Rest of Business

Highlights

  • Growth in lending activity during the year, favored by the recovery during the quarter
  • Dynamism in net interest income and NTI in the year
  • The cost of risk remains at low levels
  • Significant improvement of the efficiency ratio

Business activity (1)
(VARIATION AT CONSTANT EXCHANGE RATES COMPARED TO 31-12-22)

(1) Excluding repos.

Net interest income / AVERAGE TOTAL ASSETS
(PERCENTAGE AT CONSTANT EXCHANGE RATES)

Operating income
(Millions of euros at constant exchange rates)


(1) At current exchange rates: +83.8%.

Net attributable profit (LOSS)
(Millions of euros at constant exchange rates)


(1) At current exchange rates: +62.6%.

Financial statements and relevant business indicators (Millions of euros and percentage)

Income statement 2023 ∆% ∆% (1) 2022
Net interest income 539 62.3 63.6 332
Net fees and commissions 244 0.7 1.3 243
Net trading income 316 51.9 53.2 208
Other operating income and expenses 3 (50.1) (48.9) 7
Gross income 1,103 39.7 40.7 790
Operating expenses (596) 16.0 17.0 (513)
Personnel expenses (303) 13.5 14.5 (267)
Other administrative expenses (267) 19.1 20.1 (224)
Depreciation (26) 15.1 15.1 (23)
Operating income 507 83.8 84.9 276
Impairment on financial assets not measured at fair value through profit or loss (28) 107.4 113.1 (13)
Provisions or reversal of provisions and other results (1) n.s. n.s. 14
Profit (loss) before tax 479 73.0 74.1 277
Income tax (90) 140.0 140.8 (37)
Profit (loss) for the period 389 62.6 63.7 240
Non-controlling interests
Net attributable profit (loss) 389 62.6 63.7 240
Balance sheets 31-12-23 ∆% ∆% (1) 31-12-22
Cash, cash balances at central banks and other demand deposits 4,748 18.3 22.1 4,015
Financial assets designated at fair value 15,475 204.0 213.7 5,090
Of which: Loans and advances 14,783 249.5 261.8 4,230
Financial assets at amortized cost 43,363 7.3 8.2 40,425
Of which: Loans and advances to customers 39,332 5.2 6.2 37,375
Inter-area positions
Tangible assets 151 93.1 92.9 78
Other assets 537 56.3 58.9 343
Total assets/liabilities and equity 64,274 28.7 30.3 49,952
Financial liabilities held for trading and designated at fair value through profit or loss 14,831 237.3 249.3 4,397
Deposits from central banks and credit institutions 3,085 12.4 13.7 2,745
Deposits from customers 13,056 32.9 33.8 9,827
Debt certificates 1,413 (9.4) (8.5) 1,561
Inter-area positions 26,476 1.6 2.8 26,060
Other liabilities 1,223 20.5 22.5 1,014
Regulatory capital allocated 4,191 (3.6) (2.6) 4,348
Relevant business indicators 31-12-23 ∆% ∆% (1) 31-12-22
Performing loans and advances to customers under management (2) 39,202 4.7 5.7 37,431
Non-performing loans 368 91.0 91.0 192
Customer deposits under management (2) 13,056 32.9 33.8 9,827
Off-balance sheet funds (3) 566 8.8 8.8 520
Risk-weighted assets 36,410 3.8 4.9 35,064
Efficiency ratio (%) 54.0 65.0
NPL ratio (%) 0.7 0.4
NPL coverage ratio (%) 69 131
Cost of risk (%) 0.08 0.04

(1) At constant exchange rates.

(2) Excluding repos.

(3) Includes pension funds.


Unless expressly stated otherwise, all the comments below on rates of change, for both activity and results, will be given at constant exchange rates. These rates, together with the changes at current exchange rates, can be found in the attached tables of the financial statements and relevant business indicators. Comments that refer to Europe exclude Spain.

Activity

The most relevant aspects of the evolution of BBVA Group's Rest of Business activity between January and December 2023 were:

  • Lending activity (performing loans under management) grew at a 5.7%, due to the favorable performance of the New York branch and, to a lesser extent, the business in Europe, which have offset the deleveraging of the wholesale business in Asia.
  • Customer funds under management grew by 32.5%, with a growth in both the demand and time deposits, and the off-balance-sheet funds.

The most relevant aspects of the evolution of BBVA Group's Rest of Business activity during the fourth quarter of 2023 were:

  • Lending activity (performing loans under management) grew at a rate of 5.0%, highlighting the good performance in New York and Europe.
  • Regarding credit risk indicators, the NPL ratio increased to 0.7% due to an NPL inflow from a particular customer, with an impact on the coverage ratio, which has decreased to 69%.
  • Customer funds under management increased by 28.9% due to the performance of deposits in the European branches. On the other hand, off-balance-sheet customer funds registered a growth of 17.9%, originating from Europe as well.

Results

Rest of Business achieved an accumulated net attributable profit of €389m during 2023, 63.7% higher than in the previous year, thanks to a favorable performance of the net interest income, and the NTI, which offset the increase in expenses in a context of higher inflation and normalization of loan-loss provisions.

In the year-on-year evolution of the main lines of the area's income statement at the end of December 2023, the following was particularly noteworthy:

  • Net interest income increased by 63.6% as a result of the improvement in customer spread. The performance in Europe and, to a lesser extent, of the New York branch, are particularly worthy of mention.
  • Net fees and commissions increased (+1.3%), with a good performance especially from the Group's businesses in the United States.
  • The NTI grew by 53.2% supported by the results of the businesses that the Group maintains in the United States, with the New York branch standing out, and, to a lesser extent, by the results in Europe and Asia.
  • Increase in operating expenses of 17.0%, mainly in Europe and the New York branch.
  • The impairment on financial assets line at the end of December 2023 registered a provision of €28m, mainly originated in Europe.
  • The provisions or reversal of provisions line and other results as a whole showed at the end of December 2023 a figure of €-1m, in contrast with the €14m reached 12 months ago due to releases for risks and contingent commitments in the New York branch.

In the fourth quarter of 2023 and excluding the effect of the variation in exchange rates, the Group's Rest of Businesses as a whole generated a net attributable profit of €72m (-31.9% compared to the previous quarter) mainly due to the growth in personnel expenses in the last quarter of the year, as a result of the variable remuneration improvement to employees, in line with the area ́s 2023 performance.