Latest news with #JesúsAguado
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spain's Santander sells 49% in Polish unit to Erste for $7.7 billion
By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's Santander on Monday announced the sale of a 49% stake in its Polish unit Santander Bank Polska for around 6.8 billion euros ($7.70 billion) to Austria's Erste Group Bank. It also reached a deal to sell a 50% stake in Santander's Polish asset management business to Erste for 200 million euros. Santander and Erste also announced a strategic cooperation to leverage their respective strengths and footprint in corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), and to allow Erste to gain access to Santander's global payments platforms, the Spanish lender said. Santander said it intended to distribute 50% of the capital released from this sale to shareholders upon completion, which will be equivalent to a share buyback worth approximately 3.2 billion euros. This payout would accelerate the delivery of its up to 10 billion share buyback target out of the 2025 and 2026 earnings and anticipated excess capital. The euro zone biggest lender by market value also said that the funds released will give it more flexibility to invest in other markets where it already operates in Europe and the Americas and boost growth, increase network revenues and maximise customer and shareholder benefits. ($1 = 0.8833 euros)
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BBVA warns of US tariff uncertainty on Mexican business
By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's BBVA on Tuesday warned of the potential impact of U.S. tariffs on its Mexican unit and said the fallout could curb growth in loan income, although a solid performance in Spain helped the bank beat first-quarter profit expectations. BBVA and peer Santander have depended on Latin American markets to offset pressure from lower interest rates in the euro zone, but BBVA now wants to reduce its reliance on emerging markets such as Mexico and Turkey and last year made a hostile bid for smaller Spanish rival Sabadell. In the first quarter, BBVA's net profit rose 23% and beat forecasts thanks to its home market. The bank's net profit in Spain grew 43.8% while net profit in Mexico, where it makes around half its profit, fell 7.6% partly due to the depreciation of the Mexican peso at a moment when the country braces for a shift in U.S. tariffs policies. BBVA's CEO Onur Genç said the bank was not revising upwards its high single-digit outlook guidance for loan and lending income growth for 2025 in Mexico due to current uncertainty despite solid business dynamics in this country. "In a normal environment, we would have upgraded our guidance, but we need to be cautious and we need to see how things turn out in the coming weeks and months before we can certainly say that it will be a higher figure," Genç told analysts. At 0916 GMT, shares in BBVA had fallen 1.5% down compared to a decline of 0.4% at Spain's blue-chip index Ibex-35. BBVA, which shocked Spain last May when it turned hostile in its pursuit of Sabadell with a more than 12 billion euros ($12.84 billion) bid at the time, wants to create a bank with over 1 trillion euros in total assets. Spain's competition watchdog CNMC is set to approve BBVA's proposed acquisition Sabadell as early as this week and Genc said this process was expected to be resolved in the coming days. BBVA booked a net profit of 2.7 billion euros ($3.08 billion) in the January to March period, above the 2.42 billion euros expected by analysts polled by Reuters, thanks to lower impact from the renewed banking tax in Spain. Higher earnings and revenues helped BBVA lift its return-on-tangible equity ratio (ROTE), a measure of profitability, to 20.2% in the quarter from 19.7% at end-December and the bank maintained its forecast to achieve profitability levels similar to those of 2024. Overall net interest income, the difference between earnings on loans minus deposit costs, fell 1.7% year-on-year. In Turkey, net profit rose 9.7% to 158 million euros but would fall short of expectations of meeting the bank's target of a net profit of 1 billion euros by the end of 2025. In terms of solvency, BBVA managed to lift its core tier-1 capital ratio to 13.09% at end-March from 12.88% at end-December. ($1 = 0.8784 euros)
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Santander books record first-quarter profit, buoyed by Spain, U.S
By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -Santander on Wednesday said its first-quarter net profit rose 19% year-on-year after a solid performance at its retail businesses in Spain and consumer lending business in the U.S. offset a decline in lending income. The euro zone's biggest lender by market value booked a record quarterly net profit of 3.4 billion euros ($3.87 billion) - the fourth in a row. The figure topped the 3.16 billion euros expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. Santander, like other banks, has benefited from higher interest rates, but growth in its key Latin American markets has given it an edge over more Europe-dependent rivals that have scaled back their presence in the Americas. In Spain, net profit overall rose 49% year-on-year in the quarter, backed by its retail business which rose almost 40%. In the U.S., net profit rose 49% thanks to its Digital Consumer lending business which almost doubled net profits. In the quarter, Santander also benefited from a lower impact from the renewed banking tax in Spain and its geographical diversification which also helped it increase revenues by 1%. The lender booked around an 87 million euro charge against the new banking levy in the same quarter, around a fourth of the estimated annual amount of around 350 million euros. It adjusted the impact on a linear quarterly basis based on the tax legislation currently in place, in contrast to the previous years when the entire 335 million euros were booked in the first quarter. Overall, the bank's net interest income, a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, fell 5% year-on-year in the quarter to 11.38 billion euros, slightly below the 11.42 billion euros expected by analysts, hit by hyperinflation accounting in Argentina. Quarterly net profit in Mexico fell 4.2% against a backdrop of geopolitical risks stemming from U.S. trade tariffs, especially in that market, partly due to the depreciation of the Mexican peso. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bankinter beats profit forecast, sees lending income holding up
