Mexico

Highlights

  • Increase in lending activity, with greater dynamism of the retail segment
  • Relevant increase in net interest income
  • The efficiency ratio continues to improve
  • Excellent evolution of the net attributable profit

Business activity (1)
(VARIATION AT CONSTANT EXCHANGE RATE COMPARED TO 31-12-22)

(1) Excluding repos.

Net interest income / AVERAGE TOTAL ASSETS
(PERCENTAGE AT CONSTANT EXCHANGE RATE)


Operating income
(Millions of euros at constant exchange rate)

(1) At current exchange rate: +44.7%.

Net attributable profit (LOSS)
(Millions of euros at constant exchange rate)

(1) At current exchange rate: +46.8%.

Financial statements and relevant business indicators (Millions of euros and percentage)

Income statement 1H23 ∆% ∆% (1) 1H22 (2)
Net interest income 5,264 42.8 26.6 3,686
Net fees and commissions 1,017 36.5 21.0 745
Net trading income 315 38.4 22.7 227
Other operating income and expenses 178 15.6 2.5 154
Gross income 6,774 40.7 24.8 4,813
Operating expenses (2,057) 32.4 17.4 (1,553)
Personnel expenses (953) 37.2 21.7 (694)
Other administrative expenses (881) 31.4 16.5 (671)
Depreciation (223) 18.6 5.1 (188)
Operating income 4,717 44.7 28.3 3,260
Impairment on financial assets not measured at fair value through profit or loss (1,136) 41.1 25.1 (805)
Provisions or reversal of provisions and other results 5 n.s. n.s. (9)
Profit (loss) before tax 3,585 46.6 30.0 2,446
Income tax (970) 46.2 29.6 (664)
Profit (loss) for the period 2,615 46.8 30.1 1,782
Non-controlling interests (0) 50.5 33.4 (0)
Net attributable profit (loss) 2,614 46.8 30.1 1,781
Balance sheets 30-06-23 ∆% ∆% (1) 31-12-22 (2)
Cash, cash balances at central banks and other demand deposits 11,529 (12.8) (22.4) 13,228
Financial assets designated at fair value 53,881 15.7 3.0 46,575
Of which: Loans and advances 1,588 5.4 (6.2) 1,507
Financial assets at amortized cost 92,237 19.5 6.3 77,191
Of which: Loans and advances to customers 83,693 17.5 4.6 71,231
Tangible assets 2,253 14.4 1.8 1,969
Other assets 4,858 35.2 20.3 3,593
Total assets/liabilities and equity 164,758 15.6 2.9 142,557
Financial liabilities held for trading and designated at fair value through profit or loss 28,813 11.5 (0.8) 25,840
Deposits from central banks and credit institutions 9,836 123.4 98.8 4,402
Deposits from customers 84,865 9.2 (2.9) 77,750
Debt certificates 9,778 26.0 12.2 7,758
Other liabilities 21,384 26.0 12.1 16,976
Regulatory capital allocated 10,083 2.6 (8.7) 9,831
Relevant business indicators 30-06-23 ∆% ∆% (1) 31-12-22
Performing loans and advances to customers under management (3) 84,342 17.5 4.6 71,788
Non-performing loans 2,230 15.0 2.4 1,939
Customer deposits under management (3) 83,270 8.0 (3.9) 77,117
Off-balance sheet funds (4) 49,660 30.0 15.7 38,196
Risk-weighted assets 85,111 18.6 5.6 71,738
Efficiency ratio (%) 30.4 31.7
NPL ratio (%) 2.5 2.5
NPL coverage ratio (%) 129 129
Cost of risk (%) 2.86 2.49

(1) At constant exchange rate.

(2) Restated balances according to IFRS17 - Insurance contracts.

(3) Excluding repos.

(4) Includes mutual funds, customer portfolios and other off-balance sheet funds.

Macro and industry trends

After growing by 3.1% in 2022, economic activity continues to expand at a relatively high pace, mainly due to the dynamism of private consumption, boosted by the performance of the manufacturing industry, and GDP could grow by around 2.4% in 2023, 100 basis points above BBVA Research's previous forecast. The inflation rate, which closed 2022 at 7.8%, has reached 5.1% in June and could average around 5.5% in 2023, well above the central bank's target. Official interest rates, currently at 11.25%, are expected to start to be cut from the last quarter of the year, as inflationary pressures continue to ease.

