The CEO, María Dolores Dancausa, believes the bank has “left over” provisions to cope with the harsh economic environment
Bankinter’s CEO, María Dolores Dancausa, has publicly confirmed what other major banks are willing to do when the government introduces the new tax on extraordinary banking profits: that the group will go to court “if they see the interests of our shareholders being undermined .
This has been pointed out by management in the presentation of the entity’s results, in a statement denouncing the possibility that the Treasury may process the new tax as a way to repay the government support received by the sector in the previous financial crisis. for the rescue. “If it is done to return aid, they should release the banks that have not received this aid,” Dancausa stressed.
In addition, she indicated that Bankinter has provisions “more than sufficient” to cope with any economic downturn, as it still has a surplus of extraordinary provisions for the coronavirus of more than 100 million euros.
It has also demonstrated the entity’s commitment to taking advantage of the measures the sector has agreed with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to help vulnerable families who are struggling to pay their mortgage payments. While Dancausa has acknowledged that the bank’s clients are of medium to high economic standing and therefore have greater savings capacity to cope with difficult economic cycles, in the event that clients face difficulties in making payment of their mortgage due to the rise in the Euribor and inflation, the bank will help them. “We agree to take concrete measures to help the most vulnerable families so that they can pay their mortgage payments, taking the measures accepted by the entire sector and pending closure, although these measures that will soon become public made by whomever it corresponds to,” he stated.
Given the repeated messages of caution in the allocation of provisions and the payment of dividends made by the banking regulator due to the current economic environment, Dancausa has ruled out that Bankinter will make changes to its dividend distribution policy, which consists of a 50% payout in cash. “There is no reason to reduce it, we have been very consistent over the years and we have to distinguish between entities that need to be a little more careful and others that don’t need it,” he stressed.
Until the third quarter of this year, Bankinter recorded a net profit of 430 million euros in the first nine months of this year (21.2% more than in the same period last year). Dancausa estimates the bank will close “a good year 2022” as it has not currently identified a pattern of behavior change in any of the group’s segments and non-performing loans still do not reflect economic uncertainty, down 30 points on a basis in the year, up to 2.1%.
Along the same lines, he recalled that Bankinter has not released the extraordinary provisions set up after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, for which it still has a surplus of more than 100 million euros. “In that sense, we are well on track to face an economic period that may be more difficult,” he assured.
Bankinter’s finance director, Jacobo Díaz, has reiterated Bankinter’s commitment to earn 550 million euros by 2023. “We know there’s a lot of uncertainty, but I think we’re very confident in our capabilities and we’re going to do it despite uncertainty or those headwinds that could come next year,” he pointed out.
Source: La Verdad
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