Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Hector Grisi: Thank you, Ignacio. Let me tell you a little bit about what’s the dynamics on the Spanish loan book and then, Jose we’ll talk about your second question, okay? In the Spanish loan book, the dynamic that we have seen is quite clear, okay? We have seen low demand of credit, okay, which is impacting us a little bit, mainly also we have seen an increase on the prepayment mainly on the mortgages, okay? Because of the increased rates, remember that a lot of a big percentage of our portfolio is some variable rates and floating rate. So in that sense, that’s the dynamic that we have seen. And also we have seen due to the increased rates, the corporates and the SMEs being more cautious in new credit demand, okay? And the dynamics, we lived throughout the year continuing that way, let’s see what happens at the beginning of the year.

And also, if we can see more confidence a little bit on investment, okay? But now we see the dynamics in that way. Please Jose, on the second one.

Jose Garcia-Cantera : Morning, Ignacio. Cost of risk, well, we see cost of risk normalizing in the US as we discussed. Also in Mexico, where we are seeing the normalization of the cost of risk as we change the business, the business mix. In auto, it will very much depend on the amount of loans that we are able to sell, but it should remain stable in the second half of the year. So, we feel very comfortable that we will beat our 1.2% guidance for the end of the year. We expect it to be better than the 1.2% that we gave as a guidance.

Begona Morenes : Thank you, Ignacio. Can we have the next question, please?

Operator: Next question from Sofie Peterzens from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Sofie Peterzens : Yeah. This is Sofie from JPMorgan. Thanks for taking my question. So, could you just explain that the difference between your reported net interest income which was €10.5 billion on the underlying €10.7 billion. What explains the €200 million delta? And are there any more one-offs in an interest income that we should be aware of I mean, in the short-term? And then, the second question would be on the capital headwinds you mentioned that you’re expected to remain above 12%, but could you just outlined what capital or core equity Tier 1 headwinds you’re expecting in the coming quarters or at least on the year-end. And also, if you could remind us what the Basel IV impacts are? Thank you.

Hector Grisi: Okay. Thank you. So, Jose will explain you the NII evolution. On capital, let me reiterate exactly what I said and then Jose and can expand a little bit. So, as I told you we expect to generate at least ten basis points of organic capital on average per quarter, okay? And that is included with the current remuneration policy that we have, okay? So, as a result, what I told you we will be on track to meet our target to be above 12%. Also with the final implementation of Basel III comes into effect in 2025 to be precise on that point. Jose will comment a little bit more on that and explain you the NII evolution.

Jose Garcia-Cantera : Yeah. So, Sofie. Hi, good morning. As I said, we don’t expect any headwinds significant headwinds from any of the three big components that could affect capital regulatory or supervisory charges, inorganic charges or other charges basically market-related pensions, intangibles, we don’t see significant headwinds in the second half of the year. In terms of BASEL III, we have seen the proposal. It’s still a proposal. So we need to wait to see exactly how is – how the regulation is approved. We still think we will have an impact of between 40 to 60 basis points, probably and again depending on how this is finally written, probably towards the lower end of that range, if things are confirmed when the final proposal is approved.

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