Booming banks

Profits soar and shareholders cash in at Spain’s ‘Big Six’

SPAIN'S biggest banksSantander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Unicaja Banco and Bankinterclocked up record profits in 2022 according to a survey from the Noevantas consultancy. They made an accumulated total of €7.5 billion - a whopping 38.5% year-onyear increase.

Neovantas said the profit rise came from an increase in net interest income, with 12.2% more in

By Alex Trelinski

the year-on-year rate, due to interest rate increases.

Fees also increased by 6.1%, while operating expenses were reduced by 10.2% due to structural adjustments like branch closures that the banks continued to make in 2022.

The profit rise will mean a dividend bonanza for shareholders over the

CYBERCRIME is now account ing for 20% of reported of fences in Spain according to Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. He said there were over 375,000 cybercrimes last year - up by 72% on 2019 and a 352% increase on the 2015 total.

A media awareness campaign has been

PROTEST: BBVA employees demonstrated against layoffs; two years later the bank has posted massive profits coming months. BBVA will distribute a dividend equivalent to €0.50 per share, which represents a pay-out of 47%, while Sabadell announced

Online criminals

launched with the first phase featuring a TV advert warning about the need to take security measures when going online. The second phase will focus on posting interviews and warnings from experts on social media platforms.