By Jesús Aguado

MADRID (Reuters) – The deputy chairman of Caixabank, Tomas Muniesa, will succeed Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri as chairman of Spain’s biggest lender by domestic assets, it said on Wednesday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The reshuffle comes as Europe’s lenders seek to adapt to a changing market environment, with margins under pressure from falling interest rates.

From the start of next year Muniesa will become non-executive chairman in a change from Goirigolzarri’s role, which had included some executive powers.

Gonzalo Gortazar, who has been chief executive since June 2014, will now hold exclusive executive powers, reporting directly to the board, the bank said.

Supervisors of euro area banks favour separation of the chair and CEO roles. At many Spanish lenders, the chair holds executive powers and controls strategy while the CEO handles day-to-day business.

Among his positions, Muniesa had been deputy general manager at Caixabank and managing director of the insurance group. He is currently also deputy chairman of several insurance businesses at lender.

Caixabank said that Goirigolzarri, 70, was “voluntarily disengaging from all responsibilities” after more than three and a half years at the helm.

He became executive chairman of Caixabank after the lender’s 2020 acquisition of Bankia, where he was also chairman. He formally took over as head of Bankia in March of 2021.

“At this moment, when Caixabank is starting a new stage, I consider finished a cycle that I started with my incorporation to Bankia in 2012,” Goirigolzarri said in the bank’s statement.

Caixabank is scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings on Thursday and release its latest strategic plan on Nov. 19.

The bank’s shares were up 0.2% while Spain’s blue-chip index was down 1% at 1322 GMT.

Caixabank’s main shareholders are holding company Criteria, with a stake of more than 30%, and the Spanish state, with 17.9%.

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Mark Potter and David Goodman)