Spanish banks earned 6,779 million through June, down 4.8%

Madrid, Sep 4 (EFE) .- The Spanish banks earned 6,779 million euros in the first half, 4.8% less than the same period of the previous year, after making greater extraordinary provisions and recording lower results for financial operations.

The consolidated balance of the Spanish banks amounted to 2.63 billion euros at the end of the first half, 4.3% higher, the Spanish Association of Banking AEB explained on Wednesday.

Loans to customers increased by 56,000 million, 3.8% more, while the delinquency rate dropped to 3.9%, compared to 4.4% a year earlier.

On the other hand, deposits collected from customers grew by 61,000 million euros, 4.4% higher.

The highest quality capital ratio, expressed in terms of "CET 1 fully loaded", stood at 11.4%, which is 50 basis points above the one registered a year earlier.

Regarding the main margins of the income statement, the interest rate grew 3.8%, to 30,091 million euros.

Commission income remained stable, while, on the contrary, the results of financial operations fell 66%.

Thus, the gross margin reached 41,797 million euros, a figure similar to that of the same period of the previous year (0.1% less).

The AEB has stressed that the containment of operating expenses allowed to place the efficiency ratio at 49.5%, with an improvement of 20 basis points compared to June 2018, "which places it among the best in the set of banking systems of the European Union ".

According to the same accounts, the extraordinary provisions made by the Spanish banks in the second quarter led to the increase in allocations by 9.2% year-on-year.

Likewise, the AEB has highlighted the greater benefits obtained by Spanish banks in sales of non-financial assets and non-current assets, some 320 million more than a year earlier, and the increase in corporate tax expense of 2.2% .