Bon dia. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. Welcome on my behalf and on behalf of the board to this Annual General Meeting of CaixaBank that we are holding in the Valencia Conference Hall. First of all, I would like to say thank you to all of you who are participating here on-site, those of you who are following us remotely, and those who are following us in our website. In compliance with the regulation of our society and the regulation of the board of CaixaBank, the board has agreed in remote assistance also with remote connection and live, so every shareholder can use all their rights remotely. All the procedures are already in the notice and the call of this meeting.
Furthermore, all the shareholders have been able to have access to information to proxy voting and voting by remote access before this meeting. I want to say that Bureau Veritas has audited and certified this meeting as a sustainable event. You can see the report on our corporate website in the tab for the meeting for 2026. This meeting has been convened to approve, if so, all the annual balance for 2025 and all the proposals which are in the agenda. Our secretary will give you the data regarding the notice and call for this meeting and the attendance figures.
Good morning, dear shareholders. The convening of this board was published on the 22nd of February, 2026, in the website of the National Securities Market Commission, in two newspapers like La Razón and La Vanguardia. Since then, we have been publishing all the information regarding this meeting on the website, on our website, following the Spanish corporate law. All the shareholders have been able to ask to receive all the information at their home.
Let me inform all of those who are following us on-site; you will find QR codes that will allow you to access all the information and documentation that is published on our website for this meeting. Anyway, we also have some copies of those documents here on-site. Let me take this moment to tell you that all the shareholders and the shareholder representatives, both here on-site and online, will have the possibility to speak. They will have to ask for the Q&A turn.
Those shareholders and proxy can go to the table, which is identified as a list of intervention, which is at the back of the room. There you can give them your personal data, and you can ask to intervene later on. If you want for your intervention to be recorded in the meetings, you will have to say it specifically, and you can take that to the notary, and so he can check everything during the Q&A session. Let me remind all the shareholders that the time of the intervention will be five minutes, as per the regulations of this meeting. As we already said when we made the notice of this meeting, we are going to broadcast live all these meetings, so your image and your voice might be recorded.
If you don't want to authorize for your image or your voice to be broadcast live, you have to say it at the table with the list of interventions, so your image or your voice won't be broadcast. If any of the people attending would need help with moving around the room, or if they need help to reach the mic, please do tell the people who are helping us because they will give you a mic. On the other hand, I would like to remind the shareholders and the representatives that are participating online that they have to follow the procedure for the online intervention. You will find the instructions in the platform for interventions.
As you have there in all the instructions for remote participation, which was approved by the board, and it is published. You can. Your writing have to have a maximum of 7,500 characters, and then you can only submit one written sheet. Then, this is more or less the equivalent to the intervention of those who are present here of five minutes. Those who are connected through the platform, and if they want for their interventions to be on the record, they will have to say that. All the requests for information on or both remotely and on-site will be answered during this meeting or during the seven days following this meeting. Regarding votes, we have votes in favor, all of those who will be here, whether on-site or online, and that they do not vote against.
Those shareholders and representatives of shareholders who are on-site and want to vote against one or several of the items of the agenda will have to go to the voting tables at the back of the room, and they will have to give them their cards so their votes can be counted. They can do that until the end of the voting of the proposals. I really urge all the shareholders who are with us remotely today, when they want to vote to the proposals, please do so with the link that we have provided to you and you can do that until the end of the voting of the proposals. After reading all the proposals and when we say that the voting is over, the president will declare if the agreements have been.
The proposals have been approved or not, and then it would give you the results. The precise number of votes will be said after, and it will be published on our website. Those shareholders or representative of shareholders who have done their accreditation here on-site or remotely online, if you haven't vote during this, as if you leave and you haven't vote, your vote will be considered in favor. You can inform, if you don't want this to happen, you can inform the table or in the platform saying that you don't want to vote to be considered like that. Let me remind you that once you have left the meeting, we cannot make a new register.
Before reading the attendance figures, if, for instance, we have a breakdown in the remote connection, we will stop, and then we will wait until we reinitiate the services. Also, as soon as possible, we would publish on our website, the CaixaBank website. We'll tell you that everything is working again, okay.
Following the last provisional data that we have right now at the beginning of the meeting, we have the attendance data corresponding to all the shareholders or those representing shareholders, both on-site and online, all of them, and even those who vote before the meeting. 14,817 on-site representing 51% of share capital, and 68,036 shareholders represented, which is 33.6% of the share capital.
All in all, we have a number of 82,853, and that is 25,890,000 shares. Seeing that there's quorum, this board is validly convened in the second call following the regulation of our company, the regulation of the general meeting of shareholders and the regulation of the Spanish Companies Act. All of that, of course, we will publish the detailed data during the five days after the meeting, and this will be published on our website, and it will be all on the records. Following the regulation of this general meeting, let me inform you that the board of this meeting is comprised of me as the President of the Board and Mr. Óscar Calderón de Oya, Secretary of the Board, who will be acting as President and Secretary of the board.
As well, we have all the members of the board attending this meeting. We also have the first vice secretary of the board. As you could see in the notice of call of the general meeting and following the Spanish Companies Act and the regulation of this general meeting of shareholders, we have required to have present a notary in order to write the minutes of this meeting. Our notary today from Valencia will be Don Alfonso Maldonado Rubio. You have the floor.
Following all the current regulation, I ask if any of the shareholders have any claims or reserves regarding the validity of the convening of this meeting or the number of shareholders or the capital which is present today.
If any shareholder would like to make a complaint or a reserve about all this data, please do that in writing and send email to lista.asistentes.junta@caixabank.com. So it will be included in the minutes. It will be on the records. Any shareholder which is on site can go to the table which it's marked Notary at the back of the room.
Thank you very much, dear notary. Now I'm going to offer you our report. [Foreign language]. Good morning once again, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. [Foreign language] to Tom. First and foremost, let me thank you once again for attending this annual general meeting. This will be my second AGM as Chairman of CaixaBank, and once again, I feel the same honor and same sense of responsibility as last year.
It is a genuine privilege to be here again and to do so surrounded by our bank's magnificent board of directors. I would like to thank Amparo Moraleda personally for the extraordinary work she's carried out over these 12 years as an independent director, especially as vice-chair during this past year. Amparo, you have shown immense professionalism in fulfilling your duties and have made a consistently outstanding contribution. Thank you very much for your dedication. Allow me to underline once again, as I did last year, the importance of the annual general meeting in the bank's corporate calendar. As the most significant event for any listed company, it was truly gratifying to see the improvement in participation figures that we achieved at the 2025 AGM.
We reached a quorum of more than 82% and a record level of participation, allowing us to donate more than EUR 383,000 to the Red Cross to alleviate the effects of the flash floods. As we all know, all the affected areas are still struggling to recover from the natural disaster, so we are once again promoting a new solidarity initiative to support those in need. For every shareholder who takes part in this annual general meeting, CaixaBank will donate EUR 3 to Save the Children project to support families and to promote children's well-being in the affected areas. Thank you very much in advance. I'm proud to be able to say that here, CaixaBank was once again a leader in 2025 with a robust, profitable, and socially committed banking model.
A leadership built on our outstanding results, but also and above all, on a different approach to banking, close to customers, value-driven, and focused on the long term. Allow me to thank and acknowledge the hard work and dedication shown by our CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, as well as the entire management team he leads. 2025 has turned out to be another historic year for CaixaBank, and our outstanding results are the end product of their work, engagement, and management capabilities. Our model inspires, innovates, and places commitment at the heart of everything we do as we work to make our values a reality, quality, trust, and social commitment. Over the next few minutes, I will share with you my view of our bank, both for the present and the future.
After my address, our CEO will give you a more detailed account of the key factors behind the 2025 results and the outlook for our current strategic plan. I'll begin by reviewing the past financial year. We have begun the first year of the current strategic plan in a brilliant fashion, by further improving our positioning. The main indicators clearly show that we are executing our strategy and comfortably exceeding the targets we set. Thanks to three main drivers. First, positive momentum in lending, growth in funds under management, both in deposits and wealth management, and also protection products, and lastly, the reduction of non-performing loans and our capacity to generate capital and liquidity. It bears repeating that this growth has once again been possible thanks to our ability to understand people's needs.
In total, we now serve more than 20 million customers, a figure that it is both an immense source of pride and also great responsibility. Our universal banking model makes CaixaBank a benchmark in Spain and also in Portugal. BPI is a key part of our project. Its full integration within the group significantly strengthens our position as the leading financial institution in the Iberian Peninsula. We also happen to be the leading institution in banking and insurance solutions, and this is only possible with a model that is close to customers and specialized, that leaves no one behind. Whether you live in a large city or in a rural area, on the mainland or abroad, you will find us there. Whether you are an individual retail customer, self-employed, an SME, or a multinational company, we also have the solutions that you need.
We're proud to have the broadest capillarity across the country. What's more, our multi-channel distribution model is underpinned by an in-depth knowledge of the customer. We possess cutting-edge technology and analytical capabilities, the best-rated app in the country, CaixaBankNow, and innovative and compelling value propositions in consumer finance and investment, insurance, and savings management.
Banks need to earn the trust of customers and markets, and the best way to achieve this is by offering a long-term customer relationship model with a suite of solutions covering the entire life cycle from imagin, which already has almost four million digital customers and is the bank chosen by the largest number of young people in our country, to serving more than 40% of people aged over 65. Another, or rather, one of our top priorities that has been in our DNA since day one. Let us not forget that at CaixaBank, we work day in, day out to make our third value a reality, social commitment, a value rooted in our essence and the one that truly defines us. This social commitment has taken shape in the realm of financial and social inclusion and in other areas with a positive social impact.
More than 1.8 million people benefited from an inclusive solution promoted by the group. By providing access to financial services across all types of communities, especially in smaller and rural areas, CaixaBank serves 92% of the population. We stand alongside the most vulnerable customers, such as through basic payment and social inclusion accounts. We offer groundbreaking solutions for longevity, currently one of the greatest challenges facing our society. Through MicroBank, we are European leaders in microcredits with EUR 2.44 billion granted in 2025, 18% more than in 2024. It is a key player in promoting employability and entrepreneurship. We also promote education and financial literacy. CaixaBank Dualiza supports dual vocational training. We also run multiple training programs aimed at young people, entrepreneurs, older people, and even for all of you, our shareholders through the AULA program.
Special mention goes to CaixaBank volunteering program, the largest corporate volunteering network in Spain, reaching out to more than 750,000 beneficiaries through decentralized action and in close collaboration with la Caixa Foundation. We've been recognized by Global Finance as the world's best bank for supporting society and as the first financial institution to certify its social action model and commitment to older people with AENOR. These accolades go to show that our social commitment is more than just words. They are real, measurable, and transformative actions demonstrating that our commitment to society is reflected in everything we do. An outstanding 2025 in which we were once again a key player supporting the Spanish economy and society. Above all, we are satisfied to have created value for our shareholders, for all of you.
First of all, I would like to point out the strong performance of the CaixaBank share throughout 2025, which had a significant evolution, nearly doubling its value from EUR 5.24 to EUR 10.45 as of 31st December. CaixaBank's value rose by 99.5% compared with 80% for the Euro Stoxx Banks and 49% for the IBEX 35, thus comfortably outperforming both benchmarks. This signals the market confidence and recognition of the bank's strategy and the way this bank is managed. Furthermore, CaixaBank climbed to sixth position in the Euro Stoxx Banks' market capitalization ranking. These compelling results, coupled with our strong capital position, have led the board of directors to propose to this AGM the distribution of a gross cash dividend of 2025 of EUR 33.21 per share.
This is due to be paid on April 9, assuming you approve it. This supplementary dividend, when added to the interim dividend already paid in November 2025 of EUR 16.79 per share, would bring the total cash dividend for 2025 to EUR 0.50 gross per share, 15% more than in the previous year and equivalent to 59.4% of 2025 consolidated net profit. It would therefore be at the upper end of the cash payout range of between 50% and 60% envisaged in our dividend plan. In total, the cash dividend payout for the year 2025 would reach an estimated figure of EUR 3,499 billion, more than EUR 400 million above the figure in 2024.
