Bankia : Goirigolzarri said, “We are extremely pleased, the results reflect the effort we have made and demonstrate that Bankia is well capitalised and highly solvent”

• The BFA-Bankia Group would maintain a capital ratio of 10.3% in 2016, even in the event of a severe downturn in the economy, which represents €4,763 million in capital above the minimum requirement.
• The group has raised €5,472 million in capital organically from the start of 2013 to September 2014.

The BFA-Bankia Group's capital ratio would stay above 10% in 2016 even in the event of an extreme downturn in the economy, according to the results of the stress tests carried out on Europe's bank by the ECB and the EBA, which have been published today.

Following the announcement of the results, the chairman of BFA and Bankia, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, said, "We are extremely pleased with the results because they show that Bankia is well capitalised and highly solvent. In short, they are the product of our efforts over the last two and a half years, which have translated into some very good results".

Goirigolzarri said that "the stress tests are a very important point for the European financial system. Firstly because they are a test of the transparency of the banks' balance sheets, and secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, because they are the first formal milestone towards a banking union, which will be completed with the establishment of the single European supervisory body".

Bankia's chairman added that, "The Spanish financial system has had some excellent results, which on the one hand are the result of the reforms undertaken by the government in relation to the financial system at the start of 2012, and also as a consequence of the excellent work by the Bank of Spain in its regulatory and supervisory role".

The Tier 1 capital ratio (CET1) of 10.7% for the BFA-Bankia Group at the end of 2013 would be 10.3% by the end of the 2016 if the economic stress hypotheses taken into account in this exercise were to come true. This ratio of 10.3% represents €4,763 million in capital over and above the minimum requirement for the test, which was 5.5%.

The stress tests also considered the capital measures carried out by the BFA-Bankia Group so far this year, totalling a further €991 million in capital, which would give it a ratio of 11.3% in the aforementioned adverse scenario.

Since completion of the bank's recapitalisation at the end of 2012, the BFA-Bankia Group has organically raised €5,472 million in new capital from profits and the sale of non-core assets.

As the Group has a restructuring plan approved by the European Commission, the exercise took into account the expected evolution in its balance sheet as part of that plan, which is currently more than one year ahead of schedule in terms of its key objectives.

Moreover, if the stress tests are performed without considering the exceptions established for banks being restructured, and taking into account the impact of the measures already implemented and executed to September 2014, the solvency ratio for the BFA-Bankia Group would still be 10.3% at the end of the adverse scenario.

In terms of the evolution of the solvency of the BFA-Bankia Group, in the base scenario established in the exercise, the Tier 1 capital ratio (CET1) would increase from 10.7% at the end of 2013 to 14.3% at the end of 2016, with €5,940 million in excess solvency compared to the minimum capital required in this scenario (8%).