Gross lending to customers grew by 13.1% in year-on-year terms, influenced by the incorporation of CX since April 24, 2015. As a result, the net attributable profit generated by banking activity in Spain in 2015 was €1,046m, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%.
BBVA Group generated a net attributable profit of €2,642m in 2015. These earnings incorporate those generated by Catalunya Banc (hereinafter CX) since April 24 and, since the third quarter, the effects of the purchase of an additional 14.89% stake in Garanti, with its resulting incorporation by the full consolidation method and the valuation at fair value of the 25.01% that it already owned.
Banking activity in Spain: Gross lending to customers grew by 13.1% in year-on-year terms, influenced by the incorporation of CX since April 24, 2015. Excluding this incorporation, the balance of lending was practically flat over the year (down 0.2%). As a result, the net attributable profit generated by banking activity in Spain in 2015 was €1,046m, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%.
Real-estate activity in Spain: BBVA's real-estate business in Spain registered a loss of €492m in 2015, a figure that improves on the €901m loss in the same quarter in 2014, mainly due to the reduced need for loan-loss and real-estate provisions, as well as improved capital gains from sales.
BBVA ended 2015 with a CET1 fully-loaded capital ratio of 10.3% and a leverage ratio (6.0%, also fully-loaded) that continues to compare very favorably with the rest of its peer group.
In 2015, BBVA's rating has been positive, in line with that in 2014. The last update was that DBRS has changed the outlook of the BBVA rating (A) from stable to positive.
(1) In addition, Moody's assigned a rating of A3 to BBVA's long-term deposits.
(1) (1) In addition, Moody's assigned a rating of A3 to BBVA's long-term deposits.
In 2015, the main variables related to the Group's credit risk management have continued to be positive in general terms and compared to the previous year. The year-on-year changes are affected both by the incorporation of CX and by the effects resulting from the purchase of an additional 14.89% stake in Garanti.
The positive trend in activity in the quarter explains the 1.6% increase in the Group's credit risk since 30-Sep-2015. This has increased by 19.5% over the last twelve months. Excluding the impact of exchange rates, there has been a quarterly increase of 0.7% and a year-on-year increase of 23.6%.
Non-performing loans, which account for 5.4% of total credit risk, maintain their downward trend. They are down 1.5% over the quarter, strongly affected by their performance in Banking Activity in Spain (down 1.5%) and Real-estate Activity in Spain (down 7.3%). In year-on-year terms, this heading has increased by 10.2%, basically as a result of the incorporation of the balances from CX (excluding this effect, there has been a 4.6% decrease).
BBVA continues to make progress in its digital transformation. As of 30-Nov-2015 it had 14.6 million digital customers. Of these, 8.3 million are mobile banking customers.
BBVA has formalized its bid for the British market with the stake it acquired in the share capital of Atom Bank, the first exclusively mobile bank in the United Kingdom, after investing GBP 45 million for a 29.5% stake.
The Board of Directors has appointed Carlos Torres Vila as President and COO. It has also approved an organizational structure whose top priority is to boost the business and continue to grow profitably, increasing the number of customers with the focus on their satisfaction. In order to gain market share, customers and business, BBVA is committed to investing in new capabilities associated with customer experience, big data, technology and engineering, marketing and digital sales, and talent and new digital businesses. BBVA has drawn up a new Code of Conduct to adapt to social, technological and regulatory changes. It strengthens the Bank's commitment to its customers, employees and society as a whole.