Bankia : New lending by Bankia in 2015 totalled 16,600 million euros, up 12.5% on the previous year

• Loans to companies grew 16.6% to nearly 14,000 million
• Consumer lending was up 51% in number of transactions and 38% in volume

In 2015 Bankia made new loans totalling 16,600 million euros, an increase of more than 1,840 million, or 12.5%, compared to the same period of the previous year.

The increase was driven mainly by the growth of lending to businesses, which is one of the pillars of Bankia's strategy. Lending to corporate customers rose 16.6% to almost 14,000 million euros in absolute terms, representing 84% of the total financing granted by the Bank.

The buoyancy of business lending is also apparent in the number of transactions, which increased to nearly 42,000, representing growth of 56.4%, according to data published by the Bank in darcuerda.com.

Within lending to businesses, activity was particularly strong in the self-employed segment, in which the number of loans more than doubled, from around 5,000 in 2014 to more than 11,900 last year. The amount of financing granted to the self-employed totalled 216 million euros, up almost 73%.

Lending also grew strongly in the SME sector, where the number of loans was up more than 49%. In 2015, new loans to SMEs totalled more than 3,200 million euros, compared to 2,250 million in 2014, an increase of 43%.

Loans to large companies, meanwhile, reached more than 10,500 million euros, up nearly 10% year-on-year, in a total of 7,300 transactions, a 10.5% increase.

Another of the Bank's strategic priorities is consumer lending. In 2015, Bankia extended 178,600 consumer loans for a total amount of more than 1,200 million euros. These figures translate into year-on-year growth of 51% in number of transactions and 38% in volume.

Home loans granted during 2015 amounted to more than 1,400 million euros.