Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri has been a critic of Spain's efforts to overhaul its banks. Now the seasoned financier has accepted a job that puts him at the heart of Spain's battle to rescue the sector and, implicitly, the euro zone as a whole.

Goirigolzarri, who had questioned the government reform of Spain's troubled banks in his blog, has been tapped to run Bankia SA, the country's fourth-biggest lender and
which has just been bailed out by the state.

Born in 1954, Goirigolzarri hails from the Basque Country and is a former chief executive of Spain's second-biggest bank BBVA, where he helped run a successful expansion into Latin America from which the lender now gets 49 percent of its revenue.

Out of banking since 2009, he returns to run an agglomeration of seven regional savings banks that holds a tenth of all deposits in the country's financial system.

Of all of Spain's banks, Bankia is the most exposed to toxic assets from a burst building bubble, with 32 billion euros ($41.4 billion) of troubled loans and repossessed property. That legacy puts it at the centre of the banking crisis in Spain, whose financial sector woes make it potentially one of the biggest threats to the euro zone.

Saying it would put the necessary public funds into Bankia to keep it viable, the state took over Bankia on Wednesday night. Sources say the government next plans some 10 billion more in loans or cash aid. It is not Spain's first attempt to fix the sector.

In his blog, goirigolzarri.com, Goirigolzarri wrote early last year that Spain's banks would have to recognize much heavier losses than they were doing under the government's first bank reform, which he said was only a short-term solution.

In February, when the new centre-right government passed its first banking overhaul - the third for the sector in third years - designed to force lenders to recognize huge losses on loans to property developers, Goirigolzarri cautioned the measures would not quickly reactivate lending as the government hoped.

"We must be realistic and precise in our objectives," he wrote, arguing the objectives of the reform should be to recognize losses and demand capital increases, make sure credit
is aimed at viable companies and sectors, and improve transparency and management at the banks.

Much of this has been addressed in the sweeping changes to the sector, but the clean-up has yet to persuade investors that it is a definitive solution.

Good choice

Black-haired and bespectacled, Goirigolzarri has a slight accent betraying his regional roots and is married with two children. He taught strategic planning at Bilbao's University of Deusto in the 1970s before starting his 30 year banking career.

Called on by the government and the central bank to help overhaul Bankia, he asked to be captain of the ship and not first mate, according to financial sources.

His chance to resume his career came after the government pushed out Rodrigo Rato, a former minister for the ruling centre-right People's Party (PP), so Goirigolzarri could take charge and the state bailout would not seem like a favour for a political ally, one financial source has told Reuters.

Rato led Bankia's stock market debut last July, since when the bank's shares have dropped 45 percent. Banking experts say Goirigolzarri is a good choice to tackle Bankia's huge problems.

"Goirigolzarri is a great professional and a well-respected banker," a Spanish banker said on condition of anonymity. "It was very difficult not to see a man of his experience getting involved in the financial sector with what is going on ... If there are three or four good bankers in Spain, he is clearly one of them."

However, another banker noted that while Bankia will have to continue shrinking its balance sheet by at least 30 percent through asset sales and shutting offices, Goirigolzarri is known most for an expansion drive.

Goirigolzarri first joined Banco Bilbao (BB) in 1977, and when it became BBV headed its commercial division in Spain then its expansion into Latin America.

The bank became BBVA and he was its chief executive from 2001 to 2009, leaving with a 68 million euro package after Chairman Francisco Gonzalez changed the company's statutes to extend his time in the role, effectively blocking Goirigolzarri from the chairmanship.

Now he will run one of BBVA's biggest competitors on the Spanish retail banking front and his judgement and experience will be at a premium.

People who have worked closely with Goirigolzarri say he carefully analyses every option before taking a decision. "It's true that he is not very fast in making a decision," said someone who worked with him for many years. "But once he has decided on something he is almost always right."