MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s BBVA expects to distribute more than 7 billion euros ($8 billion) to shareholders in 2021 and 2022, around a fifth of its current market capitalization, chairman Carlos Torres said in a post on the Spanish bank’s website on Monday.
Torres said the amount included a 3.5 billion euros share buyback already announced by the bank, of which the first 1.5 billion euros tranche is underway.
It also includes the expected dividends for the two years, applying the bank’s new policy of paying out 40-50% of profit, and based on analysts’ consensus profit estimate, the chairman said in the post.
Torres added the bank was open to additional investments and shareholder distributions “in order to be within our target range, with a capital ratio between 11.5 and 12 percent in 2024.”
($1 = 0.8757 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by Inti Landauro and Mark Potter)
