Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Hector Grisi: Cost of risk, I mean in terms of Brazil, Ana as you have said, I mean, it’s quite clear. We have changed a little bit the mix what we were doing. We took the decisions where we needed to take them. And I know I see it very stable, and that’s exactly the guidance we’re giving that we’ve in that. And in terms of the coverage, as we — as I have said, we have EUR 1.4 billion of overlays that we did both in the U.S. and Brazil to cover . So I will feel very comfortable with what we have done and with the amount of reserves and provisions that we have in both of them. In terms of the U.S., you have explained it perfectly well. The change of mix basically changes the outlook of what we used to have before. So we don’t believe that the cost of risk is going to go back to ’19 levels.

And actually, what we have seen is the trend is a little bit positive than we expected at the beginning. And in terms of the capital, I don’t know, José, if you would like to comment, but what I have seen is .

Jose Garcia-Cantera: Exactly. We don’t expect any significant supervisory charges in 2023. The charges in 2022 were very much in line with our expected 25 basis points or so for the year as a whole. In this quarter is when we had the impact of the new models in mortgages Spain and SME Spain. And again, most models or all significant models have already been updated. So we don’t expect any significant charges going forward. In terms of coverage provisions, et cetera, the EUR 1.4 billion macro provisions we made in 2022, for the group as a whole, we believe, are sufficiently prudent to support the guidance of a cost of risk of below 1.2% for next year.

Operator: The next question is coming from Ignacio Cerezo from UBS.

Ignacio Olmos: The first one is on the U.S. If you can give us a little bit of color on the difference in terms of loan yield and the cost of risk of the different FICO buckets to get some flavor basically on how relevant that is that you have increased significantly in the weight of FICO above 640 versus below 600. So if you can give some numbers basically again to get a better reference on that. The second one is if you can clarify the tax rate you’re using for your guidance in ’23 on a group basis. And the third one is if you can update us on the Basel IV impact that you’re expecting.

Ana Botin: Ignacio, I mean the FICO yields on the portfolio, as we say in Spanish is , and maybe Héctor can answer that. But what I can tell you is that what really is important is that we have sold Bluestem. That was a source of significant risk, which we sold, I have to say, exactly the right time. Second, that independently of the margins, which come up and down depending on competition, clearly, 41% in prime or above, it’s a very different risk profile. And to be honest, I mean, I don’t know, Héctor, if you can add a bit more color on that in a few minutes. In terms of taxes, in — our effective tax rate was 33% in ’21. We have still — I think in ’22, we’ll be somewhere around 29%. And in ’23, nominal taxes — right, nominal taxes were not expected to change.

Yes, you will have this tax on revenues from Spain, which we estimate, and we were instructed by our accountants and market authorities to put it in ’23, and I think that’s EUR 225 million, but that’s not going to be seen at the tax level. It’s going to be seen on the revenues. But yes, we are not expecting any change in nominal tax rates. And the last one was on…

Jose Garcia-Cantera: Basel IV.

Ana Botin: Basel IV, which maybe…

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