The Spanish group Santander obtained profits of 9,605 million last year, a record figure that represents an increase of 18% compared to 2021, the bank revealed this Thursday.
Only in the last quarter of the year, between October and December, Santander, owner of Santander Totta in Portugal, obtained profits of 2,288 million euros, 1% more than in the same period of 2021, according to the results announced today by the bank .to the Spanish authorities.
The “solid result” of 2022 was due “to the strong growth of the commercial activity, the good quality of the assets and the control of costs”, defends the bank, in a statement.
The group highlights that last year the number of clients increased by seven million, which now total 160 million, with resources that grew by 6%, “thanks to the good growth of deposits (+9%), while loans increased 5%. , with mortgages and consumer loans growing by 7%”.
Santander reveals that its total income last year increased by 6%, to 52,154 million euros, which, “together with good cost control”, has led to the results it has presented today.
The bank says that “the strong rise in inflation” last year caused an overall increase in costs of 7%, but the group’s spending, “in real terms”, fell by 5% “thanks to the improvement in productivity and international collaboration between markets and companies”. “.
“Thus, the group’s efficiency ratio closed at 45.8% in 2022”, improving by 0.4 percentage points compared to 2021, “which places Santander among the most efficient entities”.
The Santander group is present in Europe, North America and South America and ensures that “the geographical and business diversification of the group has once again driven solid and profitable growth” in 2022.
Europe represented 33% of ordinary profit, South America (where Santander is present in Brazil) contributed 31% to the group’s results, North America represented 25% and Digital Consumer Bank (digital area) with 11%.
In Europe, the profit in 2022 was 3,810 million euros, 38% more than in 2021.
In Spain alone, ordinary profit reached 1,560 million euros and increased by 149%, “mainly due to the reduction in provisions for bad debts (-30%) and costs (-1%).”
The president of the group, Ana Botín, quoted in the bank’s statement released today, affirms that “2022 was once again a very good year for Santander” and says that she hopes that in 2023 “central banks and governments will continue to prioritize the reduction of inflation “.
“Our teams have extensive experience in successfully managing this type of context, so we expect revenue growth to offset the increase in costs due to inflation and the expected increase in the cost of risk,” says Ana Botín.
Source: TSF
