Spanish banks are keeping the nonperforming loans (NPL) ratio of their loan portfolio stable and are facing the first quarter of the year with a positive outlook. Specifically, the NPL ratio for loans granted by banks ended 2021 at 4.29%. The NPL ratio has not been at such a low level since the end of 2008, when it ended at 3.37%. On a monthly basis, this is the lowest NPL ratio since March 2009, when it stood at 4.26%.
According to data published by the Bank of Spain, the outstanding loan portfolio at the end of December totalled 1,223 trillion euros, as total credit in the sector fell by 0.06%, slightly down from 1,227 trillion the previous month, and the total volume of doubtful loans fell by 4.77% to 52,531 million euros, some 60 million less. Compared with the end of 2020, the NPL ratio fell from 4.51% at that time to 4.29% in December 2021 and the balance of NPL fell by more than 2.6 billion euros.
The NPL ratio of banks, savings banks and cooperatives fell in December, from 4.22% in November to 4.21% at the end of 2021, also its lowest level since March 2009. The December rate was unchanged from a month earlier, with a 0.27% decline in the sector’s total lending and a 0.11% drop in the balance of non-performing loans in the last month of the year. This fall in deposit institutions’ NPL occurred despite the fact that the loan portfolio fell slightly, to 1.173 trillion, thanks to the fact that the balance of defaults did so to a greater extent, to 49,361 million.
Meanwhile, the NPL ratio of financial credit institutions stood at 6.89% at the end of 2021, its highest level since August 2020, with NPLs at 2.948 billion, up from 2.737 billion in November, and a loan portfolio that grew to 42.783 billion, up 38 basis points on the year and 33 basis points from the previous month.
With regard to the provisions of credit institutions – the so-called capital buffer with which institutions face possible impairment or insolvency – these broke in December with three consecutive months of decline and rose to 38,504 million at the close of the 2021 financial year, a decrease of 1,339 million (-3.36%) compared with a year earlier, but an increase of 227 million (+0.59%) compared with November. Provisions for deposit institutions as a whole stood at 36,083 million in December, down 1,214 million in the year (-3.25%) but up 250 million in the month (+0.7%).
The figures offered by the Bank of Spain include the methodological change in the classification of Financial Credit Establishments (EFC), which since January 2014 are no longer considered within the category of credit institutions. Excluding the change, the NPL ratio would stand at 4.4%, since the credit balance was 1.191 trillion euros in December, excluding the credit of the EFCs.
Original Story: La Razon |Javier de Antonio
Photo: Photo by Victor Iglesias from FreeImages.com
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield