Banco Popular Espańol
In a market crowded with good banks, Banco Popular Espańol stands out this year owing to a strong performance amid difficult conditions in 2002 as well as a key acquisition in Portugal the same year.
Although there was a slight dip in the bank’s profits and assets last year, Popular maintained ROE and cost-to-income ratios that are the envy of Spanish and European banks (27.5% and 38.8%, respectively).
Meanwhile, it outperformed Spain’s commercial banks in the lending business, growing its loan book by 23% against 9.2% for the commercial banks. As a result, its share of the lending market rose last year to 13.8% from 13.1%.
Banco Popular complemented this growth by one of 2002’s few bank acquisitions. It bought 75% of Portugal’s BNC, providing it with a 2% share of that country’s retail market.
Commenting on the Portuguese acquisition, Roberto Higuera, Banco Popular’s chief financial officer, said: “We have a very good platform to develop the same model of banking that we have been so successfully implementing in Spain, which has led to an ROE of around 25% and the best cost-to-income ratio in Spain and among European retail banks of Popular’s size.”
Javier Valls, the bank’s chairman, said: “Banco Popular’s customer-oriented strategy has allowed us high growth. We emphasise quality of service, demanding credit standards and a vigilant attitude towards expenses.”
