BBVA Chairman Sees Opportunities Ahead After Hefty Charges
March 12 2010 - 7:34AM
Dow Jones News
After taking hefty provisions and charges to clean up its
balance sheet, Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA)
sees opportunities ahead, while chief rivals continue to grapple
with troubled assets, BBVA Chairman Francisco Gonzalez said
Friday.
"There are several institutions with a great volume of troubled
assets, while uncertainty persists over the strength of the
economic recovery," Gonzalez told shareholders at the bank's annual
general meeting in Bilbao.
He said BBVA has conducted a "strong effort" by "anticipating"
losses to "take advantage of opportunities that, without doubt,
will arise in a future that looks challenging" for the banking
industry.
BBVA's fourth-quarter net profit plunged 94% to EUR31 million
from EUR519 million a year earlier. It reported close to EUR1.82
billion of provisions to cushion against potential loan losses in
Spain, mostly linked to consumer and real-estate lending.
Spain has been struggling with the worst downturn in decades,
fueled by the collapse of its once mighty construction and
real-estate sectors. The country has the highest unemployment rate
in the euro zone.
Spain's second-largest bank by assets, behind Banco Santander SA
(STD), also set aside EUR551 million for early retirement programs
and booked EUR1.05 billion in charges linked to its operations in
the U.S., which is still considered a key market for expansion.
Having avoided many of the problems hitting the global financial
services industry by sticking to basic retail banking, the Spanish
bank was able to pick up assets from banks that fared worse. Last
year, it won a U.S. government auction for Guaranty Financial Group
Inc., a Texas bank that had been warning for months that it was on
the verge of collapse because of swelling losses.
BBVA also owns 15% of China's Citic Bank Corp., as it seeks
business from trade between Asia and Latin America.
Company web site: www.bbva.com
-By Santiago Perez and Leire Barrera, Dow Jones Newswires; (34)
395 8120; djmadrid@dowjones.com
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