Loans to the domestic private sector fell 4.5% to
€184 billion at year-end with items related to
commercial activity and household consumption falling
further. The volume of discounted bills decreased
26.0%, credit card debtors fell 6.7% and other term
loans (basically consumer loans and SME and small
businesses) fell 16.3%. Secured loans (€106 billion) are
the main component of domestic lending and they were
almost unchanged compared to the third quarter (down
0.4%) or compared to the end of 2008 (up 0.4%).
Non-performing assets at year-end were €10,911m, a
significant increase year on year very much
concentrated in the fourth quarter. The increase is due
to a series of portfolios, mainly related to the real estate
sector, which were declared NPAs following a detailed
and rigorous examination by the Group.
Outstanding loans to non-resident customers stand
at €127 billion. This is a fall of 3.9% compared to
€133 billion at 31-Dec-08 (up 1.2% against the third
quarter of 2009). Secured loans reported the best
annual and quarterly performance, and they now
account for a higher percentage of the total
non-resident portfolio (33.2% at 31-Dec-09
compared to 29.7% at 31-Dec-08). The increase in
non-performing assets in this segment in the fourth
quarter is basically due to an additional
reclassification of the commercial real estate portfolio
in the United States as rigorous as the one mentioned
for other term loans in Spain.
Customer funds
At 31-Dec-09 total customer funds on and off the
balance sheet came to €509 billion, an increase of
2.7% compared to €495 billion a year earlier. In the
last quarter they gained nearly €10 billion.
Customer funds on the balance sheet came to €372
billion at 31-Dec-09, a decline of 1.2% compared to
€376 billion a year earlier but up 1.5%
quarter-on-quarter. The decline mainly reflects
customers moving away from time deposits to other
products due to some extent to BBVA’s comfortable
liquidity position. As usual in recent years customer
funds on the balance sheet are bigger than gross
lending and this highlights the mentioned Group’s
ample liquidity.
At the end of 2009 customer funds off the balance
sheet (mutual funds, pension funds and customer
portfolios) came to €137 billion, a rise of 15.1%
compared to €119 billion a year earlier and up 2.9%
quarter-on-quarter. The improvement reflects the
gathering of funds (especially pension funds) and the
4Q09 GROUP INFORMATION
Business activity
17
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.