As for the banking system, with data as of the end of May 2023, the volume of outstanding credit to the non-financial private sector increased by 10.6% year-on-year, with a greater boost from the consumer portfolio (+17.9%) followed by mortgages (+11.2%) and companies (+7.6%). The growth of total deposits remained at levels similar to those of recent months, at 6.8% year-on-year in May 2023, where the recomposition towards time deposits continued (+18.4% year-on-year). The system's NPL ratio remains stable at around 2.41% in May 2023 and capital indicators, for its part, are comfortable.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, all the comments below on rates of change, for both activity and results, will be given at constant exchange rate. These rates, together with changes at current exchange rates, can be found in the attached tables of financial statements and relevant business indicators.

Activity

The most relevant aspects related to the area's activity in the first half of 2023 were:

  • Lending activity (performing loans under management) grew by 4.6% between January and June 2023, with a more dynamic growth in the retail portfolio. The wholesale portfolio, which includes large companies and public sector, grew by 1.6% (despite the negative effect of the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Mexican peso), highlighting the dynamism of the corporate banking segment, explained in part by the favorable economic evolution and the reduced reliance on international debt markets by companies. For its part, the retail portfolio grew at a rate of 7.1%. Within this segment, loans to SMEs grew by 12.1%, consumer loans by 9.0%, mortgage loans by 4.1%, and credit cards by 7.3%. The portfolio continues to be very balanced in terms of the composition in lending activity, with a relatively equal distribution in lending between wholesale and retail portfolio.
  • Customer deposits under management decreased between January and June 2023 (-3.9%), in an environment of high competition to attract liabilities, which was offset by the growth of mutual funds and other off-balance sheet funds, which increased at a rate of 15.7% between January and June 2023, thanks to the boost in commercial.

The most relevant aspects related to the area's activity in the second quarter of 2023 were:

  • Lending activity (performing loans under management) recorded a quarterly growth of 2.2%, with growth in both the wholesale and retail portfolios (+0.4% and +3.8%, respectively). During the quarter, the dynamism of the retail segment also stands out as a result of rising real wages and historically low unemployment rates.
  • With regard to the asset quality indicators, the NPL ratio stood at a 2.5% at the end of June 2023, which represents a growth of 13 basis points compared to the previous quarter as a result of new NPL entries in retail portfolios, mainly in mortgages and consumer loans, although it remains below the same period of the previous year. For its part, the NPL coverage ratio stood at 129% at the end of June 2023, with a reduction in the quarter as a result of the increase in the balance of non-performing loans.
  • Customer deposits under management recorded a decrease compared to the previous quarter (-1.2%), due to lower demand balances (-1.8%). For its part, off-balance sheet funds continued to grow at a rate of 5.7%.

Results

In Mexico, BBVA achieved a net attributable profit of €2,614m by the end of the first half of 2023, representing an increase of 30.1% compared to the same period in 2022, mainly as a result of the notable growth in net interest income, thanks to the strong boost of the activity and the improvement in the customer spread.

The most relevant aspects of the year-on-year changes in the income statement at the end of June 2023 are summarized below:

  • Net interest income recorded a significant growth (+26.6%), as a result of strong dynamism of lending activity and an effective price management, with an improvement in customer spreads, in an environment of rising interest rates and strong competition, keeping the cost of deposits very low.
  • Net fees and commissions increased by 21.0% thanks to a higher volume of customer transactions, especially in credit cards, as well as to the income derived from mutual funds management.
  • The contribution from NTI increased (+22.7%) mainly as a result of the good performance of Global Markets, with an significant contribution from the foreign currency operations.
  • The line of other operating income and expenses recorded a growth of 2.5%, partly thanks to the dividends collected in this line, which offset a flat evolution of the insurance business.
  • Operating expenses increased (+17.4%), mainly due to higher personnel expenses for salary adjustment and increase in workforce in a context of strong growth in activity and the increase of general expenses linked to inflation, particularly marketing and technology. Despite the above, the efficiency ratio continued to evolve favorably, with a significant improvement of 190 basis points compared to twelve months earlier.
  • Loan-loss provisions increased (+25.1%), mainly due to the higher provisioning needs of the retail portfolio. For its part, the cumulative cost of risk at the end of June 2023 stood at 2.86%, in line with the one registered at the end of March 2023.

In the quarter, and excluding the exchange rate effects, BBVA Mexico generated net attributable profit of €1,304m, in line with the previous quarter (-0.5%). This result was affected by net interest income, which was slightly lower than the previous quarter, and by higher operating expenses, which were offset by the good performance of net fees and commissions and NTI.