Caja Laboral’s profit after tax for 2009 came to 56.5 million euros, which is 43.8% down on the figure posted in 2008. The profit from recurring business before transfers rose by 22.8% and the institution, by means of applying prudential criteria, doubled its provisions in spite of the containment of default, which was at 2.90%, a figure clearly below the average for the sector.
Business performance: total turnover accounted for 35.4 billion euros, which was 3.1% up on the previous year.
Attraction of savings: customer deposits in the private sector increased by 7%, thanks especially to the contribution of the MAX account, which already has more than 215,000 customers.
Bank investment: total customer loans rose to 16.8 billion euros, which is an increase of 0.1%.
Family loans: the institution has exceeded by 12% the forecasts made in its Business Plan, in which it undertook to support family financing with a total of 1 billion euros. Therefore, mortgage loans for homes increased at a rate of 3.7%, which was better than the average market rate, and as far as consumer financing was concerned, loans were agreed totalling 200 million euros, in a market which has fallen by 27%.
The performance of the Dispon loans stands out especially. These are automatically granted via the Internet, ATMs and Telephone Banking and already account for 1/3 or all personal loans to customers. This has all allowed the demand for loans to be met, making them more accessible to our customers.
Business financing: in this area the Caja Laboral Liquidity facility was amply taken up, with an initial provision of 200 million euros, which was finally increased to 300 million. Funding through the Basque Government’s Liquidity Agreement also stands out, in which 25% of all the loans granted in the Basque Autonomous Community were with Caja Laboral. That is to say that one out of every four businesses in the region is taking advantage through Caja Laboral of this instrument that is key to supporting and funding SMEs in the current economic crisis.
Efficiency: the contained performance of administration expenses took the Efficiency Ratio, which is the percentage of Operating Income these expenses account for, to 38%, one of the most outstanding in the sector.
Defaulting: the default rate is 2.9% which is well below the average for the savings bank sector, which was 5.26% to November.
Liquidity: Caja Laboral has comfortable levels of liquidity which are reflected by a ratio of deposits over loans granted of 86%.
Solvency: Caja Laboral has a Core Capital ratio of 10.53% which is among the top 7 institutions in the sector.
Profits: The interest margin rose by 14.5%, as a result of the rapid adaptation of financial costs to the low interest rates. The Basic Margin, which reflects the profits of the business, rose by 9.4% compared to the same period the previous year.
The operating profit before transfers totalled 255.2 million euros, 22.8% up on 2008, which shows the institution’s strong capacity for generating profits in its recurring business.
In spite of default being contained, Caja Laboral decided to earmark 205.1 million euros for bad debts, anticipating a more complicated situation in the future, and taking a prudent stance in the face of the possible risk of an increase in default over the next few years. In this way, Caja Laboral will improve its doubtful asset coverage ratio compared to last year, taking it up to 71.98%, which is higher than the 57.90% average for the sector.
Finally, it is worth highlighting that for the second consecutive year Caja Laboral has been recognised as the leading institution amongst all the financial institutions in Spain in terms of customer service. This study was carried out by the independent Stiga Institute and covered a total of 105 financial institutions.
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