The bank will face a tax payment of about 80 million this year

Unicaja Banco closed 2023 with a net profit of 267 million euros, which is equivalent to a decrease of 4% compared to the profits obtained in the previous year, as reported by the entity this Tuesday when publishing its annual accounts.

Last year, the Andalusian bank had to assume a charge of 63.8 million euros for the temporary banking tax. If they had not had to face this tax, their profits would have increased by 19% in the year.

According to market calculations based on these results, the bank will pay around 80 million euros for this concept this year.

The bank's total income (gross margin) was 1,776 million euros, 10.6% more. Of that figure, interest income (interest margin) was 1,353 million euros, 26.1% more, while commission income increased 1.6%, to 533 million euros.

The entity's personnel expenses fell by 3.8%, to 487 million euros, while the rest of the administration expenses rose by 6.1%, to 281 million euros. Amortizations had a negative impact of 91 million euros.

In this way, the operating margin was 917 million euros, 23.2% more than when subtracting provisions of 114 million (21.5%), 146 million for asset impairment (-31.7%). and extraordinary amounts of 286 million (almost five times as much) gives a result before taxes of 371 million, 3.2% less.

The large increase in the negative impact due to financial extraordinary events is due to the fact that the bank has decided to make provisions for real estate assets due to the current situation of the monetary cycle.

Regarding the results of the fourth quarter of the year only, the Andalusian bank recorded losses of 19 million euros, compared to profits of 6 million in the same last period. Revenues, however, increased by 27.4%, to 442 million euros.

The entity has insisted that the full effect of the increase in interest rates has not yet been reflected, which is why the customer margin (the interest collected on assets minus those paid on liabilities) rose by 13 points. basics in the fourth quarter, up to 2.75%.

BALANCE SHEET AND SOLVENCY

As of December 31, the bank's balance sheet showed assets of 97,153 million euros, which represents a drop of 1.8% compared to a year before.

Of the total assets, the client's loans and advances at amortized cost were 50,062 million euros, 7.8% less. If the portfolio of problematic loans is excluded and other financial assets are added, a performing credit portfolio of 48,325 million euros is reached, 8.7% less.

Unicaja has explained that this fall is explained by a "context" of contraction in the demand for financing, the increase in amortizations and early cancellations and by the concentration of maturities of ICO loans.

During the year, loans worth 7,022 million euros were granted, of which 2,291 million were mortgages to individuals.

Of all the credit investment of 48,325 million, loans to individuals reached 33,022 million at the end of the year, 4.3% less, with an increase of 0.5% in the consumer credit portfolio and a decrease of 4.3%. 7% of the mortgage portfolio. The loan portfolio to companies experienced a decrease of 17.3% compared to a year before, to 10,503 million, while credit to public administrations fell 16.8%, to 4,799 million.

The bank closed the quarter with a total of 1,568 million euros in doubtful loans, which represents a reduction of 19.1% compared to the previous year. In this way, the NPL ratio has improved by four tenths, reaching 3.1%.

Continuing with the balance sheet, Unicaja Banco recorded a liability on its balance sheet of 90,507 million euros at the end of the year, 2.2% less. The decrease is largely due to a drop of 82.1% in deposits in central banks, due to the change in ECB policy and the early return of the TLTRO-III auctions.

Customer deposits as of December 31 stood at 73,475 million euros, 1.2% less than a year before.

Resources managed off-balance sheet at the end of the fourth quarter were valued at 21,087 million euros, 4.1% more than a year ago. By products, investment funds increased by 1.4%, up to 11,404 million euros, while pension funds were 3,611 million, 1.9% less. Savings insurance rose by 15.4%, to 4,926 million, while the rest of the managed assets stood at 1,146 million, 9.2% more.

The CET1 capital ratio was 14.7% at the end of December, five tenths more than three months earlier, while the year-on-year increase was 1.7 percentage points. The total capital ratio improved by 2.2 points compared to the previous year, up to 18.5%.

Return on tangible equity (RoTE) fell by four tenths in the fourth quarter, to 5.3%. A year ago, the ratio was 4.4%.

With the amortizations, provisions and write-offs that the entity has carried out both in the quarter and in the year, the forecast is that by 2024 its profitability on equity will exceed 9%.