Between January and June 2012, operating expenses amounted to €5,273m and continued to slow their year-on-year increase to 9.0% (9.6% up in the first quarter of 2012). This, together with the positive performance of revenue, has led to an improvement in the cost/income ratio for the first quarter of 2012 to 46.2% at the close of the first half of the year, with a cumulative operating income of €6,134m, up 9.8% on the figure for the same period in 2011.
As in previous quarters, expansion plans in emerging regions are going ahead. The number of employees closed the first half of the year at 112,605, with an increase in Mexico, while the headcount in the United States dropped (in South America and Spain it remains practically stable). Similarly, the number of branches, 7,485 as of 30-Jun- 2012, was maintained in the developed areas and increased in Latin America. Finally, the number of ATMs, at 19,359 as of 30-Jun- 2012, increased in Latin America and grew at a lower pace in Spain and the United States, although a significant upgrade of the existing ATMs is also taking place in these areas, which together with the development of mobile banking is becoming one of the differentiating elements in the Group’s multichannel strategy.
