Spain's third largest bank to exit Catalonia over voting tensions

Caixa Bank has approximately 25 per cent of its global business based in Catalonia

Spain's third largest bank will move its headquarters from Catalonia due to increased tensions post voting on an independence referendum.

Caixa Bank took the decision to move out after an order from the government in Madrid made it easier for companies to move their bases out of the area, the Independent reports.

Another bank, Sadabell, has already moved out of Catalonia and relocated to Alicante.

Caixa Bank, which approximately has 25 per cent of its global business based in Catalonia, has been a major sponsor of social and cultural programmes in the region.

On October 3, Catalans took to streets of Barcelona to condemn the violent crackdown by Spanish security forces during the referendum on independence, in which 893 people were injured.

The Catalan Government said it had earned the right to split from Spain, claiming 90 percent of those who voted in last week's poll were in favour of independence.

Catalan nationalists have always argued that the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language, and that it should have increased fiscal independence.

In 2006, the Spanish government backed Catalonia's calls for greater powers. But, four years later, that status was rescinded by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that while Catalan is a "nationality," Catalonia is not a nation in itself.