In AGM, Bankinter chairman praises recurrent profits and future sustainability

Today, in his speech at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Bankinter’s chairman, Pedro Guerrero, highlighted the bank’s excellent earnings in 2018, which marked another record in the history of the institution with ‘an uninterrupted period of six years of growth’ despite a complicated environment rife with uncertainty.

He spoke in detail about the recurrent nature of the bank’s profits, with gains on financial transactions that ‘account for less than 3% of gross operating income, as well as an ALCO portfolio that has downsized’.

The chairman announced that, due to its higher earnings, the Group is ready to pay out 263.2 million euros in dividends against 2018 earnings, 6.3% more than last year. According to Pedro Guerrero, ‘the bank’s good performance and capital adequacy levels, well above the minimum requirements ordered by regulators, have afforded us shareholder returns that will again entail a 50% pay-out this year’.

Guerrero also mentioned the Group’s acquisition of EVO Banco, saying ‘it is very positive for the bank both financially and strategically, as it will allow us to make significant progress in our fully digital operations’. This transaction will be offset with the bank’s own funds, without any capital increases.

Furthermore, in his assessment of the banking industry in general, Bankinter’s chairman stated that it is essential ‘to economic growth and the progress of society’. He also expressed concerns about current negative sentiments toward banks. To overcome this challenge to their reputation, he stressed the need to continue to work ‘responsibly and with a commitment toward society and the industry, conducting business with professionalism and providing our customers with top-quality service'.

Confidence and optimism for 2019

Moreover, chief executive officer, María Dolores Dancausa, focused on the robustness of the group’s profits in 2018, which ‘come as a new boon for the Group for the coming years while following the same trend from previous years of consistent, regular, sustainable and smooth revenues’.

The chief executive officer went over the performance of the various business lines that form the backbone of the bank’s strategy: Corporate Banking, which has seen its loan book double in the last 8 years, while lending across the industry has shrunk by half; Commercial Banking, which increased managed assets in its key segments despite negative market effects; Línea Directa, with over 3 million insured risks; Consumer Finance, with over 2 billion euros in its loan book; and Bankinter Portugal, which managed to increase the EBT of its operations by 92%, exceeding all forecasts.

María Dolores Dancausa mentioned the new business line that will soon be integrated into the bank following the acquisition of EVO Banco and its consumer lending subsidiary in Ireland, Avantcard. ‘With this acquisition’, she said, ‘we aim to increase our commitment to digital banking, by leveraging EVO’s brand value and the high growth potential of its customer base of, on average, young and substantially digital individuals in order to increase our market share in this business.’ 

Dancausa also listed several macroeconomic and industry-related challenges Bankinter must face in the next fiscal year. In regard to the banking industry, she cited challenges like ‘the extremely low interest-rate environment, regulatory pressures, court proceedings for alleged misconduct, keeping up fast with new technologies that change relationships with customers, cybersecurity, new players on the scene, etc’.

To cope with these obstacles, the chief executive officer pointed out Bankinter’s numerous strengths, which 'give reason to be confident and optimistic in 2019 and the following years’.

In particular, she emphasised strengths like the presence of the bank’s majority shareholder on all of its decision-making bodies; the bank’s ability to innovate and adapt to more complicated settings; its sound risk management; and its highly adequate size, since Bankinter does not have ‘a gigantic size or heavy infrastructures that prevent it from responding quickly to course corrections necessitated by external circumstances or any internal mistakes we might commit’.

María Dolores Dancausa ended her remarks reaffirming the goal to continue working ‘to build a great banking institution; for Bankinter to continue to grow in a sustainable manner; for [Bankinter] to be an example of efficiency, of responding to changes our customers demand of us, as well as an example of responding to changes to our industry brought on by new technologies’.

Lastly, all the resolutions set out in the agenda of the Annual General Meeting were approved, including the dividends for the year and the appointment of two new independent external directors, Álvaro Álvarez-Alonso and María Luisa Jordá, which will set the number of board members at 12 with 33% being women directors.