2024-01-31 08:43:15
MADRID Banco Santander has surpassed the goal that Emilio Botín had set himself years ago: to earn more than 10,000 million euros in a single year. The entity now chaired by Ana Botín has reached a new profit record and closes 2023 with earnings of up to 11,076 million, 15% more than the previous year. The figure is equivalent to 30 million euros of earnings per day. In this way, the bank of Cantabrian origin joins BBVA and Bankinter, which also achieved historic results in 2023. At the same time, it far exceeds all its forecasts.
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The results announced this Wednesday by Santander are explained, above all, by the positive evolution of its activity in Europe and, therefore, by the oxygen balloon that the interest rate hikes approved by the European Central Bank have meant. The entity, however, also attributes this to the increase in customers around the world and the reduction of costs.
Specifically, the entity’s gross margin grew by 10.2% in the previous year, up to 57,423 million euros, as the entity reported this Wednesday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). A figure that is mainly the result of the increase in the interest margin – the installments of loans that are returned by customers, the traditional business of banking most impacted by the aggressive monetary policy of central banks –, which grew by 12 % in 2023, until reaching 43,261 million euros. Regarding commission income, these increased by 2.3%, up to 12,057 million euros.
“2023 has been a key year for Santander. We have achieved a record result and we have achieved all the objectives. We have five million new customers and we have increased income and profit by double digits”, expressed the president of Santander, Ana Botín, through a press release. “This will allow shareholders to return 5.5 billion euros for the results”, he added. In fact, the bank has also announced a 50% dividend increase. All in all, the stock market did not receive these results with signs of euphoria and after 9.30 am Santander rose a lukewarm 0.90%.
Record results in Spain despite the tax
Despite the extraordinary banking tax approved by the Spanish government, Spain was the market that contributed the most profits to the bank, with 2,371 million euros, above the contribution of 1,921 million euros from Brazil. Cumulative revenue for the whole year climbs to 55 billion, which represents an 11% growth after the entity gained five million customers.
In this sweet moment, Santander has also improved profitability, with a return on tangible capital (ROTE) of 15.1% (1.7 percentage points more than the previous ROTE), while the return on equity ( ROE) was 11.9% (in 2022 it remained at 10.67%). In this sense, the Bank of Spain has pointed out that the profitability levels of the financial sector in Spain are not below the cost of capital (the return that a shareholder expects to obtain for the money he has left in the bank).
Good forecasts for 2024
Despite these results, Banco Santander already points out that it has not reached the ceiling of good figures. This was also raised by BBVA on Tuesday. In the case of the entity chaired by Ana Botín, the objectives for 2024 are to continue with the path of revenue growth and increase the ROTE. “I am convinced that 2024 will be much better,” reiterated Botín.
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