By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's Bankinter ( on Thursday stuck to its forecast for lending income to hold up this year after net profit in the first quarter beat forecasts, supported by a pick up in demand for loans in its home market. Spanish banks are mainly retail lenders and have benefited from higher costs of loans tied mostly to variable rates. However, recent reductions in European Central Bank interest rates are now starting to squeeze margins. In the first quarter, Bankinter's net interest income, or earnings on loans minus deposit costs, fell 6% year-on-year to 541 million euros, in line with analysts' forecasts. Against the previous quarter, NII fell 2%. "With recent volatility and some marketing uncertainty it is very hard to predict future interest rate movement, but we're still not changing our previous flattish or slightly positive guidance on net interest income for 2025," Bankinter's Chief Financial Officer Jacobo Diaz told analysts. At 0942 GMT, shares in Bankinter were up 1.8% compared with a decline of 0.4% in Spain's blue-chip index Ibex-35. Diaz expected lower deposit costs and a mid-single-digit percentage increase in loans to support margins this year, adding that NII should begin to recover in the second quarter. Bankinter's customer spreads decreased to 2.71% from 2.74% in the previous quarter, as yields on loans declined 19 basis points while deposit costs fell 16 bps. Net profit rose 35% to 270 million euros, beating estimates of 224 million euros after the bank did not book any charges in the quarter related to a renewed banking tax. Chief Executive Officer Gloria Ortiz said that overall the bank expected the impact of the tax to be "around zero or close to zero" due to some tax deductions. In the first quarter of 2024, Bankinter had reported a 95 million euro cost related to the levy. Ortiz also stuck to the bank's net profit goal of around 1 billion euros for this year. First-quarter earnings were also boosted by a 13% increase in net fees and commissions, while loans rose 5% against the same quarter of 2024.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Some European officials weigh if they can rely on Fed for dollars under Trump
By Elisa Martinuzzi, Jesús Aguado, Balazs Koranyi, Stefania Spezzati and John O'Donnell (Reuters) - Some European central banking and supervisory officials are questioning whether they can still rely on the U.S. Federal Reserve to provide dollar funding in times of market stress, six people familiar with the matter said, casting some doubt over what has been a bedrock of financial stability. The sources told Reuters they consider it highly unlikely the Fed would not honour its funding backstops — and the U.S. central bank itself has given no signals to suggest that. But the European officials have held informal discussions about this possibility - which Reuters is reporting for the first time - because their trust in the United States government has been shaken by some of the Trump administration's policies. President Donald Trump has made a sharp break from long-standing U.S. policy in several areas, such as appearing to endorse Russia's position on Ukraine, raising questions about U.S. commitment to European security and imposing tariffs on its allies. In some European forums where participants assess potential risks to the financial system, these officials have discussed scenarios under which the U.S. government might pressure the Fed to suspend the dollar backstops, two of the sources said. Some officials have been gaming out whether they can find alternatives to the U.S. central bank, the two sources said. In times of market stress, the Fed has provided the European Central Bank and other major counterparts with access to dollar funding. The takeaway from these discussions: there is no good substitute to the Fed, said the six sources, who include senior ECB and European Union banking supervisory staff with first-hand knowledge of the conversations. The sources all requested anonymity to speak candidly about the private deliberations. The ECB and the Fed declined to comment for this article. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Fed is an independent institution, accountable to Congress. The central bank has never suggested that it would not stand behind its backstops, which it maintains as a first line of defense against foreign economic or financial trauma spilling over to the U.S. Separately, five senior euro zone central bank officials said the informal conversations - held outside regular policymaker gatherings - were not driven by any signals from the Fed or from ECB leadership. One of the sources with direct knowledge of the conversations said the matter has been discussed in recent weeks in working groups that help officials examine issues, and involved senior European central banking and supervisory staff. Another said the question of whether Europe can rely on the Fed's backstops is expected to also come up in more formal discussions soon. One of the sources said the discussions come amid "the potential for less international cooperation on the part of American authorities." During a European Parliament hearing on Thursday about the U.S. shift to protectionism and its impact on the European economy, ECB President Christine Lagarde said the relationship with the Fed had not changed since Trump took office in January. RISK ASSESSMENT As the central bank for the 20 euro zone countries, the ECB sets monetary policy and is responsible for increasing the financial system's resilience and identifying potential risks. It also supervises the region's top banks, which are among the world's largest. The discussions about funding alternatives are part of a broader analysis of the vulnerabilities in the euro zone's financial system, which the ECB and other EU regulators do as a matter of course, the sources said. The U.S. dollar is the dominant currency for economic trade and capital flows. In times of stress, investors, companies and financial institutions rush to the safety of the world's reserve currency. Most recently in 2023, the Fed provided tens of billions of dollars to the Swiss central bank, which in turn enabled Credit Suisse to meet client demand for cash. While Credit Suisse eventually had to be rescued, the Fed helped avert an implosion that could have wrecked the financial system, analysts say. Despite the doubts expressed by banking officials in private conversations, the possibility the Fed would ever curtail its financing lines is seen by European officials as only a very remote possibility, according to the five eurozone central bank officials, who also spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. That's because such a move by the Fed would have profound ramifications for global markets, financial stability and the economy. It would also likely ricochet back on the U.S. economy, threaten the dollar's dominance and depress demand for U.S. government debt, several of the sources said. While the Fed's independence is not under question, four of the six sources familiar with the discussions said some European officials felt it was possible that the Trump administration may increase pressure on the central bank over time, leading to the scenario where it doesn't provide dollar funding. The Fed declined to comment on that possibility, while the White House did not respond to a request for comment. One of the sources said EU officials are concerned about European banks' short-term borrowings in dollars, which make continued access to the Fed's credit lines vital. About 17% of euro-zone banks' funding is in dollars, a recent ECB study showed. Sign in to access your portfolio
