Bankia : attracted 172,293 salaries in 2016 after eliminating its fees

• The number of cards it provided increased by 522,570 during the year
• 'We are extremely pleased with the response from customers', said Goirigolzarri

In 2016 Bankia increased the number of customers that automatically pay their income into the bank by 172,293, following its announcement on 11 January 2016 that it would eliminate all fees for customers that pay their salary or pension into their accounts.

Since it was originally introduced, this single measure has benefited more than 2.4 million customers that receive their salaries or pensions through Bankia.

From that moment, customers that fulfilled this requirement were exempt from paying fees on all of their accounts, they were eligible for free debit and credit cards and could carry out unlimited transfers via any channel and pay in cheques for free. These users could also enjoy unlimited use of Bankia's ATMs and make up to four free withdrawals every month from Banco Sabadell and Euro6000 ATMs.

Bankia's chairman, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, explained that this initiative was 'Bankia's new way of working with its customers. It is not a promotion, it is a permanent proposal and although we are looking to attract new customers, first and foremost we want to repay the trust that our existing customers have placed us'.

One year on and the results show that Bankia's ability to attract new customers has increased significantly, both in terms of new salaries and pensions and in sales of other types of value-added products for customers.

Over the year as a whole, the number of customers that pay their salaries and pensions into Bankia grew by 172,293, an increase of 6.9% over 2015.

Broken down by income type, in 2016 Bankia attracted 176,217 new salaries and 25,038 new pensions. Excluding the effect of those customers that automatically receive their salary and pension, as well as the declining trend in the number of unemployment benefit recipients, the net increase was 172,293 new income streams.

Bankia therefore ended 2016 with a total of 2,668,887 customers that pay their salaries and pensions into the bank, compared to 2,496,594 customers at the end of 2015.

However, Bankia also increased its sales of other value-added products in addition to the new salaries and pensions. For example, the number of credit cards rose by 279,714 during the year, while the number of debit cards increased by 242,856, with a total of 522,570 new cards in circulation.

The rise in the total number of cards pushed up billing by more than 5.6%, driven by a greater increase in purchases (+8.9%) compared to cash withdrawals (+2.2%).

The announcement in January 2016 to eliminate fees for customers that pay in their salaries and pensions was followed by a decision in May to offer the same benefits to self-employed customers that pay their social security or taxes through Bankia. The 'Cuenta ON' account was subsequently launched in November, also without fees for digital customers.

More recently, one year after the introduction of the bank's new positioning strategy, on 11 January 2017 Bankia announced the launch of the 'No Fees Mortgage '.

'We are extremely pleased with this new positioning and the response from customers. We want to offer them the best combination in the market, with excellent service quality at the most competitive price possible', said Bankia's chairman, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri.