This unit is responsible for the global businesses within Spain. It managed gross lending to customers as of 31-Dec-2012 of €18,906m and on-balance-sheet deposits of €9,175m. Gross lending to customers has continued to fall, basically as a result of the aforementioned deleveraging process. This heading has registered an accumulated decline over the last year of 18.9%. On-balance-sheet customer funds are down 7.8% over the same period. On-balance-sheet customer funds grew significantly in the last three months of 2012 by 29.5%, thanks to the ongoing efforts made to attract deposits.
The following are worth highlighting as regards earnings:
- 16.7% year-on-year increase in gross income to €927m, underpinned mainly by good performance of revenue from customers and, in particular, revenue generated by the Global Transactional Banking unit. In the last part of the year, a better market mood has also made a positive contribution to the generation of gross income.
- Control of operating expenses, which have grown well below the inflation rate (up 1.2% year-on-year) to €323m.
- Operating income is up 27.1% on 2011 to €603m.
- Greater volume of impairment losses on financial assets as a result of the current situation. Even so, the NPA ratio in this segment continues to be low.
- As a result, the accumulated net attributable profit is at levels similar to those posted the previous year: €325m vs. €324m in 2011.
- The most significant transactions and highlights for the period are detailed in the CIB section at the end of this report.