Spanish banks gained 23% less in 2016, to 7.987 million

Spanish banks obtained attributed profit of 7,987 million euros in 2016, which is 23.1% less than a year earlier, according to data released on Thursday by the president of the Spanish Banking Association ( AEB), José María Roldán.

These results have been affected by specific temporary special factors for 2016, without which the profit would have been 12% higher than in 2015. These factors include the negative evolution of the exchange rates of the main currencies in Those operating the entities against the euro, provisions to cover claims for land clauses and extraordinary write-offs made last year.

At a press conference, Roldán explained that banking is currently in an environment that "is not yet fully satisfactory for financial activity" and 2016 has been a year in which balance sheet efforts have remained "very important ".

As he explained, the interest rate environment "is still not favorable." "Although the improvement of the sector is evident in terms of liquidity and solvency, in terms of profitability is an improvement that is still not full," said Roldán. In this sense, has indicated that, in terms of profitability, "there is a greater dispersion between entities".

The solvency ratio of the institutions was at the end of 2016 on an average of 12.36% of risk-weighted assets, a figure that is similar to that recorded a year earlier.

The basic margin - which includes the net income from interest, commissions, dividends and results from the equity method - registered a rise of 0.3% in relation to the previous year. Gross margin fell 1% in 2016, to 81,840 million euros.

On the other hand, operating expenses rose 2% in 2016, which represents a growth lower than the previous year, which amounted to 2.5% of the average total assets of the consolidated balance sheet.

The consolidated balance of Spanish banking groups amounted to € 2.6 trillion at 31 December 2016, down 1% on final balances at the same date last year.

On the other hand, loans to customers amounted to € 1.54 trillion last year, so that it remained at levels similar to those of a year earlier, with a decrease of 0.5%.

NPLs fell to 5.7%, compared to 6.2% at the end of 2015, while the level of coverage of operations increased by one percentage point in the year, reaching 65% of the balances Recorded as doubtful.

At the same time, customer deposits increased by 0.8% for the year as a whole, to € 1.39 trillion, the highest amount reached by the banks associated with the AEB, with a weight in the balance sheet structure Of 54%, ten percentage points more than the beginning of the crisis. Thus, the loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 110%, two percentage points lower than a year earlier.

Own funds rose by 2.7% over the previous year, to 195,000 million euros, which, at 31 December 2016, accounted for 7.5% of the total assets of the employers' banks.

Consolidated profit for the year amounted to 10,803 million euros, 14.6% less than in 2015, with a return on assets (ROA) of 0.41%, compared to 0.5% in 2015.

As for the individual losses and profits of the Spanish banks, the result in 20116 was 3,032 million euros, 58% less than in 2015.

Source: el economista