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Finance

Finance

  • Record income: Gross income for the full year and for the fourth quarter reached a new record: €23.68 billion (up 10.9% y-o-y) and €6.15 billion (up 6.6% on the same period last year), respectively
  • Risks: BBVA Group's NPL ratio improved to 5.4% at year-end vs. 5.8% in 2014, with coverage ratio of 74%
  • Capital: BBVA's CET1 ratio fully-loaded was 10.3% at the end of 2015 following a solid evolution in the last quarter. It rose 57 basis points from October to December
  • Transformation: Digital banking is making further gains in terms of customer satisfaction and digital sales. At the end of the year 19.2% of new consumer credits in Spain were sold through digital channels. In Mexico this figure was 29.6%

One of the key projects that European institutions wish to promote this year is the Capital Markets Union. This project takes in several initiatives, such as promoting investment in insurance company infrastructures and simplifying the brochures that companies publish in order to be financed in the capital market. However, the proposal most talked about is that of making changes to legislation in order to relaunch the high-quality securitization market in Europe.

Markets across the globe surged after Mario Draghi’s words. Yesterday, the Chairman of the European Central Bank (ECB) hinted at the possibility of stepping up the stimulus program as early as March, after holding the governing board meeting in Frankfurt. However, the ECB decided to hold back for the time being, making no significant announcements and meeting expectations.

Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, is facing a political and economic crisis that is keeping the country in recession and will extend over 2016. We talked about the economic situation and outlook for the country with Enestor Dos Santos, economist at BBVA Research for Brazil, who explained that if the situation is to be normalized it is important to resolve the political situation first. This will reduce uncertainty, generate more stability and enable the right decisions to be made to allow the country to grow again. However, he clarifies that recovery from this economic recession will start gradually in 2017 and gather strength after the 2018 elections.