Ibex Banks’ Capitalization Has Dropped 40% in the first semester 2020

Eight Spanish banks brands amongst the 500 most valued worldwide

The market capitalisation of Spain’s six leading banks has slumped over 40% in the first half of the year, falling by approximately 53.11 billion euros.

According to market data consulted by Europa Press, the first quarter was particularly damaging for the banking sector, coinciding with the start of the coronavirus crisis. All the lenders recorded declines in their share prices, which ranged from 39.3% for CaixaBank to 54.9% for Banco Sabadell.

That said, some of them managed to recover part of the losses during the second quarter. Bankinter’s stock price rebounded by 27%, CaixaBank, recovered 11.8%, while BBVA rose 5.1% between April and June. However, Sabadell (-34%), Bankia (-6.8%) and Santander (-2%) widened their falls during the second quarter.

On average, the six banks lost 40% of their stock market value in the first half of the year, with Sabadell’s seeing a particularly sharp decline of 70.3%. Its shares fell from €1.04 at end-2019 to €0.3, while its capitalisation dropped by EUR 4.1 billion to 1.739 billion, placing it at the bottom of the Ibex banking sector list.

Bankia’s stock market value was half that of six months ago and its capitalisation dropped to €2.911 Bn. Santander’s shares lost 41.7% of their value and its market capitalisation fell by almost EUR 25.850 billion to 36.136 billion.

BBVA shares have lost 38.5% of their value so far this year and the bank has seen almost 12.8 billion euros shaved off its capitalisation to 20.43 billion. Bankinter accumulated a stock market fall of 35% over the year, with capitalization down 2.056 billion euros to 3.815 billion.

Finally, CaixaBank’s capitalization has been cut by 5.369 billion euros to 11.367 billion, equivalent to a 32% drop in its stock market value in the January-June period.

The combined market capitalization of the six banks at the end of the first half was 76.398 billion euros, compared to 129.509 billion end-2019, as they felt the impact of the coronavirus crisis like other listed securities. In fact, the Ibex-35 as a whole fell 24.3% in the first half of the year, despite rising 6.6% between April and June.

Despite the fact the banking sector was the most penalised during the toughest weeks of the pandemic, it has also performed best in the face of the improved economic outlook, supported by the European Central Bank (ECB) with a new injection of liquidity.

About the Author

The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.