BarcelonaThe year of inflation and the historic rise in interest rates has shot up the profit and loss accounts of Spain’s four largest banks to levels seen many years ago. Between Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank and Sabadell they won more than 20,000 million in 2022. Just under half, around 9,000 million, will go into the pockets of their shareholders, 7,000 of which in the form of dividends. Who are the main beneficiaries of these record profits?
Santander Bank
Banco Santander earned €9.605 billion in 2022, up 18%, and plans to pay shareholders 40% of ordinary profit between cash dividends and share buybacks, the equivalent of €3.842 billion . The entity’s significant shareholders, those with more than 3% of the share capital, are three: BlackRock, which holds 5.4%, followed by Dodge & Cox, with 3%, and Norges Bank, with another 3%. Goldman Sachs shot up its stake in Santander and BBVA in December, exceeding 7% in both cases, but days later it reduced it again and ceased to be a significant shareholder. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, Dodge & Cox is one of the world’s largest funds, while Norges Bank manages Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest on the planet. BlackRock has to remunerate 844.19 of the 901.7 million shares it accumulates. Analysts predict that Banco Santander’s total dividend payable in 2022 will be around 0.13 euros per share, so the manager would take home 109.7 million euros.
BBVA
BBVA closed a record 2022, with earnings of 6.42 billion euros, 38% more, and its president, Carlos Torres, said days before the presentation of the results that the dividend to be distributed will exceed “by far ” that of the previous year. The entity will dedicate more than 3,015 million euros to shareholder remuneration. This remuneration would consist of a cash dividend of 0.43 euros per share, and the launch of a new share buyback plan worth 422 million euros. The only significant shareholder is BlackRock, and it has 5.9% of the entity’s share capital, the equivalent of 394.5 million shares. In the event that the 0.43 euros per share is finally collected – it has 365.4 million shares to be remunerated -, the black rock it would take around 157.1 million euros with the dividends charged in 2022.
CaixaBank
The Catalan entity based in Valencia also broke records in 2022, when it earned 3,145 million euros, 29.7% more on a comparable basis, of which it plans to distribute 1,729 million in dividends – which amount to 3,500 if the share buyback program is taken into account—. Half of these more than 1,700 million will end up in the pockets of the bank’s majority shareholder, La Caixa banking foundation, which has 30% of the share capital, and FROB, which has 16.1% , the equivalent of 500 and 250 million euros in dividends, respectively. Who will also benefit from this will be BlackRock, which has 5%, with 376.3 million titles between shares and financial instruments. At the end of the year, the American fund had 3.2% of the share capital, of which 3%, i.e. 241.9 million shares, were remunerative. Taking into account the expected remuneration of 0.23 euros per share, the asset manager would take 55.8 million euros in dividends.
Banco Sabadell
The entity chaired by Josep Oliu achieved the highest profits in its history in 2022, when it earned 859 million, 61.9% more, and plans to reward shareholders with 430 million euros through a cash dividend of 0.04 euros per share and the repurchase of 204 million euros in shares. The Catalan entity has five significant shareholders: BlackRock (4.4%), Mexican tycoon David Martínez Guzmán (3.4%), Sanders Lewis (3.4%), Fintech Europe (3.1%) and Dimensional Fund Advisors (3%). At the end of 2022, the current maximum shareholder had 4.6% of the share capital, of which 3.2% were remunerative shares, equivalent to 181.6 million titles. Taking into account the remuneration of 0.02 per share paid in December and the expected 0.02 of the complementary dividend, BlackRock would take 7.3 million euros. Martínez Guzmán, the largest shareholder before the last operation of the American manager, should pocket 7.86 million euros.
A ubiquitous background
BlackRock, which manages assets for 8 billion euros, will take a total of 330 million euros in dividends from the four main banks of the State: 109.7 million from Banco Santander, 157 million from BBVA, 55.8 million from CaixaBank and 7.3 million from Sabadell. To this amount should be added the buybacks of shares, which between the four banks add up to a total value of more than 4,300 million euros.