2023-09-04 18:15:06
The first face-to-face between the acting economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, and the main executives of the Spanish banks has resulted in a recommendation for entities to improve the profitability of their clients’ deposits, although the minister has not given a step further. At the end of June, Calviño came to warn that if they verified dysfunctions in this market, they could apply legislative changes to improve the profitability of savers.
The evolution of the market in recent weeks has calmed that apparent intention expressed publicly also before several bankers. This Monday’s meeting, which was framed within the EU Presidency, has served for Nadia Calviño to point out “the need to continue supporting economic growth, through a competitive credit offer and the improvement in the remuneration of deposits”.
The increase in savings rates in Spain had been one of the vice president’s workhorses and this has been indicated to her first, such as the president of Santander, Ana Botín; that of BBVA, Carlos Torres; that of Caixabank, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri; or the one from Sabadell, Josep Oliu; as well as the CEO of Bankinter, Dolores Dancausa; and the executives of Cajamar or Abanca.
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The bank’s response has gone through remembering the situation the market is experiencing, according to sources at the meeting, indicating that the average interest on deposits in Spain is already at 2.4%, compared to 2.6% , and that the difference that did exist since the European Central Bank (ECB) began to raise official rates in July of last year has been reduced. Calviño wanted to highlight the importance of a “credit offer to households and companies that maintains a competitive advantage” with other countries, according to the note released by the Ministry of Economy.
In this way, the notice of “possible regulatory changes” is deflated after the department led by Calviño asked the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) and the Bank of Spain to investigate why large entities did not pay for savings and determine if there were factors that prevent the full functioning of competition.
mortgage protection
On the other hand, this Monday’s meeting has served to analyze the situation that the Code of Good Practices is going through, with which an attempt was made to protect mortgagees whose mortgages had skyrocketed due to the rise in rates. There are barely 33,000 applications and less than 10,000 cases covered by this mechanism. Calviño has transferred to the banks the need to “continue to improve the protection of families affected by the rise in mortgages, while continuing to guarantee financial stability.”
There has also been no reference to a possible extension over time of the extraordinary tax, which is levied on the profits of Spanish banks this year and next, as a result of the vertiginous rise in interest rates. «To the extent that there are extraordinary benefits, it will have to be considered. But we are going to see how the economic situation continues to evolve, the budgetary situation and how the benefits of the banking sector continue to evolve, “he said in an interview on Cadena SER, without, for now, there being any indication that he could put that intention into effect. .
This tax came into force at the end of 2022 with the aim of taxing the main income that banks have obtained in the past year and start collecting in 2023. The Government’s objective is to collect 3,000 million euros between 2023 and 2024, that is , 1,500 million euros every year.
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