Bankinter continues the positive tendency of the past year with a quarterly net profit of 104.8 million euros, an increase of 10%

The Bankinter Group begins 2016 maintaining the strength of its business and the profitable growth trend declared last year. Thus, on 31 March the Group reached a net profit of 104.8 million euros and a profit before tax of 147.6 million, constituting increases of 10.1% and 8.6%, respectively, on the first quarter of the previous year.

These results continue to be based on recurring business with customers in the strategic business lines, enabling ROE levels above capital costs.Thus, the return levels on equity of Bankinter are situated at levels that are attractive to investors and above those of the sector, with an ROE of 10.7% at the close of the quarter.

Similarly, the bank registered an improvement in the quality of all its assets and it maintained some of the highest solvency levels.

Regarding the first point, Bankinter maintained the trend of a reduction of non-performing loans, whereby this ratio stood at 3.95%, currently the lowest in the sector. The sector figure of non-performing loans stood at an average of 10.09% in February. On 31 March the foreclosed property asset portfolio had a gross value of 525.6 million euros, 12.4% less than a year ago, and had a coverage of 40.6%.

With regards to solvency, Bankinter has a CET1 fully loaded capital ratio of 11.6%, which remains high despite the investment growth and does not include the latent goodwill of the public debt portfolio.

Similarly, the bank has improved its financing structure, strengthening the ratio of deposits to loans up to 87.2%, whereas this ratio stood at 78.2% a year ago; and it has a liquidity gap of 6.6 billion euros, 36% less than the first quarter of 2015.

In the same way, maturities of wholesale issuances pending until 2019 total 4 billion euros, for which the bank has liquid assets valued at 8.3 billion euros in order to face and a capacity to issue mortgage debentures of 5.5 billion.

Resistance of the margins.

Despite the environment of extremely low rates and strong growth attained last year, the Bankinter interest margin shows resilience and reached 220.1 million euros on 31 March, 3.9% more than 12 months ago, supported by the increased volumes, improved mix or activity type, and the reduction of the resource financing cost.

At the close of the quarter the gross margin reached 410.8 million euros, representing a 1.6% growth on the previous year, despite to the weak behaviour of commissions during the quarter as a result of the market effect.

The margin before provisions at the close of March stood at 211.8 million euros, 0.3% higher than the first quarter of 2015, representing a noteworthy level taking into account an increase of the expenses resulting from the investment in new strategic businesses and the improvement of the technological systems that support them. Thus, banking operating costs grew by 4.5% compared to the first quarter of 2015. Nonetheless, the cost/income ratio of the banking activity with depreciation remained at a good level, closing March 2016 at 43.1%.

With regards to the total assets of the Bankinter balance sheet, they closed the quarter at 61,607.2 million euros, up 7.8% on March 2015.

The volume of credit to customers is showing signs of strength once again and it has retained the growth trend in the first quarter, reaching 44,320 million euros, 3.9% more than a year ago.

Furthermore, the wholesale funds of customers have experienced a significant rise: an increase of 18.5% with respect to March 2015, reaching 36,434.6 million euros, almost 5.7 billion more than a year ago. Additionally, off-balance sheet resources grew by 4.8%.

A profitable customer business that is growing.

The start of this year has highlighted the solidity of the Bank's customer business, which continues to be the highest contributor to income, at 87%.

This good progress of the customer business - that from now on, after the acquisition of Barclays Portugal, will extend the geographical perimeter of its activity - has been very significant in all the main strategic sectors - Private Banking, Corporate Banking and Insurance -, and also in more recent businesses - Personal Banking and Consumer Financing -, as well as in the sectors more directly linked to the digital activity of the bank, where Bankinter has been a pioneer for the last 20 years.

In Private Banking, the customer managed assets exceeded 28.3 billion euros, an increase of 7.5% on the same figure last year. Similarly, Bankinter maintains its privileged leading position in the SICAV ranking, with 466 companies, 18% more than March 2015, and a market share of 13.8%, far higher than the bank has in any other areas.

In the area of Corporate Banking, the credit investment figure is especially significant once again, with a portfolio that comes to 19.7 billion euros at the close of March, resulting in a 5.6% growth on the previous year's figures. The consolidation of certain businesses on which the bank takes a firm stance is especially noteworthy in this regard, and one which it has provided more investment and new human teams, such as the International Companies Business with a gross profit margin that has increased by 27%.

With regards to Línea Directa, its policies, premiums and market share continue to grow, and this business remains highly profitable, with an ROE of 30.3% and one of the best combined ratios of the market, 88.3%. There are 6.6% more total policies than a year ago, amounting to 2.42 million policies at the close of the quarter. Especially notable along these lines is the growth in home insurance: an increase of 15.1%. The after tax profit of this company on 31 March ascended to 25.2 million euros, an increase of 3%.

With regards to the Consumer and Personal Banking businesses, relaunched with new staff and products, the quarterly figures offer good prospects in the medium term.

The consumer financing business, undertaken via the subsidiary Bankinter Consumer Finance, has consolidated its growth speed in line with last year. It undertook the repositioning of its corporate identity during this quarter, which included its new brand for the revolving card business line (or deferred payment) that has now started to operate as Bankintercard.

Bankinter Consumer Finance has completed another excellent quarter. Thus, the consumer investment figure reached 719 million euros, 71% more than March 2015. In reference to attracting new accounts, there was an increase of 80% in the same period, coming in at 53,000 new accounts this quarter.

Notable with respect to products is the good progress of two of the main commercial commitments of the bank: mortgages and the salary account. Thus, the production of new mortgages maintained its positive trend of previous quarters, with a new production volume of 510 million euros in the quarter, 40% more than those produced in the first quarter of 2015. Therefore, Bankinter's market share of new mortgages stands at 7.3%, more than twice the bank's share of mortgage investment. And with regards to the portfolio of salary accounts, the balance stands at 4.4 billion euros, 26% more than a year ago.

Finally, it is worth highlighting the good figures reached by COINC, the digital banking online platform and one of the focal points of the company, which oversaw the building of innovative solutions for savings, online purchases and online financing especially intended for digital natives. After three years in operation, this platform has 90,000 customers, with deposited assets valued at 1.1 billion euros, 58% more than in the first quarter of 2015.

Key Figures for First Quarter of 2016.

(*) Of the banking activity with depreciation.

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