MADRID, 27 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Unicaja Banco closed the first half of 2023 with an attributable net profit of 148 million euros, which represents a decrease of 13% compared to the profits recorded in the same period of the previous year, as reported by the financial institution on Thursday when publishing your income statement for the first half of the year.
The bank has highlighted that if it had not had to pay the bank tax, recorded in the first quarter, its profits would have been 212 million euros, so it would have been 24.5% higher than among January and June 2022.
The bank’s total income (gross margin) was 831 million euros, representing a decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous year. This is explained by the tax, which together with other operating expenses and insurance had a negative impact on revenue of €129 million.
Of the total income, those obtained from net interest (interest margin) were 616 million euros, 20.9% more, while those from net commissions rose 2.1%, up to 269 million euros. The financial entity also recorded another 48 million euros of income from investee results, 14.1% more.
The bank’s personnel expenses between January and June were 244 million euros, 5.2% less, while the rest of general administration costs rose 5.3%, up to 140 million. Amortizations contracted 2.3% in the period, up to 45 million.
In the semester, the bank decided to raise its provisions by 20.9%, up to 62 million euros, while the impairment of financial assets was 76 million, 15% less. In this way, the operating result stood at 264 million euros, 3.2% more.
Regarding the data only for the second quarter of 2023, Unicaja Banco recorded an attributable net profit of 114 million euros, 6.5% more than between April and June 2022. On its side, income was 458 million, 2.7% more.
BALANCE SHEET DATES
At the end of the semester, Unicaja Banco’s balance sheet presented total assets of 97,259 million euros, 15.3% less than a year earlier. Of this figure, the credit portfolio stood at 53,151 million euros, 5.4% less, of which 1,921 million (-2.1%) were doubtful loans.
The reduction in the credit portfolio is mainly due to the lower balance of loans to companies and public administrations. The drop in total assets also includes the 65.2% drop, to a final balance of 6,879 million, of cash and cash balance in central banks, as a result of the withdrawal of liquidity from the European Central Bank in the last anus.
Regarding loans to individuals, the mortgage portfolio closed the semester at 31,068 million euros, which represents a 1.5% drop compared to a year earlier, below the 2.4% drop in the sector average (data up to May). This fall has occurred despite the fact that Unicaja Banco generated 1,448 million in new mortgage loans in the semester (-36.6%).
In any case, the bank has indicated that the average Euribor reference that is being applied to its variable mortgage portfolio (60% of the total) is 2.58%, so it still has room to increase income taking into account that the Euribor is located in the environment of 4%.
Regarding doubtful loans, the coverage rate has risen by nine tenths in the last year, up to 65.8%, which has allowed provisions to close the semester 0.7% lower than at the end of June of 2022.
The NPL ratio stood at 3.6%, one tenth more than a year earlier. Particularly noteworthy is the increase of half a percentage point in the non-performing ratio of loans to companies, up to 7%, especially due to an increase of 2.1 points in non-performing loans for real estate developments (up to 18.7%) and for SMEs and the self-employed, which stands at 9.9%, 1.6 points more.
With regard to liabilities, they fell by 16.3% in the year, to 90,779 million euros. Of this figure, customer deposits fell by more than 5,000 million, to stand at 74,095 million euros, 7.3% less than in June 2022.
SOLVENCY
Unicaja Banco closed the semester with a CET1 capital ratio in its ‘fully loaded’ variant, the highest quality, located at 13.8%, which is equivalent to an increase of one percentage point compared to a year earlier. The total capital ratio rose nine tenths, to 17.8%.
The bank has highlighted that it presents 1,755 million excess capital over regulatory requirements, in CET1, and 3,008 million in total capital.
The return on capital ratio (RoTE) experienced an increase of 1.4 percentage points in the last year, closing the first half of the year at 7%, while the liquidity coverage ratio stood at 284%.
Regarding off-balance sheet and insurance resources, the balance rose 1.3% in the year, to 21,004 million euros, largely due to the increases registered by savings insurance and other assets managed.
Unicaja has also indicated that at the end of the semester, 62.7% of its clients were already digital. Of the new clients, 34% were captured by online channels, while the contribution of these channels to the contracting of new consumer loans stands at 47.3%.
