News

• Banca March’s profit from banking activity (excluding Corporación Financiera Alba) was up by 8% in 2024 to a record €239 million.
• Consolidated profit (including Corporación Financiera Alba) stood at €239 million, down 27% versus 2023 due to the lack of extraordinary items in 2024, after the capital gains of €89.1m recorded in 2023 from the sale of insurance brokerage March RS to Howden Iberia.
• Profit from banking activity reflects growth across all income streams (net interest income was up 5%, gross income 5% and operating income 6%), driven by an increase in business volume and customer numbers in specialist areas.
• The number of customers with assets of over €500,000, covered by the Private Banking and Wealth Management areas, increased by 18%, and the business volume for these customers was up by 13% to €31 billion.
• The Retail Banking business also grew at a very healthy pace, with an 18% rise in the number of customers, and continued to act as a key driver for the bank’s digitalisation.
• Business Banking customers were up 13% over the year, demonstrating the bank’s strong position as a specialist in business advisory services, with a focus on family businesses.
• Banca March maintained its sector-leading capital adequacy, with the highest CET 1 in the Spanish banking sector (22.21%, up 0.95 bps versus year-end 2023) and a long-term deposit rating of A2 from Moody's, the highest rating in Spain, with a positive outlook.
• This robust capital adequacy makes the bank’s strong profitability all the more impressive; its ROE stood at 13.20% at December 2024, buoyed by growth in banking activity.
• In July 2024, Banca March announced an agreement for the acquisition by global Financial Markets Infrastructure (FMI) leader Euroclear of a 49% minority stake in Inversis, to support the Spanish company's growth and international expansion. Inversis, a Banca March subsidiary, is the Spanish market leader in integrated investment and financial services outsourcing technology solutions for financial institutions, insurers and new players looking to operate in the investment product distribution business.

In the Balearic Islands, where the bank has enjoyed a strong footprint since it was founded in Palma de Mallorca in 1926, the Private Banking business put in a particularly strong performance, with a 12% increase in business volume and a 21% rise in assets under management.

High profitability, robust capital adequacy

Banca March's ability to generate equity is clearly reflected in its capital adequacy ratio, which is the highest in the Spanish banking sector: at 31 December, the bank’s CET 1 ratio was 22.21%, versus an average of 12.70% for Spain’s major banks. Ratings agency Moody's has rated Banca March's’ long-term deposits A2 with a positive outlook, positioning it as one of the best-rated banks in the Spanish financial system, with a stronger rating than Spanish sovereign debt (currently Baa1).

Banca March boasts one of the lowest NPL ratios in the Spanish financial sector, even without having resorted to large-scale discounted NPL portfolio sales: 1.4%, versus a sector average of 3.32% (latest Bank of Spain data). Its liquidity ratios - LCR (310%) and DTL (185%) - and NPL coverage ratio (66%) are among the strongest in the sector.

These robust ratios makes the bank’s profitability all the more remarkable; its ROE stood at 13.20% at December 2024, buoyed by growth in banking activity.

Banca March CEO José Luis Acea said: “The results for 2024 continue to endorse Banca March’s strong business model and the growth in the specialist areas of private banking and corporate advisory services. In 2026 we will complete our first century, and that longevity is no coincidence; it is the result of prudent management, underpinned by a long-term philosophy, exceptional capital adequacy and excellent customer service. We have the highest CET 1 capital ratio in the Spanish banking sector coupled with strong profitability: our ROE stood at 13.20% at December 2024, driven by growth in specialist banking activity. Increasing numbers of savers are placing their trust in our bank and Banca March is the bank whose customers trust it most, according to the leading customer satisfaction audit in the sector in Spain. This is thanks, among other things, to a team of outstanding professionals who, year after year, have made Banca March worthy of global recognition as a great place to work.”

Banca March: a truly omnichannel bank

Banca March has embraced the challenge of the digital transformation in line with its strategic vision, under which technology will play an increasingly significant role in the financial sector. This is evidenced by its annual technology and digitalisation investment commitment, which in 2024 stood at €59 million (up 16% versus 2023); this is equivalent to 10.11% of the bank’s gross income, outstripping the sector average of 8.1%, according to a report by Accenture. From 2020 to 2024, total spending and investment stood at €246 million.

Banca March is now a fully omnichannel bank, where customers can choose how they want to connect. Eight out of ten customers in Banca March’s specialist areas (Private Banking, Business Banking, Wealth Management and Large Companies) make regular use of remote channels to perform the majority of their transactions. In addition, the revenues generated by March Bróker in 2024 were up by 19%. Banca March is consolidating its leadership position in advisory technology, with its Avantio platform as the key driver to deliver quality service for customers with highly digital profiles who are comfortable with new technology.

Maximum customer satisfaction: the most trusted bank

Excellent service is one of the pillars of the Banca March business model and customer responses are monitored constantly. According to the Financial sector customer satisfaction benchmarking by the independent consultant Stiga CX for 2024, Banca March is the bank whose customers trust it the most, with a score of 8.59 out of 10, over a full point more than the sector average of 7.26.

