Client resources increased by 5%, with deposits growing by 4%, thanks to the increase in retail clients and corporate and investment banking (Santander CIB). Clients continue to use excess deposits in the quarter to pay off debt, especially mortgages. For this reason, as well as a decrease in demand in some markets due to the increase in interest rates, the number of loans The total fell by 2%, although consumer financing grew by 7%. The group’s loan and deposit portfolio is highly diversified across all business lines and geographies. Deposits maintain a stable structure: approximately 75% are transactional, and more than 80% of individual deposits are insured by deposit guarantee systems.
Loss INCoMe They grew by 13%, to 43,095 million euros, after increasing the number of clients by nine million, placing the total at 166 million. The rebound in customer activity and interest rates led to a 16% increase in interest margin. Loss commission income increased by 6%, driven by sales of value-added products, especially in global businesses. These businesses represent 38% of total revenue and 42% of commission income. The interest margin and fee income account for 96% of the group’s total income, which reflects the quality of the bank’s results.
The group continues to make progress in simplifying its product offering and accelerating its digital transformation to provide better service to customers and improve efficiency. Revenue growth (+13%) exceeded cost growth (+10%), leading to an increase in efficiency ratio by 1.5 percentage points, up to 44.0%, driven by the group’s transformation towards a simpler, digital, and integrated model. The entity continued to reduce costs in real terms (-0.5%).
