Santander, (EFE) the watchful eye of the president of BBVA, Carlos Torres.
After speaking at the inauguration of the summer course at the Menéndez Pelayo International University and being asked if the large Spanish banks should start paying interest to clients for their deposits, the Minister of Economic Affairs said that she has “no doubt ”.
“Excess liquidity””
To immediately give the floor to the president of BBVA, sitting next to him, to explain the reasons why the bank is not doing it. “It is due to excess liquidity”, added the banker who has hinted that it is a matter of time because when this excess liquidity is absorbed, the trend will change.
In addition, he wanted to make it clear that the fact that banks are not increasing the remuneration of savings in a general way has nothing to do with a lack of competitiveness and he has insisted that the entities offer customers “alternatives that are very attractive”, for example fixed income funds.
After these explanations, later in question time, Calviño once again insisted that banks have to start remunerating deposits now and has warned that he will also address this issue at the meeting scheduled for the end of June with the bank employers’ associations.
Review of the initiatives promoted
The vice-president reviewed the different initiatives promoted by her department in the financial field, such as improving care for the elderly, improving access to financial services for the entire population or mortgage relief measures.
“At the end of June, we will see how all of them are evolving, to see if we have to review the scope of action or the measures, and at that meeting we will also talk about the remuneration of deposits”, he added before finishing off that meeting “We will come up with solutions and proposals.”
Extraordinary bank tax
Regarding the extraordinary tax on banks, Calviño has considered that with the benefits of the sector, banks have no problem facing this type of tax, of which, he has assured, many countries have been interested in the experience “to make decisions Similar”.