Unicaja’s board is reported to have decided to press ahead with the acquisition of certain WiZink assets after reviewing the due diligence carried out by PwC, according to various media reports.
WiZink has accumulated several years of losses as a result of provisions linked to litigation over revolving credit cards, which continue to account for a significant proportion of its total portfolio, despite the fact that Lendrock (a used car finance platform) and Aplazame (digital point-of-sale finance) have been gaining ground and now account for 17 per cent of the portfolio.
It remains to be seen which part of WiZink’s business Unicaja would be interested in acquiring, with its fintech arm Aplazame and the financing business in Portugal likely to be the assets of greatest interest.
Assessment: Unicaja’s interest in WiZink is not new, and the selective acquisition of certain assets would help increase the weighting of consumer finance loans within the bank’s portfolio, a business segment in which it is seeking to grow. At the end of Q1 26, the consumer and other loan portfolio accounted for 7% of the group’s total performing loan portfolio.
Unicaja ended Q1 26 with a CET 1 ratio of 16%, meaning it has a substantial capital surplus to carry out selective acquisitions, so financing the transaction would not pose a problem.
This is a complex transaction because, should it go ahead, it would involve the creation of a ‘good bank’ and a ‘bad bank’, supervised by the Bank of Spain; furthermore, it would be a transaction in which legal costs represent a significant obstacle.
Furthermore, in recent years Unicaja has focused on improving its risk profile, and the cost of risk associated with the revolving credit and micro-loan segment stands at between 3% and 6%, compared with the cost of consumer finance and other loans, which stood at 1.9% at the end of Q1 26 at Unicaja and an average of between 0.9% and 1.5% among Spain’s major banks.
We do not expect any impact on the share price; however, if the transaction goes ahead, the assets that Unicaja ultimately acquires will be crucial to ensure that its risk profile is not adversely affected.
