La banca europea, con colchón para mejorar el dividendo

The European banking sector maintained a strong solvency position despite distributing a record 81 billion euros in dividends in 2025, according to a Morningstar DBRS report. The report highlights the sector's ability to absorb potential economic and geopolitical disruptions, thanks to sufficient resources and a moderate reduction in available margins for responding to new risks. The median CET1 ratio, which measures high-quality own resources relative to risk-weighted assets, remained above 15%.

European banks continued to execute share buyback programs while paying out dividends and rebalancing their capital. However, the growth in dividends and buybacks is expected to slow as banks aim to maintain a sufficient safety margin for potential economic downturns. The report names Banco Sabadell, Banca Monte dei Paschi, Intesa Sanpaolo, and BPER Banca as top performers among banks with high dividend yields, all exceeding 7%.

Large banks such as BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, and UniCredit, as well as Spanish banks like Unicaja and BBVA, also outperform the 5% threshold.

Morningstar DBRS predicts that the shareholder remuneration will remain high but grow at a slower pace as the sector's profitability moderates and entities near their internal capital targets. The evolution of dividends and buybacks will depend on the banks' ability to generate profits, their financing needs, and investment opportunities.

Moreover, mergers and acquisitions may consume own resources, while buybacks reduce the capital reserved to absorb potential losses. Balancing shareholder remuneration, business growth financing, and maintaining a sufficient safety margin for economic downturns will be crucial for the sector in the coming years.