Santander joins other banks such as BBVA, Sabadell or Bankinter in obtaining record profits in 2022. Its profits amounted to 9,605 million euros, 18% more than in the previous year, which will allow it to raise the dividend by 16% .
The bank will distribute to its shareholders around 40% of the profits, that is, more than 3,800 million euros, and will do so in approximately equal parts between cash dividends and share repurchases. The profitability for the shareholder, he indicates, will be above 8%.
"2022 has once again been a very good year for Santander: we increased the customer base profitably and we maintained a very solid balance sheet," says the bank's president, Ana Botín, who hopes that in 2023 the central banks will continue to take measures to reduce inflation "We expect to continue increasing the return on tangible capital per share and the dividend per share," he said.
The bank's gross margins, including interest and commissions, stood at 52,154 million euros last year, 12% more than in 2021 and above the average increase target of 5%. The increase in profit, he indicates, responds to the strong growth in commercial activity, good asset quality and cost control.
The interest margin increased thanks to the rise in rates significantly in the United Kingdom (13%), Poland (99%) and Mexico (13%). "The effect of the rise in rates on interest income has not yet been fully reflected in Spain, Portugal and the United States," says the bank, which calculates that this year it could obtain between 2,000 and 2,500 million additional euros in net interest income. interest in this regard.
The number of customers continued to grow and stood at seven million more in the last twelve months, up to 160 million. Customer funds increased by 6%, to 1.15 trillion euros, thanks to a 9% increase in deposits, while loans increased by 5%, encouraged by mortgages and consumer credit.
Digital services are on the rise, to the point that 80% of operations are carried out through these channels, while 55% of sales were made on the web or mobile. Commission income increased 7%, while billing derived from card and dataphone operations increased 14% and 21%, respectively.
Inflation caused a 7% increase in costs, although the group's efficiency ratio closed at 45.8%, with an improvement of 0.4 percentage points compared to 2021. The non-performing loan ratio fell slightly, to 3.08%.
The cost of risk, that is, what the bank provisions based on the expected loss of the portfolio, increased 22 basis points in the year, up to 0.99%, in line with the objective, due to the increase in provisions by 31% compared to 2021. The CET1 capital ratio, which is the highest quality, stood at 12.04%, above the ECB's requirements.
For this year, the group expects to raise revenues to double digits and place the cost of risk below 1.2%. "The excellent execution of the teams and the rigor in the allocation of capital will allow us to create value in a sustainable way in the future," says Botín.
In Spain, Santander obtained a profit of 1,560 million euros after raising the gross margin by 6%, to 8,233 million euros. Interest income stood at 4,539 million and income from commissions, at 2,818 million.
The Spanish customer base increased by more than 700,000, while loans and advances increased by 3%. The bank highlights the record levels in mortgage production in the third quarter and the sustained dynamics during the year in consumer and insurance.
The increase in gross margin responds to higher volumes and to the fact that in recent months the rise in interest rates has begun to be reflected. Provisions for bad debts fell by 30% and the NPL ratio improved 145 basis points, to 3.27%.
