Retail and Foreigners

Retail Banking

The objective of this segment is to increase the number of connected customers: that is, customers that think of Bankinter as their first choice when they plan to carry out a financial transaction. The first step in the connection usually occurs through salary accounts, a product that involves direct debiting of bill payments and holding of debit and/or credit cards. Hence the effort made not only by Bankinter, but by virtually the entire sector, to promote such products, although some competitors weakened in the last quarter of the year.

The Bank's premier customer acquisition tool is the '5% Salary Account', which offers a 5% interest rate on a maximum of 5,000 euros the first year and 2% the second. It is fee-exempt, including cash withdrawals in more than 8,000 ATMs throughout Spain, and it entitles the account holder to a free credit card. The 'No-Salary Account' also performed very well in 2016. It is especially aimed at self-employed people or salary earnings without a regular income, and the 'You and I Account', which is targeted at couples who have separate economies. 

'Account 22' was launched in 2016 for the children of bank customers. There are no conditions, it carries no obligations and it generates no fees. It allows the customer to have a credit card from the age of 18, make online domestic transfers free of charge and use the mobile phone payment service. This product is consistent with Bankinter's objective of offering an account for every customer type. 

Credit activity

With regard to assets, it was a quite dynamic year in mortgages, as the previous year had been. This time, however, the strong competition did not result in a decrease in interest rates, which had virtually bottomed out, but rather in growing demand for innovative proposals. One of these, already experimented with by Bankinter in 2015 on a pioneering basis, was the mixed mortgage, which combines a temporary fixed rate term with a subsequent term at a variable rate. The Individuals segment saw new mortgages totalling 696 million euros, which represents 6% growth.

There was also significant increase in consumer loans, the active balance of which went from 269 to 302 million euros in 2016, which is a 12.3% increase on the year 2015. Particularly significant was the effort made in pre-authorised loans, which had previously been available to customers with high purchasing power, but which are now accessible to nearly all customers, although the price depends on each one's risk level. 

Foreigners

Foreign customers are concentrated mostly in the Mediterranean coast and the Canary islands, and their point of entry to the bank tends to be housing finance. To provide them with the right service, Bankinter has employs in those regions highly qualified staff who know their specific needs and have extensive knowledge of foreign languages. The number of active foreign customers grew by 3.7% in 2016 to 26,005. Total results of such customers increased by 1.6%, and the balance in investment ended 2016 at 636 million euros. 

The targets for 2017 in Retail and Foreigners are to continue placing the spotlight on products that generate connections; to fully capitalise on the facilities provided by the CRM (the model for customer relationship management) to ascertain what may be of most interest to a customer at any time in their life, and to exploit the digital channel as a tool for customer acquisition.