Meanwhile, during 2025, various share buyback programs were carried out. The sixth program was fully executed for EUR 500 million, and the seventh is still underway for a further EUR 500 million. In short, the financial strength we demonstrated in this first year of the strategic plan allows us to increase remuneration for all of our shareholders. More than 31% of the dividend goes to la Caixa Foundation, our reference shareholder, illustrating our pride in belonging to a group that genuinely delivers to its unflinching commitment to society. Last but not least, CaixaBank's total shareholder return, or TSR for short, shows compelling figures compared with the IBEX 35 and the Eurozone Banks Index. I would now like to take a moment to analyze the context in which our bank's outstanding performance has taken place, as well as the outlook as we look forward.
2025 was a turbulent year on a global scale. Even so, it was positive for the Spanish economy. The GDP increased by 2.8% over the year as a whole, and Spain remained one of the most buoyant economies in the Euro area. Spanish companies created jobs. The total number of people in employment reached 22.5 million people, and the unemployment rate stood at 10.5%, its lowest level in many years. Inflation remained broadly stable, averaging 2.8%. Spanish public debt as a percentage of GDP ratio fell to 100.8%, although it still remains high. In the housing market, there was a significant rise in prices due to scarce levels of supply.
As for the global economy, it was certainly a difficult year, but it held up better than expected. At the start of 2026, the general mood in Europe was positive, and the U.S. economy began the year on a strong footing. However, as things currently stand in March, the global markets have been impacted by the consequences of the escalation of hostilities across the Middle East region. The duration and evolution of the conflict will determine the magnitude of its effects on the economic outlook, with implications for initial forecasts for economic growth, inflation, and monetary policy. The United States security strategy and its foreign policy agenda continue to add uncertainty. There are key factors steering the performance of the world economy and the stability of global financial markets.
Geopolitics has become a structural factor affecting stability, competitiveness, and capacity to react. The last five years have been turbulent globally, and the second half of the decade could be similar in tone, if not more tumultuous. Uncertainty will be the term that best defines global risks in this year, 2026, and beyond. This is really becoming evident. I will attempt to offer a broad overview of this new era of strategic competition marked by complex risks that are less predictable and that are more intertwined. First, geoeconomic confrontation between powers is currently the greatest threat to global stability. It is synonymous with economic risks: inflation, reduced trade, disruption to supply chains, and volatility in financial markets. Second, technological and environmental challenges, the risks associated with rapid technological change, such as cybersecurity and disinformation, as well as uncertainty over the impact of artificial intelligence globally.
Over a somewhat longer term horizon, climate threats remain a critical concern. Last, we have rising inequality and demographic change as crosscutting risks affecting the previous two. Further episodes of geoeconomic confrontation will hinder the search for effective global solutions to cross-border risks that require a coordinated response. In this new era, Europe is indeed facing global challenges. Europe, having grown comfortable in the world of yesterday, must now reaffirm its values and, above all, its interests in the world of today. Regulatory fragmentation and complexity in every sphere will not be conducive to European growth. If there is one thing the world can agree on, it's that Europe is over-regulated. Of course, regulation must exist, but it must also allow innovation to act as a driver of the economy. The right balance must be struck.
We expect to see genuine progress because Europe needs it in order to become more competitive. Turning now to the outlook for the Spanish economy in 2026, our country benefits from a positive carryover effect given our strong starting point. The initial growth forecast was 2.4%, once again above the level expected for the Euro area, and inflation had been expected to be more contained. However, the impacts of the situation in the Middle East is expected to alter this initial scenario, with potentially more lasting consequences depending on the final duration of the conflict and its degree of disruption in terms of geographical scope, damage and disruptions to transport and infrastructure. Markets initially did not anticipate a highly prolonged and disruptive crisis. However, the level of uncertainty remains very high.
In this context, our research area expects GDP growth to be around 2% this year. In addition, markets are pricing in interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank. Nor should we forget the challenges and opportunities looking ahead. In my view, here are the key ones. Spain will face several demographic challenges and opportunities over the next two decades. The population is expected to reach 50 million in the short term, plus a further five million within 15 years, who will be more numerous and with some notable traits. The first, longevity. According to the OECD, Spaniards have the highest life expectancy in the European Union and one of the highest in the world. We are one of the most demographically aged countries in Europe. The over-80s have doubled their share of the population of this century.
A person turning 65 in 2024 has a life expectancy of almost 22 additional years, and this figure will continue to rise. The proportion of retirees within the population will continue to grow with direct economic repercussions. AIReF, Spain's Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility, expects the nation's debt to gradually rise due to the aging population, reaching 181% of the GDP in 2070. We will inevitably need to have a calm and thoughtful discussion on the sustainability of the pension system in its current state and the need to encourage long-term saving among the population, nor should we ignore the need to factor in rising demand for dependency care services. This is a challenge that we should face together as a mature society without putting it off.
The state, institutions, companies, social agents, and each and every one of us as individuals. Secondly, the challenge posed by the labor market. Over the next decade, around five million people will retire, leaving behind jobs that cannot be filled solely through the entry of younger generations. Indeed, it is estimated that fewer than two million young people will enter the labor market during that period. The gap is significant, and planning this transition is essential. Profiles with higher levels of training will be needed across all sectors, particularly in the most specialized one. It will be key to make the most of our human capital through alternative approaches. The majority of the population aged over 65 would like to remain economically active, provided there are incentives for gradual retirement.
Flexible retirement policies are therefore needed to promote generational replacement, making use of senior knowledge and experience and ensuring the appropriate skills of the new entrants to the labor market. The third and final point, population growth and the challenges of balance. It is beyond question that in order to maintain employment levels, immigration will be needed. It is a driver of growth and demographic rejuvenation, and it will continue to be so. This population growth outlook adds pressure to the housing market. It is estimated that an additional 700,000 homes are needed in Spain to meet the existing demand, while at most 150,000 are being built each year. This is a supply problem that we need to solve.
Again, longevity, the labor market, immigration, and housing are so closely interrelated, intertwined, that require a global overarching approach and broad political and social consensus. As for CaixaBank's outlook for 2026, the strategic plan 2025/2027 is our compass. It's also an ambitious roadmap, plotting out three main paths forward, which we are pursuing from an exceptionally strong position, stronger growth, faster transformation, and staying true to our essence. Looking at the growth pillar, our 2025 results have enabled us to raise the bar for 2027 significantly with more ambitious targets. We have more targets that go beyond those set in the beginning. Our CEO will discuss our new targets in greater detail during his address. As for the transformation pillar, our ambition is to stay at the forefront.
Technological and talent-related change is unstoppable, has accelerated, and we aim to consolidate the step change in digital capabilities to support the business. We have a team that is prepared and constantly evolving. Technological adoption and artificial intelligence will usher in new roles and new training and upskilling needs, but not the destruction of jobs overall. Successfully combining the benefits offered by technology with human capabilities will be the key to success in this exciting technological revolution. As for the essence pillar, we want to remain true to the course we have set. We are leaders, and we want to remain so. Being a CaixaBank customer is not just about being the customer of a bank. It means contributing to progress towards a more sustainable economy and supporting the economic and social development of everyone.
In conclusion, in 2026, we will have a year focused on sustainable profitability and on achieving a high payout. The new targets mark a renewed commitment to value creation for all of you, CaixaBank's shareholders. Rest assured that my utmost priority, and that of the board, is to achieve an attractive payout for shareholders. As agreed, for 2026, this would take the form of a dividend policy with a payout of between 50% and 60% to be paid through two cash payments, an interim dividend amounting to between 30% and 40% of consolidated net profit for the first half of 2026, and to be paid in November 2026, and a supplementary dividend subject to final approval by all of you, ladies and gentlemen shareholders, at the next year's AGM.
I would expressly like to convey to you my thanks, and indeed, the gratitude of the entire institution, for the trust you continue to place in us. I have left until the end of my address my gratitude to everyone who makes up CaixaBank, because I am aware of the extraordinarily important role that they have played in achieving our 2025 results and, of course, in achieving our ambitions for 2026. They have the express thanks of the entire board, and in particular, my own. This year, 2026, I will be celebrating 50 years in this great institution, and I carry within me what it means to be a CaixaBank employee, so I perfectly know what it means to be part of this great human team. It means an environment that is always demanding.
It means that the goals we set are always challenging, yet also achievable. It means always working alongside the very best professionals. I can assure that the contribution made by every one of us at CaixaBank matters and is always visible. Each and every one of you are the true architects of this distinctive and unique banking model of CaixaBank. Thank you for making it happen. Our CEO will now explain in greater detail our results in 2025 and focus on the approach of the strategic plan as we move forward into 2026. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias.
[Foreign language]
Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Gonzalo Gortázar, our CEO.
Dear President, dear members of the board, dear shareholders, good morning, everyone. Bon dia a tots. Now, I want to address you all in this meeting that we are holding again in Valencia, where our headquarters are and where we feel really at home. This is an occasion especially valuable to share with all of you, dear shareholders, the evolution of CaixaBank, that now we are affirming the vision and the values, which are the base of our project. As our president said, 2025 has been a good year for CaixaBank. The national economy has performed very well, and despite of the fall of the interest rate and the competition and the acceleration of the economy, we have achieved the goals we have set up at the beginning of the year.
CaixaBank moves forward in our strategic plan, a strategic plan that articulate our vision in three pillars. First of all, growth. Growth in a sustainable way. Secondly, to accelerate the operating performance. Finally, to have our positive contribution to our economy and society. In the three spheres we have really advanced during 2025. We can understand the success without the people that make it possible. More than 46,000 people in our staff who are the driver, the real driver of CaixaBank. Thank you to their effort, to their commitment. This has made possible that we are a benchmark bank institution in Spain and also in Europe. I want to begin my speech saying thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you to all of them. I will tell you v ery shortly about the financial strength of the groups and the results of 2025. To finish, I would like to give you some conclusions regarding the plan 2025 and 2026. I will proceed with my speech in Spanish, as there are many Spanish shareholders among us. First of all, I would like to highlight that there's been a lot of growth this year and the relative position has been improved. We've grown around 7%. We have 390,000 increase of customers. So we are reaching 40.4% of people in Spain, working with Spain. We have the loan portfolio with a growth of 7%. We have negative growth for many years.
In 2025 has been very positive to this regard, very positive for our economy and for our customer. As you can see, incomes in consumer, we have growth 12%, companies around 7%. We have increased our market share in consumption, housing, and so on. It means that we are performing very well. The same growth we can find in assets and also in liabilities, in our resources, both the resources on our balance sheet, those which are managed through different tools with funds, savings, and so on. Also, all the asset management has grown a total 9.7% in 2025, and deposits in our balance sheet around 5%.
That's all in all, an average of 6.8, and a very healthy position in the market, which means that we are being very successful in allocating the resources by our customers. Another very important part of our business is insurance, protection for life insurance, health insurance, car insurance. In 2025, we've grown 13% in the different premiums with good diversification among the different insurance categories, as you can see on the slide. Earnings and profits have been really relevant. 119 points in life and risk, and also in health, car, and other insurances. These businesses working very well, both at absolute and relative terms. If we compare ourselves with our competition, BPI, very good year. We even had at global level 7.5% growth.
The ratios of default are extraordinary, are very, very positive if we compare them to other Portuguese banks. As you can see, we have increased our market share in Portugal. Since we merged BPI, we have been having very relevant results. We are growing in a very healthy way with return 19.2%. During 2025 as well, there's been a reduction of BPI in BFA from 48% to 33%. Beyond this commercial activity, I would like to highlight is the strength of our income statement. We can see the last four years here. There really was a fall in 2025 from 2.6 to 2.1.
