Spain’s BBVA bank announced its best-ever year and its largest-ever profits

BBVA bank reported a record year with its biggest-ever net profit of €6.42 billion, up 38 per cent on 2021.

Outstripping both the €6.12 billion that the bank posted in 2007 and 2018’s €5.32 billion, this year’s showing was aided by a double-digit increase in lending income and a strong performance in Mexico.

Thanks to these results, BBVA announced its largest cash dividend for 14 years, paying out 31 cents per share, and also revealed a share repurchase plan of €422 million.  In all, the bank is assigning €3 billion to shareholder distribution, 47 per cent of the bank’s 2022 net profit.

“2022 was a year of growth for BBVA,” said the bank’s chairman Carlos Torres Vila. “We had the highest profit in our history, with significant growth in lending and major advances in our strategy, focused on digitisation, innovation and sustainability.” Torres Vila added that looking ahead, and despite world uncertainty, BBVA would continue to create opportunities and contribute to the economic and social growth of the countries where it had a presence.

Mexico accounted for more than 60 per cent of BBVA’s net earnings in 2022, with a net profit rising  64 per cent and income from lending increasing by 44 per cent.  This year the bank has predicted mid-teens growth in lending income and double-digit growth in loans there.

At the same time, some analysts have cited risks from BBVA’s exposure to Turkey where the bank has started to implement hyper-inflationary accounting.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram