Madrid (awp/afp) – Spanish banking giant BBVA posted a 57% increase in net profit in the first half, thanks to improved profitability and higher revenues, driven by the arrival of new customers .
The Spanish group generated three billion euros (slightly less in Swiss francs) in profits, against 1.91 billion in the first half of 2021, which had been penalized by the financing of a vast plan to cut jobs and branch closures in Spain.
This figure greatly exceeds the forecasts of analysts polled by the financial information provider Factset, who expected an average of 2.62 billion euros in profits.
The bank explains this dynamic by an increase in its interest margins, which increased by 26.5%, but also in its income, which increased by 12.6%, thanks to a strong increase in activity on the Mexican market.
This momentum resulted in the arrival of 5.3 million new customers, a “record” figure, mainly thanks to its online banking services which captured more than half of new customers.
The multiplication of online banking offers “has made it possible to multiply by 2.7 the rate of incorporation of new customers compared to that of five years ago”, underlines BBVA, which specifies that it now has 85.1 million clients.
The figure for the first half was achieved despite the feverishness of the Turkish market, where BBVA is established via its subsidiary Garanti BBVA, due to galloping inflation of nearly 80% in this country and the fall of the lira against the dollar. .
In November, the Spanish group launched a takeover bid for 50.15% of its Turkish subsidiary Garanti BBVA, which it does not own, for a total amount of nearly two billion euros.
But due to the sharp devaluation of the lira, BBVA announced at the end of April that it was raising the price of its takeover bid by 23%, from 12.20 lira per share to 15 lira per share. The operation should be closed soon.
The results for the first half also come as Madrid announced the introduction next year of an exceptional tax on the profits of large banking groups, which have started to benefit from the rise in interest rates.
This measure, intended to compensate for the support measures put in place in recent months in the face of soaring inflation, will remain in force for two years. It will allow the State to recover 1.5 billion euros per year in 2023 and 2024.
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