We are below the average in our industry, and we see trends following the same line during the first quarter 2026. The liquidity position, as always, is good, is really comfortable for us. We have EUR 171,830 million in liquid assets. The ratio, you can see it on this slide, that both in the short term and structurally, CaixaBank has a very solid position that it compares very well, not only in Spain, but in Europe. We have been accessing the capital markets with a lot of success. The rating, I mean, this is the opinion of the rating companies on our strength, has been very positive. All the relevant agencies have said that we are very strong. We also have here the organic generation of capital.
As you can see on the central part of the slide, the result is generating 270 basis points of capital. A capital beginning at the 12% in a comfortable way. This has allow us to increase our income and so we have 68 basis points for our assets. For the rest of it, we could attend the dividends and the debt that we have, the Tier 1 debt, ending the year with 12.6% of our ratio. That's achieving the goal of increasing the capital ratios during 2025. We are closing 2025 above 12.5%. We have a sixth program that was completed during 2025, and we have a seventh program advancing this year, and it's already 85% done.
Finally, result of that growth, of this strength in our balance sheet that you can see, which is the impact in our revenue. Maybe the most important thing to highlight would be that the interest margin is falling despite this positive evolution. We have to think that we should have suffered a bigger fall due to the fall of the interest rate. As our commercial activity has been so positive, it has had a positive impact on 2025. We had a bit of growth of the interest. This is good news among bad news. Income on services, total income of services, we have 5.4% has insurances because we are having more activity, and this is different from bank commissions, bank fees, which are going low.
So we have the retail activity is being reduced, and we are really working free of commissions, free of fees with many of our customers. We also have the wholesale business, and we are growing there, and we have a high profitability there that has compensated that has set off all the retail. All in all, we have a gross margin 2.5%, and expenses including staff and stamp expenses, we have 5%, so the operating margin is in the positive area. It is a year that we are doing more or less the same as last year because we have the negative impact of the fall of the interest rates and, well, the impact it has on our both assets and liabilities.
We could compensate this, and we have a slight but positive growth in the operating margin of 0.9%. We have good news regarding the financing assets, especially those allocated to credit or loans, and some of them have been reduced. Cost of risk over the last 12 months now is 0.22%. This is the average of a risk exposure for our loans that we had to manage during the year, a lower figure than we had foreseen. Despite this, our coverage ratio is still increasing. The default loans coverage has gone from 69 to 77 during the year. The evolution of our credit portfolio has been exceedingly positive. All in all, what we can see is that the result for the group is 1.8.
It is a modest figures, but we have to compare it with the expectation of the markets at the beginning of the year because the analysts, the experts were expecting a drop of a 10%, specifically because of a fall of the interest rates, but we could compensate that with our commission activity, and we have a positive result. We have a result of 5%, and as our president say, 15%, it's a good year for the remuneration or the payback to our shareholders. This is the summary of 2025. We have to go on. We have been implementing the three axes of our strategic plan. Let me remind you that first of all was growth.
This, we've seen the figures are really showing this growth, specifically in the commercial activities, and we have higher growth than we were expecting with very strong financial strength. We have achieved both profitability and growth goals for 2025/2026. We have done a review of these goals in response to the group performance and also because of the sensitivity our president talked about. We are in a little better position than we were foreseeing. All those changes that we apply in our goals for the next three years of the strategic plan 2025/2026, I would like to highlight three figures. Business volume, we were expecting to have a growth of 4%, and now our new goal is 6%.
I'm talking about the average annual growth. Now the default ratio, it was 2%, but now we are aspiring to 1.75%. Our ROTE, the return, we were expecting something like 15%, but now we are expecting above 18%. This is an average for 2025, 2026 and 2027. These are meaningful changes supported by the good situation of the Spanish
In fact, at this moment, all the staff has AI tools available to improve their productivity. We're deploying agents, AI agents, in order to automate several tasks, redesign processes, improving our relation with our customers, combining the judgment of our professionals with this technology. We continue to improve our technological infrastructures through the program called Cosmos. Reinforcements in our human capital, we have 650 special experts joining our staff. We as a group continue to be able to attract technology tech talent, which is very difficult to do for any company in general. All in all, it is a robust progress in our transformation. We're clearly being a more agile and better prepared company to accompany our customers.
This transformation is something we're executing from the approach of keeping our essence, keeping our usefulness to society, which is our third pillar in the strategic plan, reinforcing our social contribution. Here you can see several initiatives that foster employability, social inclusion, mobilizing sustainable finance, accompanying companies and families in a transition towards models that are more respectful and sustainable. The chairman has already explained this. I do not want to come into details, but I would just like to say that for all of us who work at CaixaBank is a sense of pride to see how this commitment is fully integrated in the way we act and in the way how we together with the Caixa Foundation, we foster these kind of activities.
Criteria has 30% of the shareholding and also distributes this dividend, and with this they can finance this extraordinary social work and revert all the profits from our activity directly into the society. I would like to finish my intervention by reminding what is guiding us, this purpose of being next to the people for everything that matters, this mission of contributing to the financial well-being of our customers and the progress of all the society, and the values that are part of our identity, quality, trust, and social commitment. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, we are a leading group, but we're also a group with a soul, combining robustness, trust, long-term vision, and dedication to service.
At a point like the one we have now with uncertainty in the geopolitical level and the potential effects of the conflict in the Middle East, it is even more relevant to have a robust institution backing us and with a position from which we can act with determination because our strength will help us to continue supporting companies, families, and contribute to the economic growth despite the very complex situation we are in. This is the way we will continue to move forward without leaving anyone behind. I would like to finish with my most sincere gratitude to all of you, my dear shareholders, because you trust us, and you are shareholders of this project. The board of directors, the Chairman, Tomás Muniesa, for his vision, for his support, for his leadership.
Special mention to Amparo Moraleda, who will finish her period in CaixaBank after this 12 years. She has brought to the group her great knowledge, experience, and good judgment, contributing in a very relevant manner to the projects of CaixaBank. Very specially, I would like to thank all the professionals working at CaixaBank. Their work is what makes everything we shared possible. They are the ones assisting, helping millions of customers every day, sustaining our operations. They are the ones allowing for our systems to be operational, helping our network of branches to work accurately and allow us to be here speaking about this successful year. We will continue to work so that CaixaBank continues to be a robust, profitable, and useful and committed company, committed with people and society. Thank you so much. Muchas gracias.
Muchas gracias. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalo Gortázar, for your intervention. Now, I will explain the necessary information about corporate governance. According to the third recommendation of the Code of Good Governance of Listed Companies approved by the National Securities Market Commission, it is important to report about the most relevant aspects of corporate governance of CaixaBank since the last AGM. In this sense, I would like to highlight the proposals that are brought for approval of this AGM in relation with the creation of or the composition of the board of directors, and that have the purpose of re-electing two board members, one of them independent director. The appointment of a new independent director who will cover the vacancy of Ms. Amparo Moraleda, who has presented her withdrawal with effects of the end of this AGM, and the ratification and appointment of independent director.
Ms. Moraleda, I would like to thank you again on my behalf and on behalf of all the board of directors, your contribution and dedication to the CaixaBank group. These proposals of reelection and appointment of members of the board of directors allow us to continue progressing in the best practices of good governance, keeping at 15 the size of the board of directors and increasing the proportion of independent directors that will move from 60% to 66.7%. The size and composition is considered adequate to efficiently attend all the duties of the board, as well as those arising from the working of their different committees and the workload associated to it.
Likewise, we guarantee diversity of knowledge and experience in the board as a whole, and specifically in terms of gender diversity. The percentage of female directors will be kept with the approval of these proposals at 40%, having reached by 2020 the target of 40% set currently in the recommendations of the Code of Good Governance and in the Organic Law 2/2024 of equal representation and balanced presence of women and men. At the same time, the specialized committees of the board of directors also have a majority of independent directors, and even more so, the board has this figure of the coordinating independent director.
At the same time, as regards the composition of the different committees, the Committee for Appointments and Sustainability, Remunerations, Risks, Audit, and Control are chaired by independent directors. In any case, the board of directors will continue to boast quality and efficiency in the way it works and that of their committees, with measures that foster continuous improvement in the decision-making processes of this institution, which will be projected in their main subsidiaries. The board that I chair also has the idea to favor close relation with our shareholders. To this effect, as I already said in the AGM 2025, I would like to remind you that CaixaBank was pioneer in having a Consultative Committee of Shareholders. In my interaction as a chairman with this committee, I could ascertain that your contributions provide a great vision and quality.
I would like to thank from this point your dedication and your commitment with the institution. Finally, as you know, CaixaBank has since January 2022, the certification AENOR of good corporate governance with the maximum qualification. In order to conclude my intervention, I want to mention my commitment and that of the rest of the members of the board, so that CaixaBank will be recognized as a reference institution in terms of corporate governance. Excellence in this aspect is a key priority for CaixaBank and its board of directors. In relation to the recommendations of good governance, the secretary will now explain with detail the degree of current follow-up of the following these recommendations by CaixaBank.
The annual report of corporate governance corresponding to the year 2025. Communicated as other relevant information to the National Securities Market Commission on the 20th of February 2026 covers the degree of following up of this institution of the recommendations of the Code of Good Governance, declaring that 58 recommendations are fully covered, five of them are partially covered, and one of them is non-applicable to our company. In such a way, in 2025, there is no recommendation that is non-complied with that would be applicable to our company. Now, we give the floor to the secretary to develop the explanation about the degree of meeting these recommendations.
As the chairman has said, out of the 64 recommendations of the Code of Good Governance, also in this year, 2025, CaixaBank meets more than 90% of the recommendations, partially meeting five recommendations and one of them not being applicable. In terms of the recommendations that have been met partially regarding recommendation five on the delegation faculty to issue shares and convertible bonds with a preference preferential issue, we meet this partially because in relation with the increase of capital, we're meeting the maximum limit cap. On the other hand, as regards the issue of convertible bonds, the limit of 20% foreseen under Article 511 of the corporate law is not applicable to those issues by the different credit institutions that have this AT1.
In regards to recommendation 10, we meet partially in the sense that the regulation of the AGM of CaixaBank forces a different system of voting based on whether the resolutions are proposed by the board or by the shareholders. With this, we try to avoid the difficulty to count as regards the shareholders in case they are not present for the voting, and we solve the case of the new proposals to be placed on the fact that these resolutions may not be compatible with those presented by the board. At the same time, the institution has declared to comply partially with recommendation 26 when the board members cannot attend the different board meetings and they can delegate their vote.
In this sense, the board understands it's a good practice of corporate governance, the freedom to have delegations with or without specific instructions according to the opinion of every board member. The absence of instructions is considered to facilitate the position of the board member. In regards to the recommendation 36, we meet partially, because as what was agreed in the AGM 2025, we have included five new directors, and because it had been a very short time since this was convened, we decided to do so internally and postpone the self-evaluation that was recommended with the support of the external consultant, which will be done by the end of 2026.
As regards to recommendation 64, the company has declared to meet this partially because the payments for resolution of the contracts or termination of the contract of the CEO do not overcome the limit, the amount equivalent to two years of total remuneration. However, the recommendation covers the possibility to have this amount not previously consolidated in the savings system. Finally, the recommendation number two is not applicable to CaixaBank because it is controlled by another institution in the sense of the Article 42 of the Commercial Code. In any case, the Board of Directors will continue to boost best practices in good governance, and we will continue to report to shareholders in due manner.
Next, the secretary will read the final quorum, the quorum that is taken as final for this AGM without prejudice of the technical adjustments that may be due to the fact that we also hold this remotely. 14,841 shareholders holding 3,525 million, representing 50.1% of social capital, and 68,326 shareholders, representing 2,326 million, representing 33.6%. The final number is 83,886 shareholders, representing 83.87% of the social capital. The final quorum will be included in the minutes of this meeting and will be published in the website or in five years after the holding of this meeting. Taking a look at this final quorum, we ratify the legally convening of this meeting.
