Spanish banks are facing the current environment with improved profitability in line with the cost of capital required by investors, a non-performing loan ratio that has continued to decline, and solvency levels above those seen at the start of the health crisis.
Profitability is, in fact, the best guarantee of ensuring future solvency, but it must be higher than the cost of capital (the minimum return required by investors) in order to attract investment. This has been one of the main challenges for Spanish banks in recent years.
Solvency is a fundamental element for consistently and without restrictions fulfilling their main objective, which is to support their customers—businesses and families—at all times.
We were able to see this in the various measures taken during COVID, and we experience it day to day in the responses they provide to their customers’ needs, such as the swift action to improve in-person service for older people, strengthen financial inclusion in rural Spain, and the agreement reached to mitigate the impact of rising interest rates on families who need it.
Banks are making intensive and ongoing efforts to adapt to consumer habits and the environment—something essential for the survival of any company—as reflected in the decisions companies make every day in this rapidly changing environment driven by digitalisation.
Innovation is in banks’ DNA, always with the aim of benefiting the customer.
Banks’ commitment is to provide financial services at all times and anywhere. Banks meet the needs of all their customers, regardless of their level of digitalisation or whether they are accustomed to new technologies.
José Luis Martínez Campuzano, spokesperson for the Spanish Banking Association
