The Alicante-based bank has held up, without justification, an intercompany transfer from 11Onze for more than a week. From 11Onze, it is interpreted as a desperate manoeuvre to try to boycott the progress of the Catalan community fintech.

Last Wednesday, 6 July, 11Onze made a transfer between companies in the group, to carry out its ordinary tasks. A regular operation that has been carried out many times before in recent months without any issue. But this time, Banco Sabadell blocked the arrival of the money, without even notifying 11Onze.

When prompted by Oriol Tafanell, 11Onze’s financial director, Banco Sabadell has never justified the reason for blocking 11Onze’s funds. On Friday 8 July, 11Onze accredited the origin of the money, but it has continued to be blocked. “It doesn’t make any sense because we have made this same transaction many times for larger amounts. They know perfectly well where the money comes from and how we use it”, assured Tafanell.

On 14 July the money was still blocked, in an indisputably illegal manner and for no accredited reason. So Tafanell went to the Banco Sabadell branch in Terrassa, which held the account in question.

Bad faith and lack of knowledge

Once there, there is a new surprise: the head office (Alicante) has informed the branch workers that 11Onze’s money can be unblocked as long as it is used to pay salaries or taxes. One more abuse. “Banco Sabadell cannot tell 11Onze how to use its money, which, moreover, has been blocked for no accredited reason, which is blatantly illegal,” explained Tafanell. In the eyes of 11Onze, it is clear that there is a desire to cause harm to the entity, to a competitor that bothers them. “They have been watching the movement of money for months, seeing the flight of capital from their clients to 11Onze. And they are not amused. But just because they don’t like it doesn’t mean they can stop it”, Tafanell remarked.

The director who doesn’t manage

At this point, 11Onze forced an urgent meeting with the director of the office in question. An unsuccessful meeting because, as the director admitted to Tafanell, everything is decided from Alicante and the offices are purely intermediaries. Insisting on the illegality of the blockade, Tafanell demanded to know the reasons, based on some regulation or law. “For our part, there is no breach of the law against the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which is what is normally monitored in international movements of so much money,” explained Tafanell. In this respect, the director of the office acknowledged that he was unaware of the law because it was long and complex. So, after more than 4 hours in the office, 11Onze considered it necessary to let the staff of Banco Sabadell know that by blocking the funds of the 11Onze community, their entity was committing an illegality.

The situation at Banco Sabadell

In the absence of any real reason for blocking 11Onze’s money, the most plausible explanation is the undisguised desire to harm an entity that is increasingly competing with the entity from Alicante. Moreover, Banco Sabadell’s delicate situation is no secret, as we explained in 11Onze Check (11Onze Check: Banco Sabadell is doing very well – 11Onze). In the last few weeks, the bank has fallen sharply on the stock market because of the doubts it generates and because it has always been seen as the weakest of the big banks. The emerging economic crisis could be the coup de grâce for the bank and has perhaps set off alarm bells at Banco Sabadell. So far, this is the only plausible hypothesis that justifies the bank’s strange manoeuvres against 11Onze.

And the money?

Banco Sabadell will have to unblock the money in its destination account or return it to its account of origin. They will have delayed some operations, but they will not, in any case, be able to stop the progress of 11Onze. Obviously, the Alicante-based bank will have to answer for this abuse to the relevant authorities.

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