Consolidated income statement
Spanish banks obtained an attributable profit of 8,996 million euros during the first nine months of 2019, representing a decrease of 19.7% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Higher write-downs and one-off provisions made during the last two quarters and lower results from the sale of non-current assets explain the evolution of profit, despite the maintenance of the more recurring margins of the income statement.
The improvement in net interest income and net fee income, with year-on-year increases of 4.1% and 3% respectively, have offset lower results from financial operations and other operating results.
With average balance sheet growth of 3.4% year-on-year, the containment of operating expenses has placed the efficiency ratio at 49.1%, representing a reduction of 40 basis points compared to September 2018 and positioning it among the best of all banking systems in the European Union.
The greater provisioning effort made in the second quarter of the year, the write-down of intangible assets and the absence of exceptional gains on sales of non-current assets, unlike the third quarter of 2018, place the result for the year at 10,890 million euros, 17% lower than a year earlier.
The attributable result recorded during the first three quarters of the year of 8,996 million euros places return on equity (ROE) at 5.9%, compared to 7.4% achieved in September 2018.
Consolidated balance sheet
The consolidated balance sheet amounted to 2.64 trillion euros at the end of the third quarter, with growth of 5.1% compared to September of the previous year, with increases in credit and customer deposits of around 4.5% annually.
Credit granted to customers represents more than 59% of total assets and presents a non-performing loan ratio of 3.9%, which represents 40 basis points below the figure corresponding to a year earlier, with a similar coverage level of 67%.
Customer deposits reached a figure close to 1.45 trillion euros, maintaining the loan-to-deposit ratio at 108% (Loan to Deposits ratio).
Regarding the remaining balance sheet items, the increase in activity with debt securities stands out, both issued and held in different portfolios, with year-on-year increases exceeding 7%, as well as the reduction in the net borrowing position from central banks and credit institutions, which stood at an amount equivalent to only 0.3% of the total consolidated balance sheet.
Net equity increased by 3.8% in the last twelve months and the solvency ratio, expressed in terms of highest quality capital, expressed in terms of CET1 fully loaded, stood at 11.40%, compared to 11.17% in September 2018.
