Although Isidro Fainé has long been regarded as one of the most powerful people in Spanish finance, the discreet and softly spoken chairman of La Caixa has tended to shun publicity. After years of attempts to secure an interview with him, it was only the imminent listing of Caixabank – the operation carved out of the group in the latest move to restructure Spanish savings banks – that persuaded him to relent.

When he speaks, the 68-year-old executive sounds nothing like a typical banker. He talks candidly about his background and unusual career and converses in a disarming, stream-of-consciousness style.

Perhaps this is not surprising for someone who started working at the age of 13 in a bicycle repair shop and later wangled his first job in a bank by marching into the chief executive’s office and promising to work hard and learn about finance.