During the meeting, the Chairman of Bankinter highlighted that the bank's business model makes it very resistant to the vicissitudes of the economic cycle

Today, in his speech to the Annual General Meeting, the Chairman of Bankinter, Pedro Guerrero, praised the main variables on which, in his opinion, the bank's business model is based and on which the good results obtained in 2021 were built. Among these, he highlighted the strength of commercial activity, the prudence of the risk policy and, most importantly, the diversification of income sources, " that provides stability to our income statement and configures a very powerful business model that is resistant to the vicissitudes of the economic cycle".

According to Pedro Guerrero, this solidity of the bank's business model was made clear in the stress tests carried out in July on the main banks on the continent under the coordination of the European Banking Authority. "Our bank obtained the best score of all the entities in our country and the third best of those analysed in Europe, which shows the solidity of our business model, the strength of our balance sheet and income statement and, therefore, our resilience in the face of the most adverse economic scenarios ".

This situation led Bankinter to pay its traditional shareholder remuneration in October, once the ECB's recommendation to suspend the distribution of dividends, which had been maintained for a year and a half, was withdrawn. As such, and after the Board's approval to pay a final dividend charged to 2021, the bank distributed a total of 218.68 million euros, or what is the same, said Pedro Guerrero, "50 percent of the ordinary net profit obtained by Bankinter last year" .

The Chairman devoted an important part of his speech to extolling Bankinter's track record in the three aspects of Sustainability: environmental, social and governance. Regarding this last point, he pointed out that the bank has " the firm commitment to strengthen its governance framework to meet the challenges we face in the most responsible and sustainable way possible and with a balanced composition of the Board of Directors, promoting diversity and the presence of independent directors ". In relation to the next climatic stress tests, he stated that it "will represent an important step in the standardisation and implementation of sustainable criteria in the sector ".

Regarding the economic environment, Guerrero was especially concerned about both the war in Ukraine, which he described as "a humanitarian drama " which is in turn "the biggest violation of the International Order in Europe since the Second World War", and inflation, "which is the biggest threat to economic growth ".

However, as factors that encourage optimism, he noted the ECB's commitment to maintain easy access to financing for public and private agents and "the hopeful arrival of funds from the European Next Generation programme ".

Firm commitment in 2023 to achieve a net profit of 550 million euros.

The CEO of Bankinter, María Dolores Dancausa, reviewed the results obtained by the bank in 2021; a year of recovery that was not without difficulties, which the bank managed to "satisfactorily " overcome. In this regard, the CEO pointed out that: " the results of our banking activity have been excellent, and the exceptional results, although they will not be present in future years, have been magnificent and unrepeatable ".

In this regard, among the milestones achieved in the year, the CEO of Bankinter pointed out the success of the spin-off and IPO of Línea Directa Aseguradora, which Dancausa referred to as "not only an extraordinary and innovative entrepreneurial project, but also a great financial investment for the bank, with a clear generation of value for all of you, its shareholders, and which I´m sure will have a bright future ". In relation to Bankinter, he said that: " the spin-off of the insurance business has allowed the bank to free up capital which it can fully dedicate to the development of its banking activity, giving it free rein for a more daring and unrestricted expansion".

The CEO referred to the main threats that hover over the current complicated environment, including the growing drift of inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In that regard, he noted the importance of "not giving up because of the concern or overwhelm that these situations generate", highlighting the resilience shown by the bank throughout its history and the solid position achieved at the present time in all lines of activity: " We are at a time of major diversification of our banking income sources, which have been growing for years at a very good rate, (...) and we are continually adding new lines that did not exist before and in which we will continue to look for new ways to build value ".

The bank´s strong determination, as well as the strength and diversification of its income lines (geographical, customer, business, etc.), led the CEO to ratify the ambitious strategic objectives planned for the short and medium term: " we remain firm in our commitment to achieve after tax profits of 550 million euros within the banking activity in 2023, without any type of extraordinary items and without Línea Directa in our accounts".

Lastly, the Bankinter Annual General Meeting approved all the resolutions included in its agenda. Among them, the annual financial statements, the distribution of dividends, and the re-election of Teresa Martín-Retortillo Rubio as external independent director; and the appointment of Alfonso Botín-Sanz de Sautuola as proprietary director, replacing Cartival S.A., the holding company that he represented on the Board, given that, by imperative of the Spanish Companies Act, legal persons cannot be renewed.