Spain
Highlights
- Significant growth in net interest income
- Improvement of the efficiency ratio
- Cost of risk remains at low levels, in line with the previous quarter
Business activity (1)
(VARIATION COMPARED TO 31-12-22)
(1) Excluding repos.
Net interest income/AVERAGE TOTAL ASSETS
(Percentage)
Operating income (Millions of euros)
Net attributable profit (LOSS) (Millions of euros)
Financial statements and relevant business indicators (Millions of euros and percentage)
| Income statement | 1H23 | ∆% | 1H22 (1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net interest income | 2,544 | 44.7 | 1,758 |
| Net fees and commissions | 1,093 | (1.5) | 1,110 |
| Net trading income | 218 | (24.4) | 288 |
| Other operating income and expenses | (224) | 112.1 | (106) |
| Of which: Insurance activities | 192 | 5.9 | 181 |
| Gross income | 3,630 | 19.0 | 3,050 |
| Operating expenses | (1,517) | 6.4 | (1,425) |
| Personnel expenses | (857) | 11.5 | (768) |
| Other administrative expenses | (470) | 4.9 | (448) |
| Depreciation | (190) | (9.0) | (209) |
| Operating income | 2,113 | 30.1 | 1,624 |
| Impairment on financial assets not measured at fair value through profit or loss | (240) | 24.4 | (193) |
| Provisions or reversal of provisions and other results | (51) | 89,9 | (27) |
| Profit (loss) before tax | 1,821 | 29.7 | 1,404 |
| Income tax | (589) | 47.4 | (400) |
| Profit (loss) for the period | 1,232 | 22.7 | 1,005 |
| Non-controlling interests | (1) | (37.9) | (2) |
| Net attributable profit (loss) excluding non-recurring impacts | 1,231 | 22,8 | 1,003 |
| Net impact arisen from the purchase of offices in Spain | - | - | (201) |
| Net attributable profit (loss) | 1,231 | 53,6 | 801 |
| Balance sheets | 30-06-23 | ∆% | 31-12-22 (1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash, cash balances at central banks and other demand deposits | 39,190 | (20.3) | 49,185 |
| Financial assets designated at fair value | 153,651 | 21.5 | 126,413 |
| Of which: Loans and advances | 64,946 | 54.9 | 41,926 |
| Financial assets at amortized cost | 210,405 | 2.9 | 204,528 |
| Of which: Loans and advances to customers | 173,944 | 0.0 | 173,971 |
| Inter-area positions | 39,924 | 2.6 | 38,924 |
| Tangible assets | 2,919 | (2.4) | 2,990 |
| Other assets | 6,270 | 23.5 | 5,076 |
| Total assets/liabilities and equity | 452,360 | 5.9 | 427,116 |
| Financial liabilities held for trading and designated at fair value through profit or loss | 117,618 | 39.0 | 84,619 |
| Deposits from central banks and credit institutions | 41,559 | (19.6) | 51,702 |
| Deposits from customers | 214,276 | (3.1) | 221,019 |
| Debt certificates | 46,697 | 14.5 | 40,782 |
| Inter-area positions | - | - | - |
| Other liabilities | 17,813 | 12.2 | 15,870 |
| Regulatory capital allocated | 14,397 | 9.7 | 13,124 |
| Relevant business indicators | 30-06-23 | ∆% | 31-12-22 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performing loans and advances to customers under management (2) | 170,715 | (0.3) | 171,209 |
| Non-performing loans | 8,058 | 2.1 | 7,891 |
| Customer deposits under management (2) | 213,080 | (3.2) | 220,140 |
| Off-balance sheet funds (3) | 92,848 | 7.0 | 86,759 |
| Risk-weighted assets | 116,767 | 2.0 | 114,474 |
| Efficiency ratio (%) | 41.8 | 47.5 | |
| NPL ratio (%) | 4.0 | 3.9 | |
| NPL coverage ratio (%) | 57 | 61 | |
| Cost of risk (%) | 0.27 | 0.28 |
(1) Restated balances according to IFRS17 - Insurance contracts.
(2) Excluding repos.
(3) Includes mutual funds, customer portfolios and pension funds.
Macro and industry trends
According to BBVA Research's latest estimate, GDP growth would moderate from 5.5% in 2022 to around 2.4% in 2023, a forecast that is 80 basis points higher than the previous one, mainly due to the significant reduction in energy prices and the dynamism of economic activity, particularly in services exports, in recent months. Growth would also continue to moderate going forward, in line with the outlook of tighter monetary conditions and a slowdown in global and European growth. Annual headline inflation, which ended 2022 at 5.7%, has eased to 1.9% in June, boosted by lower energy prices and favorable base effects. It is expected to rise slightly in the second half of the year and average around 3.5% in 2023, above the ECB's 2% target.
