The pandemic demanded an extraordinary effort from Commercial Retail Banking professionals to minimise its impact and maintain an almost normal pace of activity. The Bank's digital capabilities were put to the test and the available technological means had to be further developed to replace faceto-face management and find new forms of relating, both with customers and with the Bank's professionals.
The results of these efforts were very positive in economic terms. Commercial Retail Banking's gross operating income increased by 3%, to 579.3 million euros. Private Banking, which includes customers with liquid assets of more than one million euros, grew by 4%. In this area, despite market drops and volatility, customers maintained their investment positions, resulting in good figures for fees on equities and investment funds. The Investment Banking and real estate brokerage fees, and management and advisory services also performed well. The gross operating income also rose significantly in Personal Banking (customers with assets between 75,000 and one million euros). In Individual Retail Banking, the trend was stabilisation. In Foreigner Residents, the gross operating income increased slightly, despite the limitations imposed worldwide on the international movement of people.
Regarding the main financial products, the Salary Account's portfolio registered another year of positive growth. New business increased slightly vs 2019 and the balance increased by 22% to exceed 12 billion euros. The Salary Account has maintained its advantages since its launch in 2012, consolidating its position as a leading product in the market and confirming its capacity to attract business from natural persons.
New loans suffered during the lockdown months. At the end of the year, the decrease in amount was only 7%, as a result of strong growth in the last months of the year. This allowed us to recover a large part of the business we lost in March, April, May and June. New personal loans fell by 12%, in line with the application of a stricter risk policy due to the pandemic.
Commercial Retail Banking activity in 2020 was completed with the launch of 'Bankinter Family' in the final quarter. This is an innovative business line aimed at addressing family financial management globally, including products, solutions and services adapted to each stage of the customer's life and to the different generations that are part of the household. The response to the proposal was excellent in the first months of its launch.
The 'BK Youth' offering was consolidated in 2020. It is targeted at supplying promising young people with a global financial service, including savings, financing and investment proposals. In its second year, 'BK Youth' exceeded 100,000 customers and became a transversal business proposal with great projection in the short and medium term. In 2020, the Private Banking segment also launched new global wealth management projects aimed at athletes and religious institutions
Our hard work to cushion the impact of the pandemic was also rewarded in terms of customer satisfaction. Customers gave positive ratings to the network service, accessibility and the Bank's measures for financial support and information. In Personal Banking, the NPS index (an indicator of service quality) exceeded 35 points at the end of the year, the highest figure since July 2014. In Private Banking, the NPS improved substantially, from 47.3 to 51.1 points.
The improvement in customer satisfaction had a positive effect on retention rates. In absolute figures, churn fell by 8% during the year and progress was more positive among customers with the highest potential and value, with a reduction of 17%.
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