I would like to ask you again whether you have reserves or claims about the valid constitution or convening of the general meeting of shareholders. If you would like to file your reserves or claims, you can do so, sending an email to lista.asistentes.junta@caixabank.com in order to include this in the minutes. The shareholders present in the room can say so, coming right now to the desk saying, "And notary," that is at the back of the room.
Next, you can also intervene. As the secretary has explained, if you wish for your intervention to be recorded in the minutes, please say so. If you want for this to be recorded verbatim, you can. For those of you who are present here, you can do so. We will give you the floor in turns. Now we open the list of interventions, and I would like to give the floor to Mr. Secretary.
As the chairman has said, now we will start with the list of interventions. We will be calling each of the people that have asked to intervene so that they can address, or go to the two stands placed on both sides of the room. At the same time, when we have finished with the interventions present in the room, we will start with those that are remotely connected, and we will read them. As it was previously reported, we ask those who do not want to have their image recorded to say so in the desk for the list of interventions.
We would like to tell you that because of the timing when you have your interventions or we do not have information that you are asking for during your interventions, according to articles 9, 197.2 of the Spanish Corporate Law and 17 of the regulations of the AGM, this will be answered in writing in seven days after this AGM. We're going to start with the list of interventions. This is a maximum of five minutes, and we will ask the shareholder and the next so that they can get ready. Now we give the floor María Ángeles Navarro Pérez, and then we will have Victoria Margarita Barrachina González.
Gracias. Buenos días. Good morning. I would like for this intervention to be recorded in the minutes. We come to this AGM representing ADICAE and the small savers, shareholders, and clients of CaixaBank that have delegated their vote so that we represent them in this meeting. One more year, we are here again, and we would like to show you our concern regarding the quality of customer assistance in this institution. According to the claims register in the Bank of Spain in 2024, because that of 2025 has not been published yet, CaixaBank was the institution with the highest number of claims presented to the supervisor, with a total of more than 15,000. This data states that despite the good economic results, there are still areas for improvement in terms of the relation with the customers.
In this context, it is especially relevant the law 10/2025 for services to assist customers, forcing institutions to adapt their systems in a maximum period of 12 months. These regulations forces to provide personalized assistance, identifying the person who is assisting, and guaranteeing that all the phone calls are answered in less than three minutes, and separate customer attention to commercial services. From ADICAE, we will supervise the compliance with this regulation in all of the sector. What kind of actions are you taking to reduce the high number of claims that you have recorded in the Bank of Spain? Can you guarantee that your system will fully guarantee to the demands established in the new law 10/2025?
Finally, we would like to remind you that many small shareholders are also customers of this institution, and we directly suffer the consequences of your commercial policies. From ADICAE, we will continue to defend a more transparent banking model, more accessible, also, targeting the general interest.
Now I'll give the floor to Doña Victoria Margarita Barrachina, and the next speaker will be Begoña Peiró García.
Good morning. I want my speech to be on the record. We came to this AGM representing ADICAE and the small shareholders that have delegated their votes for us to represent them here. One more year, the bank has very positive results with a record benefit of more than EUR 5,000 million. This means an increase of 1.8% compared to 2024. These results reflect the strength of the group and their position in the banking industry in Spain. However, we should take into account the following. First of all, the interest rate margin has had a fall of more than 4%. This has been due to the interest rate situation. This means that profitability is being supported by the other revenues.
Regarding this, we have some revenues from fees which are growing, and from services that are growing still and compensate the fall of the financing profit. This changes little by little the revenues of the banking sector, which is really trying to be supported by fees paid by the customers. On the other hand, we positively value the dividends which are going to be given to the shareholders. This policy has a high level of return for investors. However, we think that it is necessary to have a balance between the results and the fair treatment to your customers. Beyond the economic results, we also have some issues that have an impact on many consumers. Specifically, we'd like to mention the banking digitalization process. Digital transformation may improve services, but this shouldn't be an exclusion factor.
In the last years, we've seen a meaningful reduction of the number of offices that you have, and this is creating real difficulties for many citizens, especially in the small municipalities, rural areas, and among those who have difficulty to access digital services. The Bank of Spain has said that having offices and onsite channels is important, especially for the elderly and those who do not have access to digital means. That's why we are asking from CaixaBank a commitment to financial inclusion. Have you foreseen to have some public and transparent criteria to open or close offices? Are you evaluating the impact of such closures, especially in the rural areas and small municipalities? What specific measures are you going to adopt in order to guarantee a service to the elderly, a vulnerable customer? Thank you very much.
Mrs. Peiro and then Íñigo José Vicente Herrero.
Good morning, dear President, dear CEO, members of the board, shareholders. My name is Begoña Peiro. I'm president of the Unión Sergen of CaixaBank. I want to have my intervention recorded on the minutes. What now? Dear gentlemen, are you going to turn your sight away? We did tell you this once and again. Well, now this is the day in which your staff said, "Enough." We have a general strike, all of us, because we can't stand it anymore. You have thousands of workers that they are not working on their computers right now. They are shouting outside because there's a new strike, calling for help. You are here just saying this wonderful profitability and celebrating dividends. Are you worried about something else apart from money? On the street, you have the reality of our entity. We are exhausted.
We are so angry that we cannot do anything else. We've been for years warning you, telling you that the commercial model of CaixaBank is killing us. We have saying this in every AGM, in many other things, because the pressure that you are doing is getting our colleagues sick. Again, you are asking us to have an increase of your remuneration, which is abusive, and you are justifying it with the record results. What you are not saying that which is the reason of those results. Let me tell you, because you are really taking advantage of your staff. You are having goals and targets every four months, and then you are creating rankings which are humiliating for your workers, but you are aware of that. Which was your response? No response. Silence.
You just don't care, because you just don't care about us, the workers. Let's talk about the intensity that you are always mentioning, Mr. Gortázar. You said that if you don't work hard, you get bored. Do you think that our staff is not working hard? This is a story. This is a sentence, a quotation, which is not really good for you. You are going to increase your variable revenues in 50%, 100% in two years, and today you are increasing your wages in 26%. Mr. Gortázar, you can be very intense and very hard worker with your wage, but it is very difficult to keep on working so hard when you are so pressured that you cannot have a family work-life balance.
With challenges which are bigger and bigger, you are accumulating profits on the top, and the consequences are impacting those workers in the offices. Is this the recognition that you are offering to those that have made possible for CaixaBank to be a leader in the banking industry in Spain. You look like kings, like, in your ivory tower, but you have forgotten where we are coming from. If Francesc Moragas, the founder of our entity, thinking about social provision and giving service to the community, if he were here today and see what this has become, honestly, he would die again. I'm sure that he would say, "Mr. Fainé, Isidre, what did they do with our Caixa? What did they do with the culture of respect?
What did they do with the social peace?" They have changed an admired institution in a selling machine which doesn't take into account the human factor. If you are not able to lower the commercial targets, at least please increase the incentives to the workers as you are raising your own wages. Today, the staff said enough. This general strike is not something isolated. This is the beginning of a conflict time if you don't really change. Is this what you really want?
We are not going to be accomplices of a model that it is killing our workers in order for you to be richer. We want a company in which working doesn't mean to be sick, where intensity is respected and not exploited, and where the profits of the top is not based on the sacrifice of those below. Please react. Recognize our work with acts. Please be transparent, because if you don't have the respect of your people, even though you are giving lots of dividend, it means that your company is breaking inside. Thank you.
I give the floor now to Íñigo José Herrero , and then Doña Raquel Ruiz Gómez.
Good morning. Dear President, CEO, members of the board, shareholders, dear colleagues. I'm Íñigo Vicente. I work in CaixaBank, and I am member of Comisiones Obreras, and I work with lots of the staff who have delegated 1,700 shares. I want for my intervention to be on the record. We are talking here today about figures. From our union, we want to talk about people. 47,000 people, all the staff of our group, all the staff of our entity, your main asset, people who have commitment, who have created, who have built this company.
People that have come into the old company in which belonging was not a speech, but a way of understanding your work and the entity. When that people when it was necessary made a commitment. Today, we have record profits, and we have to remind you that without your staff, you don't have any business. This is activity of 37,000 people assisting more than 18 million customers in Spain with trust, and this can only happen if the staff is motivated, is recognized, and working in a healthy environment. It is not ourselves talking about it. It's the data we have. There was a survey on the working atmosphere. 96% of the people were saying that the increase of the commercial pressure was too high, and their health has been impacted, more than 71%. It is not ourselves.
It's the staff that are telling you this. There is a strike. More than 90% of our offices are closed. After we had a strike on the 3rd of February and all the talks on the 9th of March. This is a strike which has been called by all the unions, and there is a message for you. This is enough. During the crisis, the staff worked very hard and were really helping you. Now, in the good times, the staff also wants to be rewarded. We don't want this extensive pressure. We want a fair share of the profits, and we want to improve the wages. We want to promote the careers and help with the generational change of the staff, and also the balance between work and family life.
These people are not poor. These are not the issue. These are the solution, and they will work much better if you take care of them. You can really invest part of the profitability on it. In 1992, we have, 67% of the expenses were labor. Now it's only 67%. Now, leadership models create, success models with the people. Please do that. You can decide which model you want. We are, our union, we are going to vote against the item 1.2 because you can see, and we also will, we'll vote against 1.3 and 1.6, which has to do with the retribution to the top management because we absolutely oppose this model in which we increase the wages of the top managers and not of the staff.
They are also getting rich despite the staff. Because this kind of remuneration generates pressure from the top down in order to achieve the goals. Just one figure, in 2022, remuneration of the CEO was 48x the remuneration of the average worker. Right now, it's 71 x the average worker's wage. Dear president, dear CEO, dear board, CaixaBank has history and a long journey we've made by the workers, by those workers that today are on strike because they want to be respected, those workers that make CaixaBank and create its soul and its identity. Sara Santacana last year tried to find a solution, saying that Comisiones Obreras will be on the agreement or on the strike. Today it's clear the way you chose and the consequences. This is a historical strike. We still demand some dialogues to change things. This is the right moment. Thank you.
Doña Raquel. Raquel Ruiz Gómez, and then Don Ángel Bartolomé Moreno.
Good morning, dear President, Mr. CEO, members of the Board, shareholders. My name is Raquel Ruiz. I've been a worker in CaixaBank for more than 25 years, and I talk on behalf of the union UGT and some other shareholders. I want my intervention to be on the record. This is not a formal speech. From the UGT, we want to say something very clear. The situation cannot be maintained any longer. Our workers are really angry, are disappointed, and above all, have reached their limit. Make no mistakes, this is not only about wages, which are important, of course. This has to do with respect, with dignity, and with knowing where's the limit because what we are seeing here every day is very clear. No, you are not worried about the workers.
You don't have any empathy, and you are not understanding that ambition has its limits. Which is the red line? The mental and physical health of the workers of this bank. That's why today we are telling you clearly and loud, "Stop now. No more hypocrisy. No more empty promises. No more euphemisms." Because what we are suffering, both in the offices and in the departments, has a name, and we will say it. It's abuse. We don't know if it's because, due to, indifference or to what, but the result is the same. People are exhausted, and the work pressure is insufferable, and this is the reality. Unfortunately, it's the reality we are living every day, even though you don't want to see or to hear this.
Have you ever wondered why the people that are working in CaixaBank, we call the towers of the Diagonal Avenue Mordor? Members of the boards, are you? Don't you wonder why we have so many people on a strike today, so many offices closed? Aren't you thinking why UGT has asked for help to the European Central Bank to stop your greed? This help seems to be coming. We receive a notification on the European regulator about the audit they are going to carry out. You are responsible for ending this situation. You must make decisions, real decisions, specific decisions with an impact. Because as the rest of our colleagues said, without workers, you don't have any business. Members of our boards, you are not judged today by what you say, but what you do. We are going to, UGT, vote against points, items one, two, and six. Thank you.
[Foreign Language] Ángel Bartolomé Moreno, and next, Doña or Miss Elena Serrano Verde.