As for the banking sector, based on data at the end of April 2023, the volume of credit to the private sector decreased by 1.8% year-on-year. At the end of April, lending to households grew slightly (1.1% year-on-year) and lending to companies registered small drops of 0.6% compared to April 2022. Customer deposits declined slightly (-0.5% year-on-year with data as of the end of April 2023), due to the fall in demand deposits (-2.6%) which could not be offset by the growth in time deposits (28.2% year-on-year). The NPL ratio continued to fall to 3.55% in April 2023, 64 basis points lower than at the end of April 2022. It should also be noted that the system maintains comfortable solvency and liquidity levels.
Activity
The most relevant aspects related to the area's activity during the first half of 2023 were:
- Loan balances were in line with the end of December (-0.3%), as a result of the dynamism of loans to the public sector (+22.9%), consumer loans (+0.8%, including credit cards) and loans to companies (+1.8%), which were offset by mortgage cancellations made by some customers and lower loans to large corporations (-4.8%).
- Total customer funds were also stable (-0.3%), as a result of lower demand deposits (-4.6%), partially offset by off-balance sheet funds (mutual and pension funds) which increased by 7.0%, mainly favored by net contributions in the first half of the year.
The most relevant aspects related to the area's activity during the second quarter of 2023 were:
- Lending activity recorded a slight increase between April and June (+0.9%). The growth in loans to the public sector (+18.7%), consumer loans (+2.3%, including credit cards) and SMEs (+1.0%) managed to offset the deleveraging of loans to large corporations (-3.3%) and of mortgage loans (-1.1%).
- Regarding credit quality, the NPL ratio increased 15 basis points compared to the previous quarter and stood at 4.0%, mainly due to higher NPL entries in retail portfolios, and a lower volume of write-offs compared to the previous quarter. The coverage ratio fell during the quarter to 57%, mainly due to the aforementioned higher volume of NPL entries.
- Total customer funds increased in the quarter 0.7%, with mixed performance of on- and off-balance sheet funds. Customer deposits remained flat in the quarter (-0.1%) while off-balance sheet funds (mutual and pension funds) increased by 2.5%, mainly due to the volume of net contributions in the quarter and, to a lesser extent, to the positive effect of market developments.
Results
Spain generated a net attributable profit of €1,231m in the first half of 2023, 53.6% higher than in the same period of the previous year, thanks to the dynamism of the net interest income, which boosted gross income growth.
The most notable aspects of the year-on-year changes in the area's income statement at the end of June 2023 were:
- Net interest income grew by 44.7% and continues to benefit from the improvement in customer spreads derived from the interest rate hikes.
- Net fees and commissions were slightly lower than the same period of the previous year, as a result of a lower contribution from banking services fees.
- Decrease in the year-on-year NTI contribution (-24.4%), partly due to the lower contribution from Global Markets and lower portfolio sales.
- Other operating income and expenses compared negatively with the same period of the previous year, due to the €225m recorded in this line, corresponding to the estimated total annual amount of the temporary tax on credit institutions and financial credit establishments. For its part, the contribution to SRF was lower than in the first half of the previous year, and the performance of the insurance business evolved favorably.
- Growth in operating expenses (+6.4%), both in personnel expenses due to higher fixed remuneration, with additional measures that improve those of the sectoral wage increase agreement, and in general expenses, as a result of inflation, especially higher IT expenses.
- For its part, the gross income increased by 19.0%, well above the growth in expenses. Thus, the efficiency ratio stood at 41.8% with an improvement of 495 basis points in the last twelve months.
- Impairment on financial assets increased 24.4%, due to the good performance of the underlying supported by the recording of some positive non-recurring items, all in the first half of 2022. As a result of the above, the cumulative cost of risk at the end of June 2023 stood at 0.27%, in line with the cumulative figure at the end of the previous quarter.
- Provisions and other results closed the first half of 2023 at €-51m.
In the second quarter of 2023, Spain generated a net attributable profit of €690m, which represents a growth of +27.6% compared to the previous quarter, favored especially by the evolution of the net interest income (+15.0%). In addition to the above, net fees and commissions registered growth between April and June (+4.0%), offset by a lower ROF. For its part, the other operating income and expenses line closed in the same terms with the previous quarter, with the contribution to the SRF and, in the previous quarter, the registration of the tax on credit institutions and financial credit institutions standing out. On the bottom line of the income statement, expenses increased slightly (+1.5%), well below the gross income (+10.3%), thus significantly improving the quarterly efficiency ratio. Lastly, provisions for special funds and for contingent risks and commitments increased.