San Sebastián (EFE).- Kutxabank obtained a net profit of 330.5 million euros in 2022, which means an increase of 52.7% compared to the previous year.
A result that remains is 21.6 million from the result obtained in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
Profit of 330.5 million
The chairman of Kutxabank, Anton Arriola, and the CEO, Javier García Lurueña, have presented the annual results of the Basque bank during the annual meeting of managers held this Saturday at the Kursaal in San Sebastián, the entity has reported in a statement.
Arriola has highlighted the bank’s ability to face the “visits” of the year 2022, in which the war in Ukraine has modified the economic forecasts, “conditioned by high inflation.”
It has highlighted the volatility of the financial markets, translated into falls in the valuations of the assets managed by the banks, which has resulted in a “low profitability” in the sector.
In this context, Kutxabank has begun a “strategic reflection that affects growth and the diversification of sources of income”.
cost containment
“We have opportunities to organically strengthen our business areas, and some are already considering new and ambitious expansion plans. We also have the resources and capabilities to face these opportunities, without changing our DNA or our culture, but with the aim of going one step further”, he indicated.
Regarding the banking business, income from services and asset management have grown by 1.3% in 2022, while the insurance business has contributed 172.6 million euros to the Basque bank’s income statement, 7.7 % more than in 2021.
Kutxabank has also highlighted cost containment, with growth of 1.4% in operating expenses, a figure “well below the CPI”.
The interest margin has continued to rise, standing at 641 million euros, while the gross margin has exceeded 1,270 million euros, 11.7% more than in 2021.
New bank tax
The delinquency rate stands at 1.37%, “the lowest in the sector”, while the total volume of doubtful assets has been reduced by 27%, to 686 million euros.
Customer resources have grown by 1.7% to 75,001 million euros, and the total amount of investment funds managed reaches more than 21,000 million.
After contributing, according to Kutxabank, 430 million euros in taxes, to which this year will have to be added the new tax on banks, the Basque credit institution has distributed 322.7 million euros to the banking foundations that make it up, an amount deducted from profits and reserves from previous years.
The board of directors also approved the allocation of a 60% dividend again, charged to the results of 2022, which adds up to 198.3 million euros.
Kutxabank has also reported that in the last year it has negotiated the conditions of almost 2,000 mortgage loans signed with people and families in difficulties, who have been offered the possibility of requesting deferrals in the payment of credit amortizations, extensions of pazos or different refinancing formulas.
During 2022, the signing of new mortgage loans has grown to 3,173 million euros, “above the natural market quotas, despite a highly competitive environment.”