MADRID, 7 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The assets under management (investment funds, sicavs, pension funds) of the main Spanish entities increased by 4.53% in the first quarter of the year compared to the end of December, according to statistics on the management of collective investment institutions ( IIC) and pension funds by financial groups published this week by Inverco.

Taking the data from CaixaBank, BBVA, Santander, Ibercaja, Kutxabank, Bankinter, Caja Rural, Unicaja, Abanca, Laboral Kuxta, Banco Sabadell and Cajamar, they accounted for a total of 352,190 million euros in assets under management, representing 49, 5% of all assets managed in Spain, of 710,112 million euros.

It should be noted that this managed assets in Spain of 710,112 million --and which includes national, international and banking managers-- increased by 3.76% at the end of March compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, but it is 3.73% lower. below the level registered in March 2022. This is not the case with the assets managed only by retail banks, which grew by 0.74% compared to the first quarter of 2022, marked by the start of the war in Ukraine and high inflation .

By banks, CaixaBank is the largest entity in Spain by assets under management, with 119,434 million euros, 4% more than in December, although 0.37% less than in March 2022. In pension plans it already holds something more of 40,000 million, while it manages almost 80,000 million euros through IIC.

Following behind is BBVA with an increase of almost 4% in the quarter, reaching 68,859 million euros, while Santander increased equity by 1.9%, up to 65,080 million euros.

The next group of banks would already fall below 30,000 million euros in assets under management, according to Inverco data. Thus, Ibercaja had 26,962 million euros, almost 8% more in the quarter, while Kuxtabank obtained an increase of 9.63% in its managed assets, up to 25,405 million euros.

According to Inverco data, Bannkinter closed March with 12,996 million euros under management, 6.6% more, while Caja Rural increased it by 9.28%, up to 9,587 million.

For its part, Unicaja Banco increased its assets under management by 0.76% in the quarter compared to December, to 9,366 million euros, and Abanca increased it by 6.28%, to 5,487 million euros. Laboral Kuxta experienced the largest increase in this set of banks; specifically, 18.66%, up to 4,474 million.

Sabadell, on the other hand, is the only entity that recorded a decrease of 3.05% in the quarter, to 3,453 million euros, due to the fall in the assets managed by the sicavs. Finally, while Cajamar Vida gained 2.25% in equity, up to 1,080 million.

This situation contrasts with the evolution of the deposits that the entities have reported in the presentation of the accounts for the first quarter. With the data from the businesses in Spain of Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Unicaja Banco, as well as that of the Bankinter Group, the entities held around 1.1 trillion euros of customer deposits, 2.53% further. This figure includes both sight and forward products.

The largest drop in deposits was registered by Santander Spain, 5.6%, to 301,250 million euros, although the group's CEO, Héctor Grisi, already clarified at the press conference to present the accounts for the first quarter that it was a "seasonal issue" as it was a decrease compared to the fourth of 2022 when "very important growth" was registered by corporate clients by the end of the year. Thus, within this customer segment, deposit outflows were 21,000 million in January, with a recovery in the following two months.

BBVA Spain also registered a drop in its deposits, although of 2.71%, to 214,476 million euros. The bank's CEO, Onur Genç, gave an explanation similar to the one given by Grisi, noting that 2,000 of the 7,000 million in which the deposit base had been reduced was due to corporate clients and was, likewise, a seasonal issue.

The rest, 5,000 million, belonged to retail customer withdrawals, although 40% of this amount had been early loan repayments, while 2,000 million had gone to off-balance sheet products, especially investment funds.

Behind, CaixaBank is the entity with the largest deposit base in Spain, accounting for 352,592 million euros, 0.94% less than in December, while Sabadell registered a decrease of 1.42% in Spain to 120,722 million. of euros.

In the case of Bankinter, deposits fell by 1.38%, to 71,896 million euros, although the entity indicates that it is due to a transfer from these products to others, such as fixed income or investment funds.

Only Unicaja Banco is the entity that manages to slightly increase its deposit base, 0.46%, to 74,734 million euros.