Thank you. I wish for my intervention to be recorded in the minutes. Chairman, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. I represent ACANATEC trade union and many workers and shareholders that trust us. As you can see, our staff is really fed up and has decided to have their voices listened. Every day, in every branch, in every department, thousands of professionals sustain this business with their knowledge, dedication, and work. Thanks to that collective effort, CaixaBank continues to beat profit records every year. The staff has stopped today because these targets are far from reality, and they worsen the climate every day. This cannot be at the expense of the health of all the workers.
The survey of ACANATEC about well-being said that 76% of the workers identified excessive pressure as the main problem, followed after 72% defining the targets unattainable. This is a diagnosis, a collective diagnosis. Maybe in November when we meet the company proposing different solutions, if you had heard us, we would not be in the situation we're in today. We cannot continue like that. Commercial pressure, constant supervision, constant follow-up, campaigns one after the other, and cuts one after the other make us see in the branches every day exhausted people, professionals with stress levels that are higher and higher, leaves growing, and professionals feeling that the effort is never enough. The question we need to ask is not whether the targets are achieved, because sometimes they are. The question is, how are they achieved?
They are achieved thanks to staff that is highly qualified, committed, and responsible. Thanks to which we can propose for some of you huge salary increases while the staff is still working or fighting on the streets so that their health is not stolen from them. You just have a short-term vision, trying to get more profits without taking into account the real conditions of the market, and this generates the contrary of what you try to seek, lack of motivation, burnout, and loss of trust. This continued pressure affects the mental and physical well-being and health of the workers and the labor climate, labor environment, also worsening the relation with our customers and weakening the project. We do not want to just point out the problems because we have proposed a realistic proposals.
We have offered targets that would be sustainable for all the year, tools that can generate a proper follow-up, reinforcing staff, covering the leaves, and resizing the teams appropriately, eliminating practices that generate added pressure, public rankings, constant comparisons, and this everything that makes us feel we are in a race every day. This should be a career that is sustained for all the year, and we also offer a generational replacement, helping new and young people coming in our institution with stability and helping others with decades of expertise leaving the bank. For months we have been trying to convey these proposals to the management with dialogue, but this only makes sense when there is real willingness to hear, to listen to us. This is why more than 15,000 workers joined the strike in the last time we summoned this.
The situation has reached to a limit, and we need a change. You didn't listen to us, and this is why today, instead of celebrating the results we offered our shareholders, we are holding this AGM in the midst of a strike massively supported by our employees. This is really sad. Mr. Chairman, the staff is not the problem. The staff is the solution. Without staff, there is no business, and there will be no results, and there will be no future for this institution. This is why we're asking for something that is simple as well as necessary, respect. Respect for the work that we carry out on a daily basis, respect for our health, and respect for our professional dignity.
We want CaixaBank to be leader not only in results, but also in labor conditions, to listen to their people and understand that the business success and the employees' well-being are not incompatible targets, but they need to go hand in hand. In order to do so, you need to be brave enough to recognize the problems and willingness to tackle them. The staff has already taken the first step, raising their voice, and will not stop if things do not change. Now it's your turn to prove that you are able and you are willing to listen. Thank you.
Elena Serrano will now have the floor, and next, Eliseo Martorell.
I would request for my intervention to be recorded in the minutes. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, members of the board. My name is Elena Serrano, Secretary of Organization at ESATE. On my behalf and on behalf of the colleagues, delegating their vote on us, this has been an extraordinary year, and we congratulate the staff that made this possible. Thanks to their work, one more year. One more year, and again, one more turn. What is the limit? What is the limit that you will continue oppressing this staff? When will you stop raising the targets? In the last three years, you have increased the insurance sales 300%. I can only think of a couple of things that have a similar growth. One is the salary of Mr. Gortázar, and second, the willingness of the staff to leave this company.
In any business school, it is explained that the targets need to be realistic and attainable to motivate for their performance, for their compliance. You will say that we always manage to get to the figures, and it's true. How? How do we do so? Of course, it is not feasible to do so with good advisory to our customers. No. This is imposing different campaigns, and based on your needs, you will orient the sales towards one product or the other. All of this known and well recognized and authorized by the company. According to different business schools, this is the year of three C's. C for quality in Spanish. We understand that quality is also has to do with the staff that are working so hard every day, because you are not taking care of the staff.
We get extraordinary figures of profit while we are staff mistreated every day. And C for labor climate. Here you have a lot of work ahead of you. We understand that the data that have not been published of the last survey will demonstrate the need for a radical change that is necessary so that we stop seeing pills against anxiety in the wardrobes of our colleagues. And C for growth in Spanish. We understand this is the bonus for the top management, the targets to be attained, leaves, medical leaves. The staff is today demonstrating, and it's saying, "This is enough. Increasing targets on an ongoing manner. Stop changing the rules of the game constantly.
Stop hindering us to manage to get these targets, and stop this pressure that is ending up with the health of our colleagues." No, this is something you're not going to solve with a bonus. This is not what we are asking for. The staff is asking for a change in the forms, in the content, and in the daily work. We ask loud and clear for you to put an end to this, or it will be the staff that will need to stop. Stop creating this kind of unattainable castle because of your ambition, because you have a variable remuneration that is multiplying year after year. Of course, all of this is done for the staff not to be bored. Are you really bored?
We also know how to increase the intensity of our claims, so please stop making these kind of comments on the press that only make us feel ashamed by our top management that is not with dignity. Stop multiplying your salaries in the top management and recover the sense of belonging of this staff. In order to do so, increase the dialogue with the trade unions, also discussing things to improve. You can start with a higher transparency at the central services with a career and defined schedule. Reduction in the challenges. Better conditions for financing for the workers, remote working possibilities, vacancy systems that is also more transparent and without firewalls. We also request higher consistency to the top management of CaixaBank. This is time to stop looking to the other side.
If you're concerned about the climate of this company, please get to work in order to create a better company where we all want to work in. No need, Mr. Gortázar, to wait until the next AGM to listen to our requests. Our door is always open. Thank you.
Eliseo Martorell, and next, Antonio Cano Bernet.
I would request for my intervention to be recorded in the minutes. Good morning, Mr. Gortázar. My name is Eliseo Martorell, representing STOP, which is a trade union for CaixaBank workers. Since 2024, your bonus has been increased by 120%. This is obscene, Mr. Gortázar. When you say when you work not very intensely, you get bored. This is a great sentence.
You do not see the impossible targets and threats if you do not sell products that the customer do not want or charging 40% less than your colleague next to you. For us, pressure is not sport. It is a chronic illness paid with Lexatin. It is burnout. It is anxiety leaves that make us feel totally exhausted. For you to work well, you need to be motivated with millions. For us to work well, it seems that you're motivating us with the fear to be fired. We want to express our disagreement with the variable remuneration, introducing double targets versus the previous annual year without any increase in the staff and with a significant reduction in the variable remuneration.
These measures, apart from increasing commercial pressure significantly, are generating a labor climate of burnout and anxiety that cannot be sustained in the short term without affecting performance, motivation of the staff and service quality to the customer. More for less is always negative. You know who is not relaxed, Mr. Gortázar? The senior workers or all those who started with us in 2012, or all those that feel an apartheid having EUR 1,500 less a month while you are drinking champagne. You are asking us for more commitment, or you even give us less variable bonus if we are on a leave. We have to tell the customers why we charge fees for everything. You have EUR 14,000 a day, and this is what a worker needs in several months.
It is admirable. You need to have a thick skin to distribute more than EUR 2 million bonus while we are out of air. Maybe you think this is a problem of rounding up. It is not just the money. We are so fed up and so tired that it is a question of our health. You say that you need pressure so that you are not relaxed. You should try and live with our salary, and that we are claiming because otherwise, if we do not sell, our life will be hell. You cannot ask for that from a mountain of dollar notes. You cannot say there is no budget while you are getting EUR 5 million. Your account must be excellent, but your humanity is in bankruptcy.
Your salary is something that the market is demanding, the rise in your salary, but no, we are demanding consistency and respect. Maybe you are not worth for this position. You should inspire with your example, not with your bank account. You are a total failure in terms of ethics. Understand that the weight of this bank is not sustained by your bonus, but the total exhaustion of employees that cannot go any further. I hope you can sleep well because your management doesn't allow us to sleep.
As my colleagues say, you can come with us and work with us on a daily basis. That's something that joins all of us. Commercial pressure does not distinguish by function or by origin. Every day, every second, we need to prove that we are at the level of CaixaBank, and this is something you are not valuing. You make us ill. This is why we are all united in this war. Thank you so much o r not.
Don Antonio, Antonio Cano Bernet. Next, Joan Mayol Balfón.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I would like for our intervention to be recorded in the minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, members of the board of directors, and CEO and chairman, good morning. I speak on my behalf and representing the members of the savings union in Catalonia. We are here not to just give a speech, but to speak about reality, and the reality is that in the last 10 years, the life of the workers in this institution is harder and harder while the results of the institution have grown.
We work at CaixaBank with great effort and labor stability because we aspire to have a differential professional future. We want to create a decent life career and this is sinking gradually. Tell me how it is possible that while you're presenting extraordinary profits, a significant part of the staff is living with a constant feeling that we cannot get to the end of the month. How is it possible that if you say you fight against inequalities, you allow for inequalities to grow in your own house? How is it possible that one of the workers in one of the main financial institutions in the company live with anxiety their working day and do not have the trust they deserve?
They are demanded to have commercial practices that contribute to anxiety leaves and mental health leaves because this is a reality. Commercial pressure is kept at unacceptable levels. This is reducing our professionalism, and social guarantees have been reduced. For years, many rights have been alienated, which were part of the moral contract between workers and the top management, and these were a security for all of us. We speak about lifelong provisions at the pension system and the coverage that for decades were a protection for the family of the workers. Now this protection has been diluted, and even so, we continue to be asked for dedication and to feel the sense of belonging and to feel proud about being members of this group.
How can we do so if we feel every day this great pressure and with these great differences when the salary increases do not cover the cost of life and lose competitiveness when the revaluation of the provisions in the pension plan are at 0.75%, when these problems are just growing the premiums, especially in Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, when we have increases of 200% of the risk profile associated to your function, when the remuneration of the CEO will increase in 19.7% because you do not want to lose competitiveness, then what is the message behind what is the message to the staff behind? Because what we receive at the branches, at the commercial teams, is very clear. There are two speeds, two realities.
One is presented in this auditorium in front of the shareholders, and the other one is represented by the colleagues outside this building. Maybe you are systematically forgetting about introducing into the strategic plan the correction mechanisms into it. Maybe you are forgetting the origins of this institution because this started with a pension and savings bank, understanding that social justice needed to go hand in hand with the progress of this institution. It should be profitable but also sustainable and respecting our claims.
We, the workers of this house, do not ask for privileges, but something much more, much simpler, consistency between the values that you proclaim and the decisions that you make. We want to recover salaries and provisions that should have never been reduced, and we would like to access to housing, and we want to have consistency with your values, with your history. This is why we request for the headquarters to come back to Catalonia, and we also ask for respect to the staff facing every day the customers, for the professionals that made this institution grow to the point where it is now. Because without this staff, this bank would be nothing. Algorithms do not generate confidence, and dividends do not assist or give service to the customers.
If you want to continue speaking about value, social commitment, et cetera, you need to start inside your house, because the fight against inequalities do not start in advertising. They start here, respecting your workers, all those that today stop and fight for their future and that of CaixaBank. To all the people who have given their trust and delegated their vote on us, thank you.
Now the floor is for Joan Mayol and then Mr. Joan Reynés Alomar.
Good morning, Mr. President, CEO, members of the board, dear colleagues. I would like for my intervention to be on the record. I'm Joan Mayol, and I am speaking on behalf of all the staff from the Balearic Islands and their representative, all the independent union in the Balearic Islands, which have been working for more than 43 years. Today, I will going to focus on the most important thing, the staff of CaixaBank, that every day fights and works so hard to achieve these historical successful results that today you are seeing here, EUR 5 billion of profit. Without the staff, there's no profit because we generate this money.
