The General Meeting of Shareholders of CaixaBank approves the distribution of a dividend of 2,890 million

This remuneration, which will be made effective to shareholders as of April 3, represents a payout of 60%, in line with the policy approved for this year of distributing between 50% and 60% of the profits. Thus, the total amount allocated to dividends, charged to the 2023 results, amounts to 2,890 million euros.

A part of this dividend reverts directly to society, either through the social work of the »la Caixa» Foundation or directly to the State, through the FROB. In addition, the entity has more than 590,000 shareholders, the vast majority of them retail.

In his speech to shareholders, the president of CaixaBank, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, firstly made an assessment of the 2023 financial year, to then address the entity’s strategic priorities and end with some reflections on 2024.

In this way, Goirigolzarri explained that “in a very complex context, the Spanish economy has positively surprised us”, although he stressed that its structural weaknesses remain. In this sense, he has pointed out “productivity as the main weak point of our economy”, and has called for developing “significant reforms that require broad political and social consensus.”

And he has expressed confidence that “growth this year will go from less to more, thanks to the containment of inflation and the probable reductions in interest rates that, ultimately, will be a stimulus for activity.”

Next, Goirigolzarri recalled that the entity’s strategic priorities are framed “in a purpose and a commitment: to be close to people for everything that matters.” «For us, being close to people means being close to families and companies through our traditional business; It means seeking financial inclusion from a triple perspective: geographical, age and the most vulnerable groups; and it also means being committed to supporting the climate transition,” stressed the president of CaixaBank.

Regarding the activity of CaixaBank, the president of the entity wanted to highlight that “at the end of 2023 we are on the verge of reaching the figure of one trillion euros in business volume, thanks to the financing activity of our clients and the management of their savings in a differential way, as proven by the fact that 1 in 3 people in Spain have their payrolls and pensions domiciled in CaixaBank.

For this year 2024, in which the bank will conclude the 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, the president of CaixaBank has announced that “we are on the path to exceeding the ambitious objectives that we set, thus improving our profitability objective for this year and, consequently, improving our ability to remunerate shareholders.”

In this sense, Goirigolzarri has detailed that the dividend distribution proposal “is 70% higher than the 2022 dividend, and the total profitability, including both the increase in the share price and the payment of dividends, represents a revaluation of the 119% since the beginning of the Strategic Plan.

Regarding the evolution of the share, Goirigolzarri has indicated that, in this same period, “it has revalued by 96%, which compares very favorably with the IBEX 35, which rose 23%, or with the bank index Europeans, which in the same period did so by 34%.

«CaixaBank is today a stronger, more profitable entity with a greater capacity to finance companies and families. We have a well-defined strategy, with the trust that our clients give us, with great social support and, above all, we have the best team,” Goirigolzarri emphasized in the final part of his speech.

Financial strength and leading competitive position

For his part, Gonzalo Gortázar, CEO of CaixaBank, has presented to shareholders the details of the entity’s activity in 2023 and highlighted that “the result of 4,816 million euros represents a return on equity of 13.2% , thus ending a prolonged period of 15 years of low returns. For the CEO, “this is a reasonable profitability and results in line with our size and which, thanks to having high financial strength, allows us to propose a dividend of 2,890 million euros among the more than 590,000 CaixaBank shareholders.” ».

In his presentation, Gortázar pointed out the strong improvement in the efficiency ratio by more than 9 percentage points in the year, up to 40.9%. «This is a very satisfactory evolution, especially if we take into account that in 2021 it stood at levels close to 60%, and its evolution reflects the good work carried out since the integration of Bankia, which has allowed the generation of important synergies in these 3 years, maintaining, at the same time, our vocation for service and our capillarity. We have the largest network of offices and ATMs in Spain, with a size that doubles that of the next competitor.

In this sense, the CEO of the entity explained that “our financial strength and leading competitive position allows us to continue creating value and maintain our vocation to support the economy and society. “It is what has defined our group for 120 years, and what for the CaixaBank team is and will continue to be a priority.”

And he has defended support for families with mortgages with the following data: «Since the beginning of the increase in interest rates, we have managed 30,000 operations in Spain between mortgage refinancing and other payment agreements, variable-rate mortgage novations at a fixed rate and adherence to the Code of Good Mortgage Practices. “42,000 clients have benefited from all these operations.”

Regarding the evolution of interest rates, Gortázar has indicated “that the financial markets anticipate a gradual decrease in interest rates. The reduction will benefit those who have contracted a variable rate mortgage. With the situation of the implicit rates as of February 29, we estimate that some 750,000 CaixaBank clients could benefit this year, which is undoubtedly positive news.

Gonzalo Gortázar concluded his speech with expectations for 2024, a year that, according to him, “we begin with enthusiasm, confidence and ambition. We do it with a full vocation for service and guided by our usual corporate values, and with the efforts of our great human team, our main asset and our greatest source of inspiration.

Agreements of the Shareholders’ Meeting

In addition to the distribution of the dividend, the shareholders have approved the individual and consolidated annual accounts, and their respective management reports, corresponding to 2023; as well as the management of the Board of Directors during the year.

The Board has also supported the re-election of María Verónica Fisas Vergés as an independent director and the approval of the reduction of share capital to redeem all of the treasury shares acquired within the framework of the share buyback program.

The shareholders have also approved other agreements, such as the modification of the Remuneration Policy for directors and the re-election of the auditor of the company and its consolidated group for the year 2025.

Sustainable event aligned with the SDGs

The General Meeting of Shareholders of CaixaBank has obtained the certification of ‘Sustainable event aligned with the SDGs’, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, awarded by the consulting firm Bureau Veritas.

To achieve this, environmental aspects have been taken into account, such as waste management or consumption of energy, water and other materials; social aspects, such as the accessibility of the space or the safety of attendees, and also the contribution of the event to the local economy by contracting products and services from local suppliers.

Applying sustainability criteria to events allows us to reduce CaixaBank’s operational carbon footprint, in accordance with the objectives of the entity’s ‘Environmental Management Plan’.