CaixaBank dodges rate cuts and earns a record €2.95 billion in the first half of the year

ValenciaCaixaBank has managed to avoid the interest rate cuts –that the European Central Bank (ECB)now remains at 2%– and closed the first half of the year with a net profit of €2.951 billion, a 10.3% increase compared to the same period last year. This is a new profit record that, as the financial institution explained this Wednesday in a press conference in Valencia, has been driven by an increase in commercial activity, new credit production, and the good performance of the Spanish economy.

The Catalan-based institution has been able to partially avoid the change in the ECB's monetary policy, given that profits from net interest margins fell 5.2% year-on-year, to €5.282 billion between January and June. The overall profits of 10% have, however, a significant asterisk due to the way in which the extraordinary tax has been made compatible with banking. Until 2025, the tax was paid in full in the first quarter (493 million in 2024), while now it will be paid quarterly (296 million between January and June). CaixaBank forecasts paying around 600 million over the entire fiscal year. If the tax had been registered this year as in the previous year, profit growth through June would have been around 1%.

For the bank's board member, Gonzalo Gortázar, a 1% profit would still be "a very positive result," given that it would mitigate the impact of the rate cuts. In this regard, he emphasized that experts estimated the company's profit would fall by "10 percent." "Now they say it will be between 4% and 5%, but we expect to match or have better results than last year," he summarized.

Behind these CaixaBank numbers is the credit that has grown in all segments: especially in mortgages (46.2% more than in the first half of 2024), a percentage that Gortázar has described as "spectacular", but also in companies (25.5%) and consumption (1).

"We are not facing a real estate bubble"

According to the bank's chief executive, the impact of tourism, the increase in population due to migration, and the Next Generation Fund are behind the strength of the Spanish economy and the banking sector. The first two factors also affect the highly stressed sector: housing. Regarding this, Gortázar emphasized that Spain is not facing a "real estate bubble," but rather, "on the contrary," is suffering from a lack of supply that could lead to economic bottlenecks. "I don't see a risk of falling prices, but neither do I see a rise in them." ad infinitum, because society and the economy would not be able to withstand it," he stressed, before recalling that the entity's forecasts indicate an increase in housing prices of around 9% this year.

close to 6%. At the same time, in the balance sheets of financial institutions, housing development and construction represented around 24% and now it is at 6% "BK_SLT_LNA~ "Corruption harms the economy"

In response to questions from journalists, the CEO of CaixaBank also addressed the impact of the alleged corruption cases that plague Spanish politics and so polarize public debate. Regarding their effects on the economy, he acknowledged that "they are obviously detrimental." However, he declined to elaborate, simply stating that "they are not good for anyone, not even for the economy."