ING continues to grow in Spain, although contrary to the trend of recent years, it does so more slowly than traditional banks, while today, with a sharp drop of 8%, the stock market is accusing a worsening of its forecasts at the height of the banking profits. Income is suffering and, as it warns, it could compensate by raising commissions.
The Dutch bank entered 1,091 million euros in Spain in 2023, 24% more than the previous year, after capturing more than 4,000 million euros in deposits and reaching a volume of 48,300 million, according to data released today. The mortgage portfolio, in which the commercial success of its mixed loan in which it combines the fixed and variable rates stands out, increased more slowly, by about 1,000 million euros, to 22,300 million.
The figures for Spain practically remain here because the bank wants to present them in detail in mid-February. There are some more numbers, such as that the value of assets in the country has increased by 8%, up to 13.9 billion. Of the income, the volume exceeds 1,000 million euros for the first time and is above the 800 million used in 2022 by the Government as a threshold from which to impose the controversial extraordinary tax on banks.
At the group level, the profit was 7,287 million, almost double that of the previous year, thanks, as has happened with the banking sector as a whole, to the increases in interest rates. Income rose to 22,575 million, 21% more, while expenses increased more slowly, 3%, to 11,564 million.
Presenting its forecasts for the current year, the bank reports that “total revenue will remain strong in a positive interest rate environment, although somewhat below the 2023 level.” The need to pay more for deposits will dampen the strong improvement in margins.
The message has caused the bank’s shares to fall by 8.4% this Thursday, bringing its capitalization to 42.3 billion. The trend is the opposite of that of another large European bank that presented its annual results today, Deutsche Bank, whose stock market rise is today greater than 4%.
The interest margin, which is the difference between what is earned on borrowed money and what is paid on deposits, will decrease this year to between 15,000 and 15,500 million euros, compared to 16,000 million in 2023.
This message, collected in a presentation published this morning, has put the markets on guard. The bank also warns that the profit could be slightly lower.
Today’s falls are the largest in one day in almost a year and accumulate to those registered since mid-December, to accumulate a decline of almost 12%. In any case, the bank is about to reach its historical maximum price at the end of 2023.
A month ago, the CEO of ING, Steven van Rijswijk, indicated in an interview with Bloomberg that the bank must diversify its business, 80% associated with the evolution of interest rates. When presenting its quarterly results today, the entity has announced that it wants to increase commission income by between 5% and 10% this year.
