Unicaja Banco SA will limit the powers of Executive Chairman Manuel Azuaga, and CEO Ángel Rodríguez will report to the board of the directors instead of Azuaga, following recommendations from the ECB, El Economista reported.

Under a new governance structure, Rodríguez will be responsible for general banking business such as commercial and corporate banking as well as credit risk and IT, while Azuaga will be in charge of risk control, strategy and relationships with supervisors, compliance and audit, the paper said, citing sources.

The ECB had been advising for some time that CEOs take more control of a bank's management so that executive presidents are not liable for all decision making as a way of reducing risk, according to the Jan. 10 report.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA separated the responsibilities of Executive Chairman Carlos Torres and CEO Onur Genç at the end of December 2018, the paper said, after former Executive Chairman Francisco González retired, the report said.