Banco Sabadell wants to get ahead of its main competitors with a strategic move in the business that it knows best and that contributes the most to its income statement, business loans. The entity will take advantage of the good moment of the economy, the pent-up demand waiting for interest rate drops and the additional support of the ICO to market loans for 14,000 million euros between companies, according to Eduardo Currás, director of Bank Companies. Sabadell.
This figure is equivalent to increasing the volume of loans to this type of bank clients by almost 60%, which would give it a clear leadership over its competitors. His ambition, which in Currás's own words is still “aspirational”, is to go from a current market share in Spain of 16% to 25%, which would open a gap against Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank. Each of the country's four large entities now controls between 15% and 20% of the market.
This offense has two keys. The first is, of course, to offer lower interest rates. To do this, Sabadell will take advantage of the fact that 52% of Spanish companies work in one way or another with the bank to make individualized proposals based on their risk.
The second key is a novelty on the market. The 14,000 million will be offered through pre-granted credits, a formula that is common among individuals, but which has never been tried among companies, at least on this scale.
Sabadell will also readapt its staff with the aim of putting the radar on 65,000 companies. Until now, its business focused on companies with a turnover of more than 10 million euros and brought together 30,000 companies that it served through 300 directors and 32 teams. Now, it will lower the minimum turnover threshold to 2 million to incorporate 35,000 additional companies, for which it will mobilize 500 directors and 63 teams.
“There is pent-up investment demand that we think will emerge with the interest rate drops starting in June,” says Currás. “Companies have become more cautious,” he notes.
The 14 billion will include European funds, on whose channeling formula the ICO continues to work. The default rate of the companies with which Sabadell works is 2.47%, below the 3.52% of the bank as a whole.
