In the European comparison, the main Spanish banks stood out for their strong net interest income (above the 75th percentile in the country distribution) and for fee and commission income and operating expenses in line with the European median. - Impairment losses rose considerably in 2022, driven by higher provisions in banks’ business abroad. In Spain, impairment loses continued along the downward path of recent years, decreasing by 20.7% in 2022. As a result, the ratio of impairment losses to operating income in Spain stood at one of its lowest levels in recent years. - Return on equity (ROE) excluding extraordinary items was 10.2% in 2022, 140 bp higher than in 2021 and up almost 300 bp on its 2019 level (and therefore higher than the cost of equity). - Ordinary profit from business abroad rose significantly, driven by the strength of the business in Latin America. Thus, the ordinary profit obtained by the Spanish institutions with the most international activity exceeded prepandemic levels. - Revenue from the windfall tax on banking sector profits in 2023 is expected to amount to 5% of the 2022 net consolidated profit. - Dividend payments exceeded € billion in 2022, with a payout ratio of 40%, similar to before the pandemic. The rise in the profit ratio per share and the sharp increase in share buy-backs made by some banks also stand out, the aim being to subsequently cancel the repurchased shares and reduce share capital, thus providing additional remuneration for shareholders.
José De Gregorio: Monetary policy and pass-through to interest rates Speech by Mr José De Gregorio, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, before the Honorable Chamber of Representative’s Economic, Promotion and Development Commission, Santiago, 16 March 2009. The Spanish original prevails. *  *  *  Mr. President. I wish to thank you and the Economic, Promotion and Development Commission of the Honorable Chamber of Representatives for inviting me to speak about how our monetary policy decisions affect the country’s financial and lending conditions. The global economy is enduring terribly uncertain times, which have implications on our country’s prospects for growth and inflation. Thus, we share your preoccupation for evaluating how monetary policy actions – one of the main stabilizing tools we have available as a country – ultimately affect the cost of borrowing faced by households and firms. Monetary policy, in the context of an inflation target and a floating exchange rate like the one operating in Chile since 1999, is an important mechanism for smoothing out the business cycle. Periods of weak output and demand performance, which reduce the medium-term inflation outlook, lend themselves to countercyclical monetary policy actions that cushion the negative effects on consumption, investment and employment. This is what the Central Bank of Chile is presently doing, acting resolutely to moderate the effects that the global crisis – the worst we have seen in decades – is having in Chile.