The six large Spanish banks close a record 2022 with 20,850 million profits, 28% more

The six large Spanish banks earned a record figure of 20,850 million in 2022, 28% more, which has fueled criticism from the left, which calls for greater involvement with citizens from entities that will have to pay more than 1100 million for the new tax on the sector.

With these figures, all the entities have already advanced their intention to improve shareholder remuneration, raising not only the payment in dividends but in some cases executing share buyback programs once again to raise the value of the share.

The rise in interest rates in Europe has contributed to the increase in the benefits of the large Spanish banks –Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja Banco– mainly in the second half of the year.

Faced with these historic gains, the economic vice-president of the Spanish Government, Nadia Calvinoconsiders “a general clamor” that the banks “put their shoulders together” and describes as “adequate” the tax with which the Executive is going to tax the banking business and which, according to the sector, will have consequences on credit.

However, the sector points out that, despite the large profits of banks, in absolute terms their profitability is still low, especially in the business in Spain, which does not cover the cost of capital, which explains why, to a large extent, banks continue to trade on the stock market below their book value.

This is one of the main arguments of banks for refuse tax created by the Spanish Government that burdens 4.8% the interest margin and the net commissions of the banking business in Spain, which the Executive considers extraordinary benefits due to the rise in interest rates.

3 billion in two years

For this new tax, with which the Government expects to raise 3 billion in two years, the six major entities will pay more than 1100 million euros this year, according to estimates published by the banks.

The idea of ​​the Spanish Government is to use the money it collects with this new tax to cover part of the cost of social measures promoted to help the most vulnerable families, although some entities have already announced that they will resort to that payment and the rest will analyze the possibility of doing so.