The Bank Always Wins

What makes you think you are the only one bearing a heavy load?

Although things are not going so badly in Spain for the workers – with the minimum wage set to rise to 1.080€ a month – and for the pensioners with decent rises too; it’s also true that the cost of living is going up, the prime lending rate is suddenly climbing and the ongoing rise in employment has faltered after the Christmas bonanza, with 70,744 more people currently out of work (while remaining at a fifteen year low).

However, one can only wonder at the banks. The reported profits from these institutions is not only obscene, but is causing uneasiness across the country.

The Banco de Santander reports profits for 2022 of 9,605 million euros.

BBVA reports profits for 2022 of 6,420 million euros.

Caixabank reports profits for 2022 of 3,145 million euros.

The Banco de Sabadell reports profits for 2022 of 859 million euros.

Indeed, the top six banks (including Unicaja and Bankinter) reported profits of 20,850 million euros in 2022 (although, of course, much of this comes from foreign business).

The Spanish bankers are among the highest paid in Europe (with 221 of them earning over a million euros a year) says the European Banking Authority – as noted by Pedro Sánchez as he asked for some show of solidarity in a recent speech.

Yolanda Díaz, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister, quickly called for a freeze on variable mortgage rates following the news. She says ‘While the rise in the Euribor will make the average mortgage more expensive by €250 per month, the crisis cannot be an excuse to earn more. We must freeze mortgages and moderate benefits’.  

The president of the Banco de Santander, who goes by the unfortunate name of Ana Botín (Botín means loot or swag in English), answered by saying that her bank wouldn’t be able to offer mortgages to the poor if controls were put in place by the Government.

Of course, there aren’t that many branches to be found these days to pick up a mortgage, since 2008, around 27,000 branches have been closed down (evidently with some major redundancies).

As someone says - it’s best not to think about the banks: best that is, for your mental health.