While remuneration on the top has been increased so much, we have only an increase of 3%. Mr. Gortázar, in 2025, you received EUR 4.5 million, and today you are telling us to approve an increase of 20% of that amount. I mean, this is hurtful for the whole staff. Beyond that, those colleagues that are coming from Bankia, remember, in 2021, we were asked to make an effort to avoid involuntary layoffs. You said that we were adopting rational wages little by little, and we accepted it. After the wonderful results year after year prove that when we wanted to get rid of this progressive measure, this was justified because these results have not been just due to the economy, but this have been due to the hard work of the staff.
What did the company do? It is giving dividends to the shareholders and before doing justice to their own staff. That's why we are achieving the end of the state of the progressive adaptation too late and too badly. Also, you are saying that we all are in the same boat. We are all rowing in the same direction. Yes. Well, we are all there. You have the increase of your wages. You have the dividend. We, the staff, the workers, are down there doing the rowing, being the driving engine of this boat. We are all of us in the same boat, but in a very different situation, and you are telling us, "Faster, faster."
Your goals are unattainable. With now a quarterly report, which is ignoring the reality of our economy because, as you know, w e depend on tourism in the Balearic Islands, so during the first quarter of the year, it's a miracle to achieve the targets that you set. Are you aware that this pressure, this excessive pressure, is making your staff sick? There is this rhythm that you are imposing from your offices. The staff can't take it any longer. Enough. We cannot follow this rhythm. It is difficult to understand it. We have colleagues with lots of experience, and they only think of leaving the company. It's not a lack of commitment. It's the pressure, the commercial pressure. There is a follow-up every day, and there's a sentence, "What do you have for today? If you have the time, why are you not selling more?
What would you do tomorrow to recover the sales that you didn't do today?" You are saying that you need intensity, but make no mistake, the staff is not bored. They are exhausted. You know, SIB will vote against the item six on the agenda. Let me tell you three very clear things. Fair redistribution of profits. It's not fair that the workers have 3% only for the workers and 20% for you. Secondly, immediate reduction of the commercial pressure and targets. Fair respect for the health of our staff. We are not machines. We are not AI. We are just people. Despite all this, the SIB really wants to find solutions to the current problems of the staff.
All in all, I would like to make reference of our founder, Francesc Moragas, who said, "The work at the head, the people are your heart." Please be reminded, Mr. Gortázar, we, the workers of CaixaBank. Thank you very much for your attention.
Now the floor is for Joan Reynés and then Ignacio Casado Cerver.
Good morning. I want to have my intervention on the records. I'm Joan Reynés, General Secretary of the Unió Obrera Balear, with 25% of representation. Despite this, the president, they didn't invite us to this general meeting and to all the meetings. That's why. Well, we cannot understand why are you inviting some of them and not all of us, all of the unions, because for some of them, they are paying for the travel expenses. We didn't receive a response. Today, we are coming with our right because we are shareholders of CaixaBank, and we are representing those shareholders who have trusted us and thank us. You are despising our unions, and you are despising our workers as well.
If making reference to John Murtane, tens of thousands of workers are on strike today because there are many challenges, and there's the pressure that has to do with all the staff. If with this kind of strike, you are facing this strike because you cannot control your staff, I think almost all the offices in the Balearic Islands are closed. We can prove that we are here today to fight. However, you, the top management, you will have saying historical strike, yes, against you, the things you are doing, which is not working well. Listen to our message. The challenges, the targets, the commercial targets that you are establishing are unattainable. There are two demands. The situation, dear colleagues, is an absolute chaos. The problem is not only the high targets but also the daily issues we are facing.
As an example, I could tell you that many of the sales are not rightly accounted for as we were promised. We have to do many claims, not all of them successful. We are forced to change the different customers' points, things that we are not responsible for. The commercial model says that the reference would be the CMP. You, the managers, created a new model some years ago, and the managers do whatever they want. Are you aware of that? Is this a standard practice? Is this normal? There are so many things to change. If you really want to change them, please listen to your staff if you want a better bank. All in all, we will vote against the increase of your wages to the 20%.
I mean, it's amazing that you are asking for this increase with your t he offices closed because there is some strike. I think that Mr. Gortázar will have some responsibility in this strike. I mean, it's incredible. It's shameful that what you are requiring here. Let's see, dear directors. This, if we do the same work that most of the staff are trying to leave us. Many claims you have. In your case, Mr. Gortázar, there are some other CEOs that take care of their staff. What would you do after today? That is the second general strike during your history. Those are. There's only two general strikes of CaixaBank.
As you say that you have worked with the unions, are you proud that in CaixaBank we have different classes of employees? Because in four day times, then we will have the end of the integrated plan for the staff of Bankia. There are so many things to do. Don't worry. There are so many things to do. Please do something once and for all to solve this problem, because every single year we have to come here to remind you. Dear colleague, thank you very much for this historical day, one day that you will remember as a solidarity day, as a joint communion in which we are respecting our commercial network. Thank you very much.
Now the floor goes to Mr. Ignacio Casado and then Mr. Carlos Alberto Guerrero Naranjo.
Any system you create without us will be destroyed. We warned you before. Nothing you built without us has lasted. Listen to this while you are so happy and boasting about your profits, just taking advantage of the work other people do. Listen once again. Anything you create without us will be destroyed.
You have threats, you have pressure, you have files, you have claims. You have been firing your people. You have targets and some unions. It is called outside, but please be reminded, any system you create without us will be destroyed. The foundation, the pool, the hub, the HLS, the store, Q1, Q2, Q3. You can invent as many things as you want, but any system that you create without us will be destroyed. Yes, many of you are clapping here with the suits, and you have some, I don't know, memorabilia regarding you. You are taking advantage of everything. You travel in first class. You are enjoying all the luxury that is paid by our hard work and anxiety. Listen to this. Any system you create without us will be destroyed. You have our time. You have our breath.
You have the childhood of our children because we are afraid of being hungry. You have our health in your hands, but be aware because there's not so much to earn, and you are beginning to have a lot to lose, and nothing that you created without us has lasted. Listen to me once again: any system you create without us will be destroyed.
Now the floor to Carlos Alberto Guerrero Naranjo and Mrs. María de Juan Cánovas.
Good morning. I would like for my intervention to be on the record. Dear President, dear directors, shareholders, dear colleagues. This year I want to say thank you to all our colleagues and the workers of CaixaBank because we have been in profit since 2022, EUR 5,891 of profit after taxes. We have quadruple profit. The share.
Shares in 2020 was EUR 1.70. Today, EUR 10. That is 6 x more. These good results show that we are in the good track and the success of Bankia. In one year we have duplicated our profits. However, since 2026, we won't have the base wages of all the people that were working in Bankia. I mean, this is an economic success. This is a professional success. All the staff have been adapting very well to the new reality. All the workers are working very well. We are rowing together in order to achieve the different targets that have been set out every day, every single year. The success, the economic success of these years has not been translated into the remuneration and social rights of the workers. Homologation, which would be pairing the wages of Bankia to CaixaBank.
Yes, we are a listed company, but we are a social company that should embrace the European principle of same salary for the same work, because the situation really could be improved. We had amortized the merging of Bankia so many years ago, and then we need to make the different wages equal. It's taken us five years, and the staff is rowing and rowing in this boat. We are moving. There are millions of profits in the last years, and we are not seeing solution. There are so many examples.
Like for instance, there's a different percentage to the pension funds and also differences which are huge were in death or in sick leaves from all the workers. This is not fair. I finish saying thank you again to all the staff for their professionality and the working group. Without them, we couldn't be facing this successful results of today. Thank you.
Now, Mrs. Bagur and then José Javier Pérez Martínez Bagur. Mrs. Bagur.
Good morning. I want for my intervention to be on the record. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, members of the board, President, I am María de Joan, and I am here on behalf of the company Banca Armada, ArmBank. I'm representing the shareholders with a total of 37,664 shares. There is a genocide in Gaza. They are dropping bombs equivalent to five atom bombs like the ones of Hiroshima on a population of two million people concentrated in 20 sq m that lives under the military for decades.
More than 70,000 Palestinians are dead, among them more than 1,300 health carers, and also many dead from the UN nations, the United Nations, and many journalists, and this is only in Gaza. In West Bank, we also have the military occupation, the illegal settlements, and the killings of the Israeli settlers. We are watching a genocide. It is broadcasted in the social media and the TV. This genocide is being researched by the International Court of Justice, and they say that there are evidence in order to arrest both the president and the ministry of the defense. A representative of the UN says that we are facing a genocide right now.
Israel and the USA are bringing the war to the whole region, all creating terrible consequences for the people and the region, and they did it on their own against the basic international law. In the face of that, one should wonder which has been the contribution of CaixaBank in increasing the military capabilities of the Israeli army and the war crimes. As we said last year, and we've already make it clear in our report on Gaza on the Banca Armada, CaixaBank has financed and still is financing factories of weapons. We are supplying weapons to the Israeli army, and this army is using these weapons to kill people.
Specifically, between 2020 and 2024, your bank has provided EUR 110 million to Boeing, who is responsible to manufacture planes, missiles, and some other weapon that had been exported to Israel. This country is using these weapons in genocide crimes and war crimes, qualified like this by the International Court of Justice. Which is your role in this illegal occupation? Another, more recent report, published by Bondi Education, documents all the financing of companies that were from illegal settlements against international law. In fact, Francesca Albanese from the UN in her 59 report has really warned us, talking about the financing companies and the importance on the occupying strategies.
CaixaBank has been giving loans to those companies with a value of more than EUR 3 billion between 2023 and 2025. On the other hand, it has investments in these companies for more than EUR 2.8 billion. CaixaBank is financing companies that are participating in this genocide. All in all, more than EUR 6 billion. Those companies are in the list of the United Nations who are doing activity in the unlawfully occupied Palestine settlement. This list includes seven Israeli banks, and I will ask you, are you having commercial relationships or any business activity with any of these banks? You might wonder what responsibility has CaixaBank about this. Well, if you finance these companies, CaixaBank does participate on the benefits and the profits of these companies that they get by war and killing people.
They get this private financing. Without this finance, Israel wouldn't be able to follow on with the genocide. With this more than EUR 6 billion , CaixaBank and their managers are responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people. The profits that you get from them are stained with blood.
What do you want to do about this? Mr. President and directors, till when do you profit from the genocide and the occupation of Palestine? We've been denouncing this for 20 years. Until when do you want to continue financing this and other weapons company? From Banca Armada campaign, we claim one more year that CaixaBank stops financing these companies arming Israel because it makes you complicit in this, in these war crimes. If you could please, finish because you have exceeded your time. Your words will mean nothing because it is already clear what we have said. Arms financed by you that have been used in crime, in war crimes. Will you take any specific measure? Thank you.
Don Jaime Pérez Martínez Garona. Jaime Pérez Martínez Garona has the floor.
I would like for my intervention to be included in the minutes. I am speaking on behalf of Banca Armada, representing 16 shareholders that have delegated 37,664 shares. We have to claim again about the situation of CaixaBank and other weapons companies, because you are contributing to the escalation of the arms race in Europe and in the rest of the world with serious events such as the genocide and the occupation of the Palestinian people. The defense budget has reached unprecedented levels. In 2024, the world budget was more than EUR 2.7 million. The United States is pressuring the NATO members so that we continue increasing our budget for arms and weapons.
They start wars, they attack sovereign states, generating tension and disruptions and economic effects. In Europe, maybe defending the strategic independence are doubling or multiplying the defense budget to have new armament systems. One more year after the announcement of ReArm Europe of EUR 800 billion, we are convinced that this is a strategy to only benefit the industrial military industry. Far away from making the world a safer place, we can see that this arms conflict against Iran is increasing tensions globally. We see that investing in these kind of companies of war seem an excellent option to get rich. Don't you think that this is unethical? What is the role of CaixaBank in this situation? The financial sector has not stayed aside of the flood of millions that will come thanks to this.
