The large Spanish banks reach a new record after earning 19,761 million, 24% more

Madrid, Oct 31 (EFE).- The six main Spanish banks, Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja Banco, broke a new record by earning 19,761 million in the first nine months of the year, 23.6% more , encouraged by the rise in interest rates, according to data collected by EFE this Tuesday.

Banco Santander obtained the historic figure of 8,143 million, 11.3% more, thanks to the improvement in income, meaning that for the year as a whole it will obtain a result of more than 10,000 million, a new record.

Next is BBVA, which this Tuesday announced a never-before-seen profit of 5,961 million between January and September of this year, 24.3% more, thanks to the strength of recurring income.

The profitability reached 17%, which the entity highlights that it is positioned as “one of the most profitable banks in Europe.”

The third group with the highest profits, CaixaBank, earned 3,659 million from January to September, 48.2% more, also driven by the rise in interest rates, although its CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, denounced that the sector suffers a ” additional discrimination” due to the bank tax, approved by the progressive coalition government, which they intend to extend if they manage to revalidate the executive.

In the case of Sabadell, the bank also achieved a new record, with a profit of 1,028 million from January to September, 44.9% more than a year before, a figure that surpasses its best annual results obtained in 2006.

Bankinter, for its part, set a new record with a profit of 685 million until September, 59% more, the same as Unicaja Banco, the sixth entity, which obtained a profit of 285 million in the first nine months of the year, almost 5% more.

As a reference, these 19,761 million euros of benefit are higher than this year’s Spanish Defense budget (12,317 million), the 12,075.3 million euros that the Government spent in October on Social Security pensions, and more five times higher than the 3,522 million budgeted this year to care for dependent people.

Insufficient profitability

Despite the improvement in results and the multimillion-dollar profits obtained, the main bankers continue to criticize the special tax on the sector and even more so the possibility of extending it over time.

The most recurring argument is that the profits are not extraordinary, and that profitability, although it has improved considerably, is still insufficient to attract investors’ capital.

In December 2022, at the Government’s proposal, Parliament approved a bank tax on extraordinary profits for two years (2023 and 2024), which cannot be deducted or passed on.

The benefit taxes the intermediation margin at a rate of 4.8%, that is, the net interest – difference between those collected and those paid – and net commissions – difference between those collected and paid.

The Government hopes to raise 1.5 billion annually, which will be used to finance measures to mitigate the rise in prices derived from the war in Ukraine. EFE

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