Banca March was also the best-rated bank in 2024 for strength and solvency, with a score of 9.01, a point higher than the sector average, in branch satisfaction, with a score of 9.1 versus a sector average of 7.97, and in personalised service, with 8.02, two full points higher than the average.

Banca March also secured the top spot for the first time in the section on incident resolution with a score of 5.74, versus a banking sector average of 4.73. It was also among the best-ranked in the sections for satisfaction with the bank, satisfaction with managers, online banking, telephone banking, ATMs, social commitment and customer information, coming in very close to first place.

Global recognition as a great place to work

Banca March has successfully positioned itself as the best training facility for private banking and corporate advisory specialists, as well as one of the best places to work in Spain, with a talent management model underpinned by specialisation and training, investing more than three times more in training than the sector average.

Just as it assesses the quality of its customer service, Banca March has its People model audited by the leading global specialist HR management consultants. In 2024, Banca March was recognised as the second best place to work in Spain according to the Best Workplaces ranking, and was the top Spanish company and the only Spanish bank to figure in the Great Place to Work® European ranking. To compile its rankings, Great Place to Work® uses the responses to employee surveys and the results of an audit of the people management practices and policies in place. According to this survey, 91% of Banca March employees are proud to work for the bank, 92% are proud of the bank’s achievements and 94% say that Banca March delivers the highest possible levels of customer service.

Banca March has also ranked in the top positions in Actualidad Económica's list of the “100 best companies to work for in Spain” for the last three years. Early this year, Banca March secured Top Employer certification for the seventh year running and Great Place To Work® certification for the sixth consecutive year.

At Banca March, almost 15% of the workforce comes up through the Talent Programme launched in 2013. The bank appoints its future managers straight out of university as part of its unique, customer-centric model, offering a long-term career plan in line with the bank's business philosophy. Through its Talent Programme, Banca March seeks to nurture the development of its professionals within its corporate culture and areas of specialisation, fostering a connection with its core values.

A global growth strategy at Inversis

In July 2024, Banca March announced a new phase in the growth and international expansion of its subsidiary Inversis thanks to an agreement with Euroclear, a global leader in Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) services, under which Euroclear will acquire 49% of Inversis initially and gradually grow its stake to 100%. Inversis is the leading company in Spain in global investment and financial services outsourcing technology solutions for financial institutions, insurers and new players looking to operate in the investment product distribution business. The terms of the transaction include significantly stronger investments in technology and other areas at Inversis than was initially forecast before the transaction, as well as stepping up investment in human resources.

Since Banca March acquired 100% of Inversis in 2013, the company has been equipped with technology, human resources and other investments to strengthen the business and deliver a strategy of continuous growth, both in offering end-to-end asset distribution services to its institutional clients and in expanding its global footprint. Inversis is now positioned as the only Spanish firm with a comprehensive value proposition that combines the services of manager and administrator, depositary bank and fund distribution platform, both in Spain and for institutional clients looking to operate out of Luxembourg, the hub from which Inversis is rolling out its global growth strategy.

Inversis commenced operations at its Luxembourg branch last May after completing the acquisition of Banque Havilland's institutional depository business unit. It had previously acquired, back in 2022, 40% of Adepa, a Luxembourg group specialising in the management and administration of investment vehicles. The acquisition of Openfinance in July also reinforced Inversis’s domestic and global product strategy. The company has created an end-to-end value proposition including investment vehicle management and administration services thanks to its partnership with – and stake in – Adepa, depositary services delivered out of its Luxembourg branch, and its own fund distribution platform, which allows its Luxembourg-based clients to make their products available to Inversis’ entire institutional client base and affording those clients access to the Luxembourg range.

BANCA MARCH – CONSOLIDATED GROUP

INCOME STATEMENT	31/12/2024	31/12/2023	Change
			Amount	%
Net interest income	411,8	381,0	30,8	+8,1%
Gross income	700,4	676,4	24,0	+3,5%
Operating profit	317,8	310,3	7,5	+2,4%
Profit from ordinary activities	239,2	239,2	0,0	+0,0%
Attributable profit	239,2	327,0**	-87,7	-26,8%

(*) Includes a gross capital gain of €89.1 million from the sale of March Risk Solutions at 31/12/2023.

BALANCE SHEET	31/12/2024	31/12/2023	Change
			Amount	%
Loans and advances	8.850,8	8.675,2	175,6	+2,0%
Total deposits	15.803,8	14.577,1	1.226,7	+8,4%
Total deposits	13.360,4	12.112,9	1.247,5	+10,3%
Equity	2.524,4	2.324,9	199,5	+8,6%
Total assets	21.886,6	20.204,1	1.682,5	+8,3%

 

KEY RATIOS

Mora	31/12/2024	31/12/2023
NPL ratio	1,40%	1,88%
NPL coverage ratio	65,57%	51,47%

Capital	31/12/2024	31/12/2023
NPL coverage ratio	22,21%	21,26%
Tier 1	22,21%	21,26%