The bank continues to easily dodge the feared ghost of defaults in their loans in the face of financial costs, mainly in mortgages and credit to companies, which have skyrocketed with the rise in rates in the last year. A ghost that does not arrive. The data for June, made public yesterday by the Bank of Spain, reflects a new drop in non-performing loans from entities in Spain. It was contained again, and it did so at a rate of 3.5%, after three consecutive months of rise, and it is placed, once again, at a minimum. In the specific case of banks, savings banks and cooperatives, where the bulk of the loans reside, the doubtful balance (the one that is recorded after three months without paying the installments) closed June at 3.39%. For those known as financial credit establishments, this rate dropped to 6.33%.
Between the two groups they managed to reduce the volume of unpaid loans by 655 million, up to a total of 42,173 million euros in June. It is the smallest number of records since July 2008. If compared to June last year, there are 5,743 million euros less.
From Funcas they recognize that these data come from two determining facts: the sector was able to emerge stronger from the pandemic, when the forecasts were very pessimistic and for this reason large provisions were made (which has not yet been fully undone), and, secondly, employment continues to be strong in Spain and, as long as this continues to be the case, a rise in non-performing loans is not expected because both parameters are closely linked. It also helps the fact that since 2015, most of the mortgages signed in Spain were made at a fixed rate, which are now not affected by the rise in the Euribor.
It has been pronounced along the same lines in recent months the banking sector, which has recognized, in any case, that it is prepared for a rise in defaults for the simple reason that costs for families, in housing and consumption, and for companies have skyrocketed. Developer credit is especially worrying, but it has not shown signs of weakness to date.
Unicaja, one of the largest entities in the country, saw the default drop in this segment in the first semester, down to 16.6%, with 151 million euros in its portfolio; in SMEs and the self-employed it also contracted to 8.3% and in individuals it is at levels of 2.8%, below the average for the sector. But it is not the only entity. The reference by market share (with one in four mortgages signed at its branches) is CaixaBank. In the presentation of its semi-annual results at the end of July, the entity presented a default rate of 2.6%, the lowest in the last fifteen years. Its CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, wanted to defend at a press conference the contribution of his bank to the sector’s average delinquency and assured that, removing CaixaBank from the equation, “delinquency would go to 4% on average” among the rest of actors, with data prior to the summer, although not by large groups. At the end of the first semester, BBVA declared a slight increase in default in Spain to 3.4%, Banco Santander placed it at 3.11% in Spain and Banco Sabadell at 3.5% until June.