CaixaBank has been financing the armament sector, as we have been claiming for so many times. Apart from the legal or ethical considerations, or without taking them into account, your bank was in the third position of financing military companies only behind BBVA and the 91st position worldwide. In the last few years, CaixaBank has had a record profits thanks to their financing in the military industry. You're announcing EUR 5.8 billion, but if you take a look at the period 2022 to 2024, we can see how you have financed more than EUR 480 million in weapons companies. Every year we see more and more financing to the armament sector.
These are large armament companies at international level that have been benefiting from your support, such as Airbus or in Spain, Indra, Navantia, EMED, Aernnova or Sidenor. These companies sell weapons to countries that are in an arms conflict and that violate human rights systematically, such as the United Arab Emirates. We need to mention the Sidenor financing, whose managers are being investigated by the courts for selling weapons to Israel and of course not following the royal decree to stop providing armament to Israel. What are the consequences of this financing? ReArm Europe is generating a higher risk for direct confrontation between powers and generating lack of stability all around. This is a fact, as we can see in real time. In the face of all of this, members of the board of directors and Mr. Chairman, our question is clear.
Until when will CaixaBank continue generating profit thanks to human suffering and instability caused by wars? Do you think or are you planning to continue investing or financing in these kind of companies? War and rearmament are not inevitable. They are the result of political decisions and economic decisions where your bank is playing a key role. Three out of every four arms in Europe wouldn't be produced if it weren't for the support of entities or institutions such as CaixaBank. We invite you to reflect about the type of world you want to live in and you want to build with your profits. You cannot have your hands stained with blood. We need to demand transparency, and we need to say no to war.
It is urgent that CaixaBank stops benefiting from the business of weapons, and otherwise, we will continue to be here claiming about this kind of collaboration with the armament industry. Thank you.
Okay, if my details are correct, we have stopped or we have finished with the interventions on site. We are now going to read the three online interventions. We are going to read them now. First, we have Don Antonio Valle Rincón. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairman, and rest of the members of the board. My interventions are always in the sense of thanking the work of all the people being part of this bank, from those who are behind a desk in any branch around Spain, as those who are sitting on the board of directors.
With the excellent management, we have these EUR 5,891 million in profits. As I said, in the last year, I was hoping for my retirement and to have livestock business, having cows giving me milk, and this has been a reality. The cow is CaixaBank, and the milk is the dividends. I would like to thank all of the workers participating in this great institution, and I would also like to mention those who are part of this great private banking team in Jerez de la Frontera that give me an excellent advisory, without forgetting all the veterinarians that are members of this team making this institution to be healthy. I would like to thank Mr. Chairman for his first year, with such great and excellent results.
I would like to recognize the new policy for dividend payout in November, plus the supplementary approved by this AGM, and this will be twice a year, which is something we thank you for. As I said last year to this board of directors, you have in your hands a great bank with great reputation, with great workers, and I truly hope you continue in the same line so that we continue to be stronger and more efficient. The road is difficult, but I know you will attain this. With the eye, you do not want to forget the la Caixa Foundation, which continues to be a reference shareholder with thousands of volunteers managing to have this better society.
in a better world and giving more opportunities to those who need it most. Mr. Tomás Muniesa, Vice Chairman, the rest of the members of the board, thanks for boosting this bank to the first positions, and you have my support and recognition as a shareholder to those of you who are members of this bank. Greetings, Antonio Valle Rincón. Now let us move on to the second intervention by Ángel Arévalo. This intervention contains certain terms that is disqualifying or a bit offensive, so we will read it, but allow me to ask you to stop using these kind of terms. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and directors. My name is Ángel Arévalo, and I have more than 9,000 shares of CaixaBank. I am shareholder for many years.
In 2022, I had a claim against me in the bank, and there, because of harassment. In this proceeding, there were six people that were wild against me. As a consequence of lack of the irregularities, I was fired from the bank in 2022. The justice in the courts in Spain said that there was no harassment, but the harassment protocol says that this needs to be filed in and punished for these bad faith claims, and I will kindly ask for this person to be fired. She is a bad professional, and she is not working professionally, and she is a bad colleague.
There are two human resources people from Castilla León saying that she wanted to start working in human resources, and because she was not transferred to this department, she was recommended to file a harassment file against me. There was no presumption of innocence. I could not access to this claim against me, and they wouldn't even check the reality or the truth in her words. They wouldn't respect the harassment protocol, saying that if there is no harassment, these proceedings should be closed, one of them without any kind of labor expertise, and who has hired this person. The person signing up my letter to be fired, he is also charged for bribery against a civil servant. I was fired. They wouldn't attend to the court hearing where they had to be.
They should be. They are not complying with the code of ethics of CaixaBank. I also ask, these two people are making per diems for not going to the court to speak, so I ask for justice and redress. I do not wish anyone going through the hell I have been through. They are dangerous. I would also like to for you to investigate the whistleblowing channel at CaixaBank, because we need to investigate the matters properly, and you need to have a justified response because they are not complying with the code of ethics. I see some workers are on the strike because of the trade union, but we have to work. We work by targets, and you fight every day for your targets. What are they claiming about? What are they reporting?
I wish they would all be owners of more than 10,000 shares of CaixaBank. I would like my intervention to be recorded. We will now read the last intervention that was sent online remotely, and once this is read, we will finalize the list of interventions also attending online. Vicente Enrique Fuentes Durbán. He requests for his intervention to be recorded in the minutes. Good morning. I would like to thank you for listening to the minority shareholders who are at the same time customers of the bank. I truly believe that our experiences can offer a valuable perspective that could go unnoticed sometimes. I would like to congratulate for the improvement of service in the last few years, mainly in solving technical issues and in improving functionalities online.
In this line, I consider that all the operations should be done through the website and the app application, and so that we reduce the workload of the employees. Based on the experience on other countries, I consider that we should also be able to ask for an appointment on the ATMs and on the website, even for that same day, and so that the fact that they can choose the person providing the service. This should be done, for example, reserving one third of the full schedule of the day to be assisted by a person with this prior appointment with a minimum period of 15 minutes. Now, the ATMs should also be replaced by other higher speed devices. This would help us saving maintenance cost and the attention by the workers.
Now, there are many, and they are slow and also not very agile. In the changing times where we are in with geopolitical problems, the progress of AI and more informed customers, this institution should think about its investment services. We should facilitate investment services that are simpler and more effective. The current broker generates very high fees that should be reviewed in order for it to be accessible to non-professional customers. In this same line, in the future, I would like to mention added services to cards, especially to travel, such as services, eSIM services, or VIP rooms access. It seems you are progressing, but we need to take into account that these services will make a difference for young people to stay in their bank or to leave to others that offer more for less.
CaixaBank needs to find a balance to continue offering advantages with ATM and people in the branch, which is essential for certain services, for a mortgage, for example, but complementing with the rest of services I mentioned. Regarding the news on the strikes and the stress for the workers because of the commercial tensions, this is very concerning, and they should be solved. These generate psychosocial risks and a bad climate, so we cannot have a bad bank. We cannot afford that. We need to be excellent in the treatment to our workers, and we need to find a cost-benefit balance, and workers well-treated is the best guarantee for success. I trust the potential of CaixaBank. If we manage to join agile technology, competitive offer, retaining younger generations, and treating our workers well, we will consolidate our leadership for many years. Thank you. Vicente Enrique Fuentes Durbán.
At this point, we take the interventions as finished, either those present here in the room or also those remotely. We now continue to reply to these different interventions without prejudice of the interventions that, as we said before, will be replied in writing in the following next seven days. First of all, I would like to answer Navarro and Barrachina. Gonzalo, yes, you have the floor. Respect to us.
Well, regarding the AI intervention, some comments. First of all, you said that the increase of revenue on services, as I said in my speech, there's been an increase of 5.4%, but recurrent bank intervention has been diminishing more than 4%. That's why this is not true. What you say is not true. Regarding claims, CaixaBank, of course, has more claims at the Bank of Spain because we have many customers. We are the leader in 2024. We receive 2,504. It was published in the management report and not 2,000 that you say. This is also not 12,000, as you said. The Bank of Spain compares the number of claims, we comparing it with market share, and we have less claims if you compare it with our market share.
That doesn't mean that we are not working to improve our service to our customer, in order to have a better service. We are really interested, this board is interested, and the whole group to give the best service possible to our customers. To being honest, in the last two years, we have many initiatives with these priorities. We are seeing some results, because we are seeing that quality indicators, both internal level or external level, are giving a very good result. Also, you've been mentioning the digitalization of our industry, and there were some of the things you say, I think, that don't have anything to do with us, because if a financial entity doesn't want to leave anyone behind, it's CaixaBank. Our model is inclusive. It's in our DNA. We have 20 million customers.
We want the best digital channels, but also the best offices on-site channel. We have many elderly who are customers, more than four million, but of course many others who are digitals but also want to use our offices or some different means to talk to different manager. We have more than 3,000 municipalities with offices, and we also have not only that coverage with offices, but also with some tools which are mobile offices that reach some rural areas. We have a commitment that we won't leave any municipality, and this has been made public, and we are the only financial entity present in so many municipalities. I mean, we've been working there. This has been giving result and some other entities are clearly abandoning some municipalities, but we won't do this.
Any question about the Law 10/2025, we will comply with the requirements of this new law that regulates services to customers. Regarding financing entities, since 2004, we have our own guide issued by the Bank of Spain, aligned with the requirements of the new law. I can really confirm that we are going to comply with this law. Also to say that this support to customer support is different from the commercial services, as required by the current legislation. Thank you very much.
Now we are going to reply to the interventions of the unions and of Mr. Guerrero. Regarding just to be efficient, we will reply to all of them at the same time. We are fully aware of the importance of the health of our workers. Any concern regarding this has to be, of course, listened to and talked to in an institutional dialogue. Although our CEO will give you specific replies, let me give you some general points.
As I said in my initial intervention, CaixaBank has an incredible and committed staff. Our way of work is based on respect, dialogue, and recognition of the value that everyone contributes with to our company. I want to be very clear about another topic. There are no place for impolite interventions or any violence. If we have an issue, we have to act immediately. We are working in a very competitive environment, and we have to be very demanding as a leader institution. Being demanding means having clear targets and being focused on the customer, always with a healthy and professional relationship with our teams.
I want to remind you that even in the difficult times, we always achieve agreements with the unions, and this history proves that the serious and responsible dialogue works, and that our staff is and will be one of the main assets of our CaixaBank. As evidence is we have the best working conditions of our industry. That's why being this year of union election, we will listen to all your demands with respect from our institution, because we are convinced that cooperating historically with the unions is the way forward. In fact, we have invited to this meeting to all the unions which have a representation of more than 1%.
Regarding the payments to our CEO, let me focus on the general vision of this proposal based on a several year, several year recognition of the commitment and leadership that CaixaBank needs. His direction has been determined to reinforce profitability and the transformation of our group, as well as moving forward in our strategic plan. What our proposal follows the comparative analysis that our entity uses and reflects an objective reality. The wages of our CEO, especially on the variable component, still has to join some comparable entities, both at European level and at the IBEX 35 level. We have to combine this and to compare his weight, and so we have find a balance between the responsibility and the payment. What we want to do in this way is to keep our talent in this demanding environment.
I want to say that the main advisor at international level have been pro this proposal. This proposal is like a standard proposal at European level. Let me finish with a personal comment. The leadership of our CEO has been an asset, and it is an asset which is fundamental for our entity. To have Gonzalo is one of the strengths of CaixaBank. Gonzalo, if you want not to this one comment. Thank you.
Well, just want to say thank you to all the intervention of the union representatives. I want to begin for the things that join us. First of all, thank you to all the workers. We share that gratitude. We share the respect. We share the gratitude for the work they carry out. Secondly, the commercial targets, goals are very ambitious. Yeah, we agree with you. There's a high workload.
