Caja de Ahorros de Galicia, ‘Caixa Galicia’, is one of the ten most important Spanish financial institutions and, as a foundation with a clear social policy, around 50% of its profit is allocated to social-cultural activities.

Established in 1978 as a result of a merger between Caja de Ahorros de La Coruña and Lugo and the Caja de Ahorros de Ferrol, Caixa Galicia is now supervised by the Bank of Spain (Banco de España) and registered in the Special Register of Savings Banks (Libro de Registro Espcial de Cajas de Ahorro).

The Group employs 4,756 staff and, although a leader in the Galician market, has nearly 1.9 million clients nationwide and enjoys successful access to the international capital markets. Whilst retail banking is the Group’s main activity, customer financing is divided approximately 50/50 between families and enterprises; more than 55% of the loan portfolio are mortgages. With 815 offices in Spain Europe and Latin America, 42% of the branch network is outside Galicia.

CXH Corporation manages the group’s 1,329 million Euro interests in other companies: 120 diverse enterprises in more than 20 sectors, such as energy, forest, food, telecommunication, transport, etc. These interests provide 58% of the Group’s income before taxes.

2007 Highlights

The Caixa Galicia Group exceeded 400 €m in attributed profit with a 12.4% y-o-y increase

• Business Volume reached 76,300 €m, with growth of 22.3%. Customer Resources Volume amounted to 41,000 million Euros - a growth of 20% . Credit Investment reached 35,200 million Euros: a year on year growth of 25%.
• 80 new branches were opened and 126,000 new customers won, meaning an increased market quota in all the Autonomous Communities.
• All operating margins increased by more than 20%. Recurrent revenue grew 26% over the year.
• An Extraordinary provision of 78 €m will be prepared for a lower growth context in 2008.
• A Non-Performing Loan rate as low as 0.71% and coverage of 289% - figures that maintain Caixa Galicia among the best in the sector.
• Capitalization ratios improved throughout 2007 with a Tier 1 ratio above 6%

During 2008, Caixa Galicia will continue its intense socio-cultural work, with a budget of 112 million Euros, an increase of 25% on 2007.