MADRID, 4 (EUROPEAN PRESS)

Spain’s main banks are facing rising interest rates with about 1.2 trillion euros in savings held by customers through the end of June, up 9.7% over the same period in 2021, according to a report from entities consulted by Europa Press.

One consequence of inflation is the central bank’s response to it, which led to the European Central Bank (ECB) announcing in July its first interest rate increase since 2011 by 50 basis points, placing the interest rate for operational financing at 0.5% time deposits were adjusted to 0% and loan facilities were placed at 0.75%.

The forecast is that the ECB will raise interest rates again at its scheduled meeting next Thursday, September 8, although investors have spent the past few weeks debating whether to discount a 50 or 75 basis point hike, as high inflation puts pressure on the euro zone.

This interest rate normalization is a ‘relaxation’ for the banking system, which since 2016 has experienced a low or negative interest rate environment in which the ECB has attempted to reactivate the European economy after the 2008 and 2012 crises. For this sector, on the contrary, it has required penalties for its obligations, which have been forced to increase its income statement through commissions, transfer, in some cases, deposit fees or increase efficiency through restructuring and digitization.

In the face of new rate hikes, however, the banking sector has shown caution in maintaining that it is a normalization of interest rates, and not a hike that would yield “tremendous” gains. However, some entities have started rolling out offers to repay savings and thereby attract new customers.

Among the big ones, for example, Sabadell offers up to 2% APR with a maximum average balance of 30,000 euros in a checking account for new customers opening an online account, if certain conditions are met and for one year. This offer is available until September 15.

For its part, Bankinter has offered up to 5% APR in the first year and up to 2% in the second year for several years, with a maximum debt balance of 5,000 euros, and also under certain conditions.

Other entities, such as Santander Spain, BBVA Spain, CaixaBank or Unicaja have not yet launched to remunerate deposits or balances in checking accounts, while other smaller banks have announced increases in their savings interest rates: this is the case for Pibank, which this week has raised interest on your savings account to 0.6% APR and on your deposits, at 1.2% APR.

SAVES BY ENTITY

By entity, Santander Spain recorded deposits of 311,889 million euros at the end of June, 17.69% more than the same period in 2021. Globally, entities have 928,525 million euros, 8.45% more, distributed between 717,516 million euros in the form of deposits and 197,420 million euros in time deposits.

For its part, CaixaBank hoarded deposits of 428,404 million euros, 11.38% more. This figure also includes savings from his business in Portugal. The savings seen have 369,068 million euros and in installment savings, 29,706 million euros.

Spain’s BBVA is one of those entities that has seen its deposit numbers dwindle. At the end of June, it had 196,498 million euros, 1.84% lower than the figure registered in June 2021, of 200,197 million euros. However, globally, customer savings increased 11.26%, to 376,973 million euros: 310,752 million held in deposits and 65,252 in time deposits.

Banco Sabadell has recorded a 4.05% increase in its deposits, up to 164,619 million euros, including businesses in other regions, such as the UK. Of this amount, 147,892 million were savings at the time of sight and 14,139 million in installments.

Bankinter also experienced an increase in customer savings, by 13.19%, closing June with 74,717 million euros, with demand deposits of 67,655 million and deposits of 5,749 million.

Finally, Unicaja experienced a decline in deposits in the first half compared to the same period in 2021. In total, at the end of June, Unicaja had deposits of 79,920 million euros, 2.67% less, taking into account the savings recorded by Liberbank earlier. the merger of the two entities at the end of July 2021.