Our staff works very hard in order to achieve the goals. Yes, we agree that, and also share the will to talk to you. Our door is also open. It's been always open, and that's the way we have been doing that in the past and in the future. I would also like that. Well, there have been many interventions, but some of the statements should be a little bit clarified. Sometimes we've heard that the business challenges in insurances had a rise of 300%. That's not right. This has not been done properly. Please do talk to the human resources, and we'll tell you that there's been an increase on the target, but that's not the proportion. The having the targets every quarter, it is a standard in the market.
We see that in the s ome of our competitors even have every three months. Well, the net profit has increased 1.8%. Now, this is a result just a little bit above last year due to the economic environment. The remuneration of our staff has been increased by more than 6%, so you can see that this is of the public knowledge, and you can check that. I'm very, very happy that we are transparent, and our staff really deserve this increase of the 6%. We have talked about social benefits. Our pension plan is the biggest in Spain. We have more than EUR 8,900 million that we manage, and we are offering benefits to our staff.
In 2025, social benefits has been EUR 515 million, including that 8.5% on the salary contribution on the salary to the pension fund. It's something that our staff really value. This pension fund has a very good performance, 5% yearly performance, with a wonderful management. Each one of the pension funds works better. We have covered many vacancies. We have hired 4,300 people to cover vacancies. Of course, we are doing what we have to do, supporting staff when there's a need. Of course, not all of them have been covered, and the next day with the right people, because that's statistically impossible. We try to do our best, and we always solve this in the end, and that's the way we want to work. You talked about an opinion survey.
We have a survey that indicates that the staff is more satisfied than before. That doesn't mean that we don't have to work very hard. I think that the message is that we are on the right track. They see that we are a very competitive company that contributes to the financial welfare of the society, and also we are non-discriminatory. There are social benefits. There's a recognition by the managers of the works that people feel safe, that we have stability in the different positions in CaixaBank. All this has been recognized. That doesn't mean that there's not room for improvement. Of course, there's always room for improvement, and then we'll do after the strike today and the interventions. Commercial challenges and targets, yes, they are difficult. We agree with that.
Some of the union representatives say that during the last year we have achieved all our targets, and we are more than 100% of our commercial targets. This means that our challenges are attainable. We achieve them, so they are possible. Some last comments regarding what the president says. The success of CaixaBank has been based on the high level of professional ability and being quite demanding, and our staff also wants to be a benchmark in the market. Challenges, of course, will be ambitious. Secondly, technology. Technology that we already have and the one we are implementing will allow us to be more productive and to get rid of many of the administrative workload.
We are doing a lot every day, for instance, preparing the commercial interviews with AI, but also we have an agenda for the year in which we will be able to offer that technology to our workers, so they can be more efficient, and they can get rid of some workloads which are bureaucratic. That will mean that we have the best paid workers because we are the more productive. If you just do the opposite and we are not so productive, this will mean in the long term is that we are not so productive, we will not have the competitive advantage in the face of the new stakeholders in our industry which have less costs and expenses. We have to be more productive.
We are demanding, but being demanding has to go hand-in-hand with the trust of our team. We have been reinforced for the biggest financial crisis during the last decade. That's been the pandemic, and we have been successful there that we did the biggest bank merger in Spain. All this, of course, as directors and also as managers, have to make us trust our staff, our workers, and we have to demand, and we have always, as managers, to trust our team and to give them the autonomy they need to achieve their goals and of course, to be polite.
If you see that this is not working or something is happening, tell us because we want to do something about it. Regarding today's interventions and the strike that we've seen today, our door is open. We want to talk to you. We want good communication regarding the commercial target and any other topic. Always, being demanding but also trusting our extraordinary staff. Thank you.
Now will reply Mrs. Bagur and María de Joan from Banca Armada .
Excuse me. Now, also, I wanted to say something to Carlos Alberto Guerrero, specifically for him, if I'm not mistaken. Just to add that I want to say thank you for the success in the merger of Bankia. You have been mentioning applying the same conditions from Bankia and CaixaBank. We have a commitment with that. We have always applied the conditions of all the workers. Yes, it is not even a demand required by the labor regulations.
Well, like we did some years ago, and we agreed to do that, and we are really doing that, and the end term is on April 2026. This is something which is already solved following the initial agreement. Banca Armada. We have two interventions regarding Banca Armada, and I would like to address them because these are recurrent in this meeting. Our response is in line with what we always said. We are committed to the human rights. This is a structural commitment. It's in our DNA, and of course, we follow the international framework, which are the ten principles of the United Nations responsible banking responsible investment and sustainability in insurance. Those commitments lead all what we do.
Regarding the defense industry, our principles are public and transparent, and they. You can see it on our web pages. Everything is published, and it established the red lines. It established the limit. None of our companies has relation with any company who's selling weapons to any countries that are fighting. We only work with companies that comply with some requirements in order to be sure that we know who we are financing. None of our companies is financing any armies in places where there is a breach of the human rights. Gaza has been mentioned. I do share my concern about this topic and my sympathies and my best wishes for the people of Gaza. They can forget about the tragedy that they are living.
What I can say is that the whole of the funding of CaixaBank strictly complies with all the requirements and principles I mentioned. Of course, we comply with the law, with the sanctions established by the national authorities, the Spanish government, on all the monitoring processes that we follow. We also have to be realistic. The geopolitical context has changed, and there's uncertainty in the future as security and safety is for principal concern for Europe and for the state members, and we have to reinforce it. The financing industry in Europe, and we of course, have to contribute to these needs that Europe is showing and, of course, following all the requirements and respecting all the human rights. Obviously from the financing industry, we have to help the agenda on security of Europe and Spain.
I would now like to reply, Mr. Valle. Mr. Valle, thank you so much for your intervention and for the recognition words that you have conveyed to us. As I said in my initial statement, the real engine of this bank is its people. This is why I especially thank your evaluation about the daily work of our staff in the branches and in all the teams that sustain the functioning of this institution. Your comments encourage us to continue working with the ambition of offering an excellent service and keep the robustness that is key for us, as well as for your recognition of the dividend policy and the Caixa Foundation.
For us, this is an essential pillar. I truly thank you for your support and your trust. Our commitment is to continue progressing with responsibility and with the idea to continue serving our customers, shareholders, and society. In response to Mr. Arévalo, Mr. Secretary?
Yes, the intervention of Mr. Arévalo proposes two different things. First, he's speaking about the circumstances of when he was fired. This was in the courts under the competent authorities with a final decision. We are not coming into evaluating the court decision. This is a favorable decision that CaixaBank has accepted, and this is something that is finished. Second, Mr. Arévalo proposes a series of claims, complaints, that he has presented in the whistleblowing channel, whether he complains about all the facts that he has narrated in his intervention. I would simply like to say that if that is the case, I would like to guarantee Mr. Arévalo that all his complaints are well known by the institution. This channel deals with all the complaints, but we have a confidentiality duty, and we cannot evaluate or promote the confidential whistleblowing channel.
Finally, the reply to Mr. Fuentes Gonzalo. Yes, Mr. Fuentes, I would like to thank you for your intervention and your suggestions. We love to hear that there are shareholders who are customers and who are involved, and that give us your opinion about the evolution of the company. This is very useful. These recognition words are motivation for us too, and of course, it seems you perceive progress in different fields, service quality, the use of technology, and it also confirms that we need to continue working to cover these expectations on service level.
We have the ambition to be the banking institution with the best on-site service and with the largest digital branch network, but also with the support, with the best technology to our customers, and this is something we're working on, and we will continue to do so. In order to do so, we need the best staff possible, which we have, and also a high level of dedication and the necessary investment in technology, and this is something we are working with in these last few years. There are many specific suggestions that we will send to the quality department and to the rest of the departments involved so that they can include in the plans those suggestions that may fit into our plans ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Fuentes. Next, we will read and approve the resolutions. I give the floor to Mr. Secretary.
Given that the information and documents regarding the motions for resolution for this AGM have been made available to the shareholders according to Article 9 of the regulations of the AGM, unless anyone demands so, we are not going to read all of them fully. We will give a summary, maybe giving context if needed, with the proposal of the corresponding report. As we have previously informed, we would like to tell you that the voting procedure after the reading of the summary for these motions for resolution, according to the regulations, the chairman will declare the agreements as approved if it's checked that we have had the necessary favorable votes.
Without prejudice of the detailed information result of the voting, that will be published later on on the corporate website according to the current regulations in force that will be included in the minutes of this AGM. We ask the shareholders and those representing the shareholders to express votes against or abstention to all of the items in the agenda. If you haven't done so, do go to the desks at the back of the room so that you can do so. After reading the summaries. At the same time, we ask the shareholders and proxies that are only attending online to this AGM that wish to vote on the different motions for resolution to do so through the link provided at the platform for remote assistance or attendance until this voting is finished.
Let us continue the items one, two, and three of the agenda. We propose the approval of the individual and consolidated financial statements and the respective management report for the year ended on 31st December 2025, audited by the auditors. At the same time, we also propose the approval of the consolidated non-financial information statement for the year ended on 31st December 2025. At the same time, we propose the approval of the board of directors management during the financial year ending 2025, and with all the details that you have, that is including the supplementary dividend on the ninth of April. On the third item, we propose a re-election of the company's accounts auditor and its consolidated group for the financial year 2027, PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to the recommendation of the audit committee.
Fourth item, reelection and appointment of members of the Board of Directors. Reelection of Tomás Muniesa Arantegui, reelection of Eduardo Javier Sanchiz Irazu, appointment as new director Ana María García Fau, and the ratification and appointment of Pablo Arturo Forero Calderón. We state that these appointments will take four years, and the appointment of Ana María García Fau is subject to the verification of suitability by the European Central Bank. At the same time, we inform that all these proposals for reelection and new appointments will keep the number of 15 board members. If there is a vacancy, this will be covered by the cooptation system, by the board, or by a new proposal to the AGM. Fifth item in the agenda, we have different financial aspects covered.
First, a capital reduction of the share capital, and the delegation to the board of directors to issue securities contingently convertible into shares of the company or instruments of a similar nature for the purpose of meeting regulatory requirements. In the sixth item, we have remuneration, setting the remuneration of the directors, and approve the amendment of the remuneration policy of the board of directors. With these two agreements, we will also like to establish at EUR 5,150 million the annual amount for the remuneration as a whole for the directors. At the same time, we propose to modify the policy for the remuneration of the board of directors 2025/2028.
That will replace the previous or the current policy, 2025/2028, approved in the last AGM without prejudice of the effects produced and consolidated under its validness. Apart from this, we propose to approve variable components in the different remunerations to the directors and the maximum level of remuneration, variable remuneration for the employees that have an impact on the risk profile of the company. At the same time, we would also like to bring to voting the annual report on remuneration of the board members, which is available to all the shareholders. Seventh item in the agenda, that has to do with authorization and delegation of powers to interpret, correct, supplement, implement, and develop the resolutions adopted at the AGM.
The last one is just a consultative item, which is about the communication of the report of the board of directors for the purposes of the Article 511 of the Spanish Companies Act, which will have convertible shares for EUR 500 million. You know that we need to speak about certain sanctions according to the law, but this time there is no need for that according to the law. We continue. To finish the voting, we kindly ask shareholders and proxies to vote against or abstain if you haven't done so. This is at the back of the room so that we can count all the votes. If you are remotely, do so through the platform of remote attendance.
At this point, I declare the period of voting over for all the motions of resolution regarding all the items in the agenda by the shareholders and proxies representing other shareholders attending the AGM, either on-site or remotely. They have all been approved by the necessary majority according to the law. Mr. Secretary, for technical reasons, due to the fact that we are holding this meeting on-site here and simultaneously remotely, the calculation of all the votings will be done, taking into account both cases, on-site or online, and this will be published on the corporate website in five days after this holding of this AGM according to the Spanish corporate law. It will be included in the minutes of the notary. We take this AGM as finished. Thank you so much for your attendance, and see you next year.