Bankinter Portugal is a ‘success story’: Branch reported a net profit of €50 million in 2021

Maria Dolores Dancausa, president of Bankinter, says the branch in Portugal “is a success story” and it does not plan to move forward with more acquisition in the domestic market. The statement was made after the bank revealed on Thursday that it made a net profit of €1,333 million in 2021, including an extraordinary non-recurring capital gain from the “Línea Directa” transaction, with the Portuguese branch contributing €50 million.

In a statement published in the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the banking group reports that, excluding the capital gain from the transaction made with the “Línea Directa” transaction, the bank reached a net profit of €437.4 million, 37.9% higher than in 2020. This result was influenced by the smaller allocations that were made in 2021 to address the impact of the pandemic.

“Línea Directa” was Bankinter’s insurance subsidiary that floated on the Madrid stock exchange last April 29, with 82.6% of its capital being distributed to the group’s shareholders in the second quarter of the year.

After the Covid-19 pandemic dominated the entire 2020, Bankinter had a “year of record growth in commercial activity” in 2021 with mortgage production growing 58%, customer deposits 11.5% and investment funds 30%.

Return on equity (ROE) excluding the capital gain from Línea Directa, improved to 9.6% and the bank’s CET1 fully-loaded capital ratio was 12.1%. The NPL ratio stood at 2.24%, down 13 basis points compared to a year earlier, with “little impact” from the end of the mortgage moratoriums. The NPL coverage ratio was 63.56%, 302 basis points higher than at the end of 2020.

Due to the “soundness” of the results, the Spanish bank resumed its traditional shareholder remuneration policy of paying two dividends out of 2021 recurring profit: the first in October, for a total amount of €119.78 million, and the second in December, for €46.26 million.

Bankinter Portugal closed “another equally successful year”, with a pre-tax profit of €50 million and “growth in all business indicators and margins”. The loan book increased 6%, to €6.9 billion, and customer deposits rose 23%, to €5.9 billion.

Bankinter says the Portuguese branch is “a success story”

Maria Dolores Dancausa, president of Spanish bank Bankinter, considers that the operation in Portugal “is a success story” to maintain and added that it does not plan to move forward with more acquisition in the domestic market.

“Just over six years ago, in September 2015, we acquired a small retail network in Portugal [from Barclays]. Six years later, it is a bank that has earned a name and a magnificent reputation in the country. At Bankinter we do not acquire it to then sell it, which is often the fashion. We acquired it with the vocation of fully integrating it into our management, contributing to the group’s success and growth,” said Dancausa during the presentation of the results.

“It’s a frankly good figure,” the Spanish bank’s president considered.

In the same way that she ruled out selling the operation, Dancausa also explained she had no plans to acquire other operations in Portugal.

Dancausa acknowledged that Bankinter Portugal “operation is small, but has great potential in the future.”