iBanco Santander has once again attacked the banking tax that the Sánchez government is trying to make permanent, and has done so clearly: “No one has called us,” says Héctor Grisi, CEO of Santander, while recalling that “the tax and its imposition will have an impact on the credit of 50 billion.
This is how Santander explains what will happen because of the tax. Grisi believes that the government must “think about improving economic activity, promoting investment and growth”, and not “penalizing it”, on the contrary. The permanent imposition of this imposition by the Sánchez executive, “in an era of lower interest rates”, will mean that Santander “will have less liquidity to cope with credit”. Concretely, the Spanish economy will see 50 billion fewer credits arrive.
Along the same lines, Grisi believes that “the banks already pay enough taxes.” And he responds clearly to the government: “We will do everything necessary to try to prevent this tax from happening.” He did not want to mention what measures they will take to combat the tax increase, nor if they will take part of their activities outside of Spain. “We will wait for the tax and its final formulation,” he comments, “and then we will act.” Still try to send a little reassurance: “We are a Spanish bank, we work in Spain and we do not want to take any measures that could harm that.”
In this regard, he regrets that “the Government did not call or contact them to find out their position or to try to sort things out.” The CEO of Banco Santander also recalls that these types of extraordinary taxes, “which may be understandable”, do not make them “permanent in almost all countries, because they harm the economy of these countries themselves”.
BBVA-SABADELL OPA
Regarding banking movements, Banco Santander has a “conservative approach in Catalonia”, although it is aware that the public purchase offer launched by BBVA on Sabadell “could open up opportunities”, depending on what the CNMC could comment on the operation itself.
If cross-border mergers are to be a reality in Europe, Grisi believes that “there are too many obstacles” and that it is therefore very difficult to compete with American banks because, they believe, “their hands are tied by regulation”. ” He welcomes the report presented by Mario Draghi on the future of the European Union and hopes that we can “evolve towards a banking union which truly allows the entities” of the Old Continent to “compete face to face” with the large American companies.
Bank of Santander results
Banco Santander increased its net profit by 14% in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year, to 9,309 million euros, as the entity reported this Tuesday at the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). . The reason for these results is “strong” revenue growth across all its businesses and global regions.
The entity chaired by Ana Botín highlights that the number of customers increased by around five million in the first nine months of the year, reaching 170.9 million users.
Furthermore, Banco Santander highlights that the tax on profits amounted to 4.246 million euros, or 13% more, “which represents an effective tax rate of 29%”.
Banco Santander experienced a 7% growth in its gross margin during the first nine months of the year, reaching 46.185 million euros.
This increase is mainly due to greater customer activity and strong margin management, which resulted in an 8% increase in net interest income, which amounted to 34,682 million euros, with good results in all professions, particularly in retail. Furthermore, the net margin increased by 11.2% to 26,588 million euros.
