SAREB wind-down puts its 274 workers' fight in the spotlight

The bad bank's twilight: 274 employees fighting for a way out

The Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria (SAREB), Spain's so-called bad bank, is facing its final liquidation. That means it is time to settle accounts with its 274 workers, who have launched a legal battle to avoid being laid off without reassignment. Their argument: throwing them out on the street would be a waste of public resources, after years of managing the toxic assets inherited from the financial crisis.

Shortly after the entity's closure was announced, the employees began pushing for a landing spot in other public bodies. The controversy was predictable: from its creation, SAREB had an expiry date and its workers knew it. Yet the political promise that it would not cost taxpayers a single euro now clashes with the severance packages and possible reassignments being negotiated in the courts.

A toxic legacy for the public purse

The debate over SAREB's real cost is resurfacing with force. When it was created in 2012, it was said to be self-sufficient and would require no public money. But reality has been stubborn: the real estate assets have been sold slowly and at a loss. Now, with the closure, the 274 employees are demanding to be absorbed by the public administration, drawing criticism from those who see it as a new sinecure.

Some argue these workers were hired for a temporary task and must face the consequences. Others point out that if the State keeps a bad bank running for a decade, it is only logical its employees should not simply end up on the street. The courts will have the final say, but taxpayers already antiestéticar the final bill will be steeper than promised.

The assets dilemma: what now?

While the workers negotiate their future, the real problem remains the huge stock of properties and bad loans still held by SAREB. Under liquidation, those assets will have to be transferred to another entity, which has even led to proposals to create a new bad bank to manage them. An irony lost on no one: shutting down SAREB to open another.

Underlying it all is the question that never quite gets answered: how much has cleaning up the Spanish financial system really cost the taxpayer? Official figures gloss over the numbers, but the data suggest the final outlay will be far higher than expected. And the 274 workers are just the tip of the iceberg of a legacy that still weighs heavy.