July 31 () –
The six Spanish listed banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja Banco) reduced their non-performing loan ratio at an aggregate level, after containing doubtful balances, and the volume of loans under special surveillance due to risk decreased by 3,125 million euros of non-payment, according to the data collected in their respective financial reports.
After these entities increased problem loans by 4% throughout the 2021 financial year, including those under special surveillance (‘stage 2’) and unpaid loans (‘stage 3’), these decreased by 3,274 million between January and June , to stand at 216,030 million euros, 1.5% less than at the end of the previous year.
The reduction was more pronounced in credits under special surveillance, which fell by 3,125 million euros, to 148,277 million, 2.06% less than six months earlier.
As for doubtful loans, the fall was 0.22% (-149 million in absolute terms), reaching 67,753 million euros. The data is not only for Spain, but at a consolidated level.
Thus, the default ratios of the largest Spanish financial institutions fell in six months, going from an average of 3.35% to 3.15% at the end of June, which represents a drop of 20 basis points.
The breakdown by entity reveals that problem loans (‘stage 2’ + ‘stage 3’) fell at CaixaBank, with 3,217 million less; in BBVA, with 1,931 million less, and in Santander, with 54 million less, while they increased in Sabadell, with 1,303 million more; in Bankinter, with 594 million more, and in Unicaja, with 177 million more.
Most of the entities analyzed decreased their credits under special supervision, with the exception of Sabadell, which increased them by 1,287 million (up to 13,614 million) and Bankinter, which had 3,554 million euros of credits in ‘stage 2’ at the end of June, 577 million more than in December.
On its side, Santander reduced loans at risk of default by 930 million, to 66,772 million, BBVA reduced them by 1,871 million, to 32,341 million euros, CaixaBank by 2,042 million euros, to 29,397 million euros, and Unicaja Banco in 146 million, up to 3,554 million euros.
As for unpaid loans, CaixaBank’s ‘stage 3’ loan reduction stands out, by 1,175 million euros, down to a total of 11,104 million euros. BBVA also reduced this item, with 60 million less than in December, to 14,597 million euros.
On the contrary, Santander increased doubtful loans by 876 million between January and June, maintaining 32,725 million euros, and Unicaja increased this item by 177 million, to 1,962 million euros. The increase was just 16 million in Sabadell, up to 5,714 million, and 17 million in Bankinter, up to 1,651 million euros.
All the entities analyzed improved their delinquency ratios between December and June, with the exception of Unicaja, which went from 3.2% to 3.5%. The lowest NPL ratios were presented by Bankinter, with 2.11% and an improvement of 13 basis points, and Santander, with a NPL ratio of 3.05% and an improvement of 11 basis points.
On its side, CaixaBank was the entity that cut its rate the most, by 50 basis points, to 3.2%, while BBVA reduced its rate by 40 basis points, to 3.7%, and Sabadell closed the semester with a NPL ratio of 3.31%, which represents an improvement of 39 basis points since December.
The messages that the main executives of the Spanish banks have conveyed during the results presentations that have taken place at the end of this month of July show that, for the moment, they are not worried about the behavior of credit, although they maintain caution for what that may happen, in a scenario of high uncertainty.
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