The bank is considering raising its dividend targets through improved return on equity (RoTE) targets.
Sabadell Bank highlighted the possibility of increase shareholder remuneration for the period 2024-2025 above the distribution of 2.9 billion euros to which it has already committed thanks to the improvement of its profitability.
The bank's financial director, Leopoldo Alvearlet slip that possibility this week during his speech at a door conference closed to investors held by Barclays.
The British entity, in a note that it distributed to its clients and that includes Alvear's intervention, specifies that the distribution of the 2,900 million does not include improving the return on equity (RoTE) targetwhich represents 13%, against 12% previously, reports Europa Press.
The possibility of distributing extraordinary dividends was already raised last July by the CEO of Sabadell, Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno.
“We will distribute what exceeds 13% if the board of directors approves it. There is no limitation“There is no restriction that the maximum we can distribute is 60% of the profits of the year,” González-Bueno said in the interview.
In his speech at the Barclays conference, Alvear defended the profitability target of 13% for 2024 and 2025 before an improvement in the volumes of credits granted in Spain which was greater than expected, as well as the liquidity that Sabadell “parked” at the European Central Bank (ECB).
Furthermore, the progress of the Spanish economy, with employment that appears resilient and a rise in real estate prices, as well as the management work of the bank, have led to an improvement in the cost of risk.
For next year, the CFO estimates that interest income (interest margin) will continue to grow because credit volumes will increase, but the cost of deposits will decrease.
As for capital, the bank does not expect changes in the form of higher requirements for a countercyclical capital buffer. Their target of a CET1 capital ratio of 13%, including the impact of Basel IV, already takes into account higher capital requirements and has not received any opposition from the ECB.
Alvear's intervention also took into consideration the timetable for BBVA's public takeover bid (OPA)Since last week the ECB has expressed its non-opposition to the operation.
According to Sabadell, The resolution of the National Commission for Markets and Competition would arrive within 5 to 7 months only if it was approved in the first phase. If it has to move to the second phase, it will mean five more months and could lead to a third phase in which the government will intervene by imposing additional requirements.
Alvear also distanced itself from other recent banking integration processes, since its business model was more focused on the retail segment and not on the corporate and SME segment.
Although The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) does not have to wait for the opinion of the CNMC to approve the takeover bid, in practice, its approval has always taken place after the competence has been pronounced.