recorded another record year in 2024. The bank increased its profit last year by 13%, to 953 million euros, compared to the 845 million it obtained in 2023, when it established its previous brand, without computing the figures for 2021, when it recorded extraordinary emoluments for the IPO of Línea Directa. Profitability scales up to 18% ROE (return on equity).
All of this that the European Central Bank (ECB) has undertaken in recent months. This translated into a flattening of the interest margin, which rose by 3%, to 2,278 million. This was offset by a substantial improvement in commission income, which rose 15% to 717 million. With this, the gross margin rises by 9%, to 2,901 million.
This is explained by a drop in the client margin, from 3% to 2.91%, while the cost of client resources climbs to 1.42% compared to 0.89% a year ago. On the commissions side, the asset management business is driving the rise (+21%), broker (+12%) and the payments business (+7%).
In this context, Bankinter has also experienced a substantial improvement in the business, which advanced by 9%, to 223,000 million in volumes with clients, so that client resources add up to 13%, while the great increase in Volumes come from off-balance sheet resources, which totaled 22%, 10 billion more than a year ago.
Regarding credit, the portfolio grew by 4.2%, to 80,097 million and confirms the recovery of the mortgage business in the last part of the year. The mortgage portfolio has grown by 5% compared to the previous year, with a production rate of 5.8 billion, the same figure as in 2023, despite the downward period in the price of money that began in Europe last year.
Operating costs increased by 6%, to 1,054 million, although they left the bank’s efficiency ratio at 36%, the lowest in the sector. Regarding capital, the CET 1 ratio fully loaded (which measures maximum quality capital) rises to 12.41%, compared to 12.3% a year ago. Delinquency, for its part, remains stable, frozen at 2.11%, although the coverage rate rises slightly, to 69%.
By geography, Spain accounted for a good part of the business, with a profit of 1,219 million, 10% more, and 2,547 million in gross margin and interest margin advancing 1%. Portugal, for its part, has recorded a profit improvement of 18%, while for the Irish business it is 22%.
