Bankinter's Commercial Retail Banking activity (focused on individuals) performed strongly in 2023. This was reflected in a 37% increase in its gross operating income, well above its objective. This resulted in Commercial Retail Banking accounting for more than its usual third of the entity's gross operating income, contributing 37%.
In addition to marketing efforts, these strong results are the fruit of the reorganisation of this business line in 2021 to boost productivity and offer better service, profiling customers according to their potential and specific financial needs.
This business is now subdivided into two segments: Retail Banking (previously Personal Banking, Individual Banking and Foreign Banking), which was particularly satisfactory in 2023, with gross operating income of 732 million euros (+57%); and Wealth Management (which encompasses Private Banking, Bankinter Luxembourg and the Agent Network), with income of 243 million.
One of the major successes in the year was customer acquisition, with 123,000 new customers, the most ever achieved in a single year. At 31 December, there were more than 900,000 active Commercial Retail Banking customers. Of these, 867,104 were in Retail and 51,984 in Wealth Management, with growth of 6.4% and 8.4%, respectively.
Wealth Management, the segment that includes customers with the most assets, enjoyed a prolific year, with 57,800 million euros of assets under management compared to 51,100 million in the previous year. The assets under management in Retail Banking, grouping all other customers, amounted to 45,600 million euros, 10.1% higher than at the close of 2022.
Analysing by product lines, Bankinter gained market share in mortgages, suffering a smaller decline than its competitors in this business, which was hit hard by high interest rates, which resulted in lower demand for loans and an increase in repayment. Mortgage production stood at 2,876 million euros, with an outstanding balance at year-end 2023 of 22,988 million.
The salary account, another of Bankinter's star products, continued to deliver excellent results for the bank, having continuously improved for more than a decade. Last year, 56,800 new salary accounts were opened, 4% more than in 2022. One innovation was the possibility of opening two fee-free accounts to accompany it.
Bankinter also launched a fee-free digital account at the start of the year with an APR of 1% on balances up to 25,000 euros, 1.25% between 25,000 and 50,000, and 1.50% over 50,000 euros. This account, which can only be opened online, features a fee-free debit card and offers the same functionality as a conventional account.
In terms of consumer credit, operations amounting to 871 million euros were arranged during the year, bringing the portfolio to 1,600 million euros at year-end, 12% higher than in 2022.
Bankinter's offering in the field of alternative investment continues to have an extraordinary reception among its customers - particularly high net worth customers - enabling a portion of the investment to be directed towards assets in the real economy, in sectors as diverse as renewable energies, infrastructure, logistics, student accommodation and commercial premises. Bankinter already offers 23 alternative loans vehicles, with committed capital of 4,808.5 million.
The objectives of Commercial Retail Banking for 2024 include increasing gross operating income by over 10%, largely through advice and a recovery in mortgage activity, once interest rates have stabilised.
A number of initiatives are expected to contribute to this. These include: our Dual mortgage, which allows customers to define what percentage of their loan will be at a variable interest rate and what portion will be fixed rate from the outset; the Broker 0 service, which offers free trading in the Spanish market through the securities lending service, with the possibility of a credit for the returns Bankinter makes from the loan of these instruments; and the Single Insurance Account, which groups all premiums and divides their payment into monthly instalments.
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