally said: “Credit is granted when the Bank’s analysts estimate that the client will generate enough resources to repay it; in this case, when the expected electoral results and the consequent subsidies from the State suggest there will be no problem in recovering it.”
This position was always maintained at Popular. In the Topics Repertoire sent to shareholders at the end of 2000, it was reported: “This year, Popular granted credits of 1,607 million pesetas to PSOE, 1,350 million to PP, 650 million to IU, 70 million to Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, and 30 million to the Aragonese Party. Given the election results, it is clear that the Bank overestimated IU’s chances, whose credit, nevertheless, will be recovered with more or less effort from the client—who is serious—and from the Bank. In the other cases, recovering the credits will not present problems.”.
His friends in politics
Not necessarily because of these gestures which he wanted to make to parties he did not personally align with, Luis Valls made good friends in left-wing parties and unions. Two people who have or had fond memories of him are precisely Luis Solana from PSOE and Antonio Gutiérrez from Comisiones Obreras. Not to mention Santiago Carrillo, with whom he shared long conversations and a fondness for cigars (see annex).
In an obituary3 written upon Luis Valls’s death, politician and businessman Luis Solana highlighted this open and tolerant character of his friend: “I believe that, since the times when Sánchez Asiaín or Emilio Botín accepted talking with me, no banker has had the constant interest in relationships, dialogue, or political curiosity that Luis Valls showed me. Naturally, I understand all those who, when you’re not in power, push you aside. It’s normal. The curious thing is that Luis Valls treated me the same when I had some power as when I wasn’t much of anything.”
An ally of the unions
On one occasion, the communist CCOO union leader, Antonio Gutiérrez, was asked about Luis Valls, and he defined him as “one of those historical figures who embodied the tolerant spirit of the Spanish transition”4. He spoke from personal experience, as Popular helped with several projects Gutiérrez was committed to.
Beyond good gestures, as the journalist explains, Antonio Gutiérrez remembered the relationship with a person with whom, “despite his being from Opus Dei, and knowing that I am a confessed atheist, we maintained a warm relationship. I have often admired his Calvinist work ethic. It didn’t seem like he was from Opus in this regard. And his discretion. With businessmen who flaunt their wealth, Valls always preferred to stay in the background.”
Bibliography
(1) Prologue of the book History of Banco Popular. The Struggle for Independence (Gabriel Tortella, José María Ortiz-Villajos, and José Luis García Ruiz, Marcial Pons, 2011). (2) Interview by Fernando González-Urbaneja with Luis Valls, Banking Also Thrives in Democratic Regimes (El País, 5/12/1976). (3) Obituary Luis Valls, Can he Be Repeated? by Luis Solana, Spanish politician and businessman (La Razón, 15/03/2006). (4) Article by Ana R. Cañil Luis Valls Taberner: The Story of a Portrait (El Periódico de Aragón, 25/10/2004).
