BBVA is still one of the leaders in the institutions
segment. Lending and customer funds under
management stand at €25,380 and €13,402m,
respectively. Operating income is €325m (up 14.2%)
and attributable profit came to €220m. The unit signed
two loans of €75m each in the fourth quarter: one for
the Castilla y Leon regional government and the other
for the regional government in the Canary Islands. It
also managed a €100m issue for the Catalan Finance
Institute.
In the real estate developer segment the fall in the
housing activity led to a 3.5% decline in lending in
2009. In addition new projects are mainly in the
government-regulated category and these now account
for more than 50% of the total.
Other units
The Consumer Finance unit manages consumer finance
and on-line banking, via Uno-e, Finanzia and other
subsidiaries in Spain, Portugal and Italy. In 2009 it
obtained operating income of €162m, an increase of
41.9% year-on-year. This reflects a fine performance in
net interest income (up 17.4%) and lower costs (down
13.1%). However the application of strict risk criteria
resulted in additional provisioning of €88m in the
fourth quarter and an attributable loss of €181m. In
this quarter there was an important reduction of 55.2%
in additions to NPA status compared to the maximum
amount in the first quarter of 2009. This was reflected
by BBVA’s NPA ratio in consumer finance, which is 490
basis points lower than the latest figures published by
ASNEF for the Spanish banking sector (16.3% at
30-Sep-09).
In Spain the unit’s loan portfolio stands at €6,387m (up
2.9% in the year). According to ASNEF’s most recent
figures for market share (30-Nov-09) BBVA has gained
15 basis points in consumer finance since 31-Dec-08
and is the top banking group. Invoicing in the vehicle
prescription business has been growing fast,
quarter-by-quarter, and came to €972m for the year. In
equipment leasing plans, invoicing was up 16.6% to
€361m in the same period. Uno-e’s loan portfolio
stands at €1,073m of which mortgages account for
5.5% (up 127.0% year-on-year). Funds under
management or brokered came to €1,246m with
increases of 24.6% in savings and current accounts and
15.3% in mutual funds.
Outside Spain, BBVA Finanziamento’s loans are up
12.5% in the year to €493m and the fleet of the leasing
companies in Italy was up 16.3% to 14,477 vehicles at
31-Dec-09.
The performance of BBVA Portugal in 2009 was
positive. Appropriate price management in times of low
interest rates helped net interest income to rise 0.2%
year-on-year to €85m. Together with an increase in net
fee income and cost controls, operating income
increased 4.0% to €55m and attributable profit came
to €23m (€25m in 2008).
The loan portfolio rose 2.7% to €6,063m with a 9.5%
increase in mortgages. The unit has designed a number
of campaigns related to consumer finance (including
Oferta y Revolving and Crédito Liquidez BBVA). It
expanded the product range for SMEs with a new
accounts payable financing service and a health
insurance policy in conjunction with AXA-Vitalplan
Corporate. Fund gathering in the year resulted in
€6,347m of which €1,357m was obtained in the fourth
quarter, reflecting an expansion of the deposits
catalogue (three new products) and mutual funds
(BBVA Obligaciones).
Activities in investment banking include a loan for
Portucel and project financing for a hospital in Loures
(€100m and €28m, respectively).
Lastly, BBVA Seguros, the leader in individual life
insurance policies in Spain with a 13.0% market share
at 30-Sep-09 has rounded out its products for
professional practices and the self-employed with a new
professional liability policy. Premiums issued during the
year on individual policies (life and non-life) came to
€1,111m (up 27.2% in the year). Of this amount
private endowment policies accounted for €543m (up
95.6%). In total the unit obtained income of €497m
from in-house policies and €26m in brokerage on
third-party policies. Thus net attributable profit rose
2.7% to €263m for the year.
4Q09 BUSINESS AREAS
Spain and Portugal
35
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