CaixaBank warns of a gradual rise in interest: "Negative rates will soon be left behind"

The president of

,

, and the CEO,

, launched warning messages at the entity's shareholders' meeting about the impact that the

will have on the Spanish economy in 2022. His forecast is that there is a

and that there is a drop in

growth of 1.3 percentage points, to which will be added a growth in

that will reach 6.8% on average.

"The economic environment prior to the invasion with which we began this year of 2022 was clearly positive. Although the dangers of inflation were clearly appearing, we were in a phase of economic recovery where a strong increase in activity had been achieved, of consumption and employment.

", warned Goirigolzarri, who contemplates a

that will affect the "strategy of many companies".

This situation reaches CaixaBank after

with the challenge of integration executed and with the objectives achieved, which have translated into a

than the previous year: 2,359 million euros.

In addition, there is an element that will strengthen your trading performance:

.

According to the CEO, there is an expectation of a "gradual rise in interest rates".

"It is impossible to anticipate movements with certainty, but there are reasons to think that the negative rates will be left behind very soon. A gradual rise in rates will have a very positive effect on our interest margin line", analyzed Gortázar, who described the future of the bank as "promising".

Dividends to shareholders

CaixaBank, in the words of its chairman, is currently the market leader and has "an important liquidity buffer, which is essential in situations of volatility and great uncertainty".

In addition, it has achieved the three objectives set since the beginning of its integration with Bankia a year ago: "reach a critical size, maintain financial strength and have a sustainable profitability model".

Goirigolzarri has defined the

and has pointed out that the change in the entity has been "extraordinary" in the last year, after formalizing the departure of 86% of the

.

The good results have led the board to propose to the board the

among its shareholders, which will be a total of 1,179 million, 0.1463 euros per title, "equivalent to 50% of the result".

This shareholders' meeting took place with

called by the union representatives of the workers, who gathered two hundred people at the gates of the Príncipe Felipe Museum, but moved them to the plenary when taking the floor to demand that the management listen to the staff. .

"We can't do it anymore, it's impossible to work like this. Trust the staff by giving them autonomy, bet on leading and not harassing," requested the CCOO representative.

The focus on the customer

There were also center by the shareholders present, especially the largest, who demanded more attention to this segment of customers.

Goirigolzarri stated during his speech that a pillar of his management model is the customer.

"We have the vocation to build long-term relationships with our clients and this involves providing an excellent service to all of them, regardless of their age, degree of digitization or the channel they choose to interact with us. In this sense, this year we have continued adapting and reinforcing our business model with the aim of improving our service to

, such as the senior group, in which we have four million customers who are absolute priorities for all of us".

Spanish banking, he said, is facing this "context of high uncertainty" from a very different position than the one it was in during the last financial crisis and, within the sector, CaixaBank's starting point is "differential", since it is market leader in business volume, has a significant cushion of liquidity and enjoys "great solvency".

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