The “preferred shares” that are trapped by the salaries of thousands of savers in a sort of corralito have created a serious problem for the population. They bought a high-interest, high-risk financial product thinking that their money was safe, but when the crisis comes, they're told at the window that they can't get the savings, the small print of the eye contract. The Association of Users of Boxes, Banks and Insurance (ADICAE) has reported that in Hego Euskal Herria there are 17,000 people in this situation, an average of 30,000 euros "kidnapped".

The financial contributions from Fagor and Eroski are very similar. Nor can they be recovered in any way. But there are some differences.

For the financing of the investment: Contributions by Eroski and Fagor

The two largest MCC companies dedicated these products in the 2000s to finance their numerous investments. Eroski was the first in 2002, followed by Fagor in 2004. In those years, Eroski bought Caprabo and was made with the savers with billions of euros he needed for it.

Contributions are issued in the Association of Financial Asset Intermediaries (AFBE), which remain active and generate interest of around 5% for customers. In January, the owners of Eroski’s contributions earned EUR 29 million, compared with EUR 173 million over the last five years. One of the differences with preferred shares is that these interests are guaranteed, do not depend on gains or losses.

Another important difference is the information policy pursued. Buyers of preferred shares have repeatedly denounced that they have been misled. In the savings banks, in many cases, they did not warn the customer of the dangers of the product. The word "scam" has spread to the four winds and collective complaints have already come to court. In the case of Eroski and Fagor, for their part, they produced information leaflets in order to inform about the risk. They claim that they are subordinated products and that they will therefore be the last creditors. Customers were also aware that the contributions are forever, that they will not be returned if cooperatives do not liquidate them.

Lack of liquidity

The only way to recover the money is to put it on sale in the AFBE market, but in the operation you can lose a lot of the money and find buyers is very difficult. To put it somewhat, the client has remained in a limbo between the cooperative and the bank.

Eroski does not intend to buy or endorse these contributions, which currently have a total value of EUR 600 million. This was confirmed by the president of the cooperative, Agustín Markaide, in statements to the newspaper Deia: “No. Crediting financial institutions would not allow us to reduce what was issued as part of our capital and our resources, at least until they bear the debt we have to them. Of course, we understand that the situation is difficult, because at the moment there is a lack of liquidity in the markets.”