THE WORLD MADRID

MADRID

Updated Friday, February 2, 2024-09:00

CaixaBank closed 2023 with a profit of 4,816 million euros, 53.9% more than in 2022, driven by the

increase in interest rates

promoted by the European Central Bank to stop inflation.

CaixaBank is the financial institution with the largest market share in Spain. As reported this Friday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the group, based in Valencia, added

revenues of 15,137 million, 31.6%

more than in 2022, reports Efe

Specifically, the interest margin, that is, the difference between the profitability of the assets, such as the loans granted, and the interest paid by the bank, stood at

10,113 million euros, increasing by 54.3%.

The growth of the interest margin, favored by the increase in rates and the management of the commercial network, offset the fall in net commissions, which fell by 5.1%, in line with the sector as a whole.

With these results, the entity has proposed to the General Meeting of Shareholders

the payment of a cash dividend

charged to the 2023 results, which will be

paid during the month of April

, and which involves distributing among the shareholders, including the State,

a total of 2,890 million

.

Gonzalo Gortázar

, CEO, stressed that "in a very demanding environment, we have completed a very positive year in terms of commercial dynamism: we have granted

280,000 financing operations

to companies and

80,000 new mortgages

to families and we continue to increase our base of loyal clients. , which already reaches 71.5%".

CaixaBank has detailed that recurring banking fees were reduced by 9.4% year-on-year due to the elimination of deposit custody fees from large companies and the bonuses applied to customer loyalty programs.

In this way, the gross margin, which is what brings together all the entity's current income, closed 2023 at 14,231 million, which represents an increase of 28.3% compared to 2022, driven by the increase in interest margin, the result of the insurance activity (+ 19.6%) and of the investees (+ 26.4%).

The good performance of the group caused profitability to skyrocket in 2023, both measured in terms of ROTE - financial return on tangible capital - and ROE - return on equity.