The results for the year in Commercial Retail Banking, or for individuals, were very satisfactory, especially if we take into account the difficulties associated with the second year of the coronavirus pandemic and the negative impact of the repricing of mortgage loans, affected by the reduction in the Euribor. The intense commercial effort made it possible to overcome these drawbacks and achieve all time highs in some headings.
As a result of all this, the income of Commercial Retail Banking at Bankinter Spain reached 663.2 million euros, up 11% from 2020. This business has the highest contribution to the entity's gross operating income at 31%.
Commercial Retail Banking in Spain reached a record figure of 4.177 billion euros in new mortgage loans, up 44% from the previous year. The mortgage portfolio of this business stood at 29.2 billion euros, up 5%, which compares very favourably with the 1.3% increase in the sector as of November. The mortgage is a product that attracts customers with a high level of loyalty and profitability. In 2021 more than 50% of mortgage loans was with new customers.
The salary account is another product that attracts new customers, which also performed excellently throughout the year. 66,600 new salary accounts were opened in Commercial Retail Banking in Spain reaching a balance of 14,900 million euros, compared to 12,700 million in 2020, which represents an increase of 17%. In five years, the bank’s portfolio has multiplied by 2.7%, which reflects the ongoing success of a product that has remained stable for almost ten years.
The big sales boost was also reflected by the acquisition of 111,000 customers, the highest annual figure on record.
Record levels of commercial activity were also reached in investment funds. The net increase in investment funds excluding the market effect was close to 3 billion euros, double the figure reached in the previous year. The investment fund portfolio of Commercial Retail Banking customers in Spain stood at 24 billion, up 4.7 billion from 2020.
In the Wealth Banking area, performance was just as positive. Assets under management for customers in this segment reached a record €49.9 billion, compared to €42.8 billion in 2020. Growth was particularly high in the fields of wealth advisory services and delegated investment management, which have high added value. In Personal Banking, the segment immediately below, the volume reached 29.8 billion euros, with new assets of 29.8 billion, i.e., 2.8 billion without market effect.
In 2021, the sales efforts, which brought about record-breaking figures in terms of customer attraction, customers arranging asset and liability products and assets under management, took place alongside the launch of two projects aimed at transforming the customer service model. Both projects seek to improve the scalability and productivity of the sales model and involve the reorganisation of the business structure:
Looking ahead to 2022, the main challenge will be to maintain the remarkable pace of growth in gross operating income and the tone that has been set for commercial activity. To this end, the Commercial Retail Banking area will develop and consolidate the organisational and customer service model changes introduced in 2021, and will promote all fee-based businesses, focusing particularly on Insurance.
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