Grupo Financiero Santander México Reports Fourth Quarter 2016 Net Income of Ps.4,542 Million

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo Financiero Santander México, S.A.B. de C.V., (NYSE: BSMX; BMV: SANMEX), ("Santander México"), one of the leading financial groups in Mexico, today announced financial results for the three-month and twelve-month periods ending December 31, 2016.

Santander México reported net income for 4Q16 of Ps.4.542 million, representing YoY and QoQ increases of 7.5% and 15.7%, respectively. For 12M16, net income amounted to Ps.15,715 million, reflecting an 11.1% increase from 12M15.

Héctor Grisi, Grupo Financiero Santander México's Executive President and CEO, commented: "After my first year as Chief Executive, I am proud to report that we achieved sustained profitable growth in the fourth quarter, capping twelve months of disciplined execution toward our goal of becoming a client-centric organisation. Looking forward, the experience of our team, investment in innovation and uncompromising focus on profitable growth, give us confidence against an uncertain global backdrop.

"Our initiatives to attract new clients are gaining momentum. Santander Plus grew customers by 72% in the quarter to over 1.1 million clients, 51% of which are new to the bank. Our Aeromexico co-branded card had over 430,000 clients at year-end, 30% of which are new. Importantly, we are achieving strong cross-sell levels among new clients across our mortgages, funds and deposit portfolios. Digital customers also continue to expand, up 52% during 2016 to over 1.3 million.

"We closed the year with strong asset quality across all metrics, and were particularly pleased with our recent capital optimization initiatives which boosted ROAE.

"Our focus on profitability meant loan growth moderated to 8% YoY, though a 23% rise in interest income underpinned healthy NII expansion. Overall, we posted a 11% YoY rise in annual net income, despite a far higher effective tax rate.

"In the current environment, we have modest GDP growth estimates and forecast ongoing peso weakness. While we expect this to impact loan growth, we are confident in our ability to continue delivering on our strategic initiatives. As announced in December, we are investing an additional $15 billion pesos between 2017 and 2019 to support our goal of becoming Mexico's profitable growth market leader. We look to the year ahead with cautious optimism and a commitment to ongoing discipline in our execution."

4Q16 EARNINGS CALL DIAL-IN INFORMATION

Date:                    Friday, January 27, 2017

Time:                   10:00 AM (MCT); 11:00 AM (US ET)

Dial-in Numbers:   1-877-407-4018 US & Canada    1-201-689-8471 International & Mexico

Access Code:       Please ask for Santander México Earnings Call

Webcast:              http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=122496

Replay:                Starting: Friday, January 27, 2017 at 2:00 pm US ET, and Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 11:59 pm US ET Dial-in number: 1-844-512-2921 US & Canada; 1-412-317-6671 International & Mexico Access Code: 13647351

ABOUT GRUPO FINANCIERO SANTANDER MÉXICO, S.A.B. DE C.V. (NYSE: BSMX; BMV: SANMEX)

Grupo Financiero Santander México, S.A.B. de C.V. (Santander México), one of Mexico's leading financial services holding companies, provides a wide range of financial and related services, including retail and commercial banking, securities brokerage, financial advisory and other related investment activities. Santander México offers a multichannel financial services platform focused on mid- to high-income individuals and small- to medium-sized enterprises, while also providing integrated financial services to larger multinational companies in Mexico. As of December 31, 2016, Santander México had total assets of Ps.1,374 billion under Mexican Banking GAAP and more than 13.5 million customers. Headquartered in Mexico City, the Company operates 1,075 branches and 314 offices nationwide and has a total of 16,976 employees.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Grupo Financiero Santander México cautions that this report may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may be found in various places throughout this report and include, without limitation, statements regarding our intent, belief, targets or current expectations in connection with: asset growth and sources of funding; growth of our fee-based business; expansion of our distribution network; our focus on strategic businesses; our compound annual growth rate; our risk, efficiency and profitability targets; financing plans; competition; impact of regulation; exposure to market risks including interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk and equity price risk; exposure to credit risks including credit default risk and settlement risk; projected capital expenditures; capitalization requirements and level of reserves; liquidity; trends affecting the economy generally; and trends affecting our financial condition and our results of operations. While these forward-looking statements represent our judgment and future expectations concerning the development of our business, a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors could cause actual developments and results to differ materially from our expectations. These factors include, but are not limited to: changes in capital markets in general that may affect policies or attitudes towards lending to Mexico or Mexican companies; changes in economic conditions, in Mexico in particular, in the United States or globally; the monetary, foreign exchange and interest rate policies of the Mexican Central Bank (Banco de Mexico); inflation; deflation; unemployment; unanticipated turbulence in interest rates; movements in foreign exchange rates; movements in equity prices or other rates or prices; changes in Mexican and foreign policies, legislation and regulations; changes in requirements to make contributions to, for the receipt of support from programs organized by or requiring deposits to be made or assessments observed or imposed by, the Mexican government; changes in taxes; competition, changes in competition and pricing environments; our inability to hedge certain risks economically; economic conditions that affect consumer spending and the ability of customers to comply with obligations; the adequacy of allowances for loans and other losses; increased default by borrowers; technological changes; changes in consumer spending and saving habits; increased costs; unanticipated increases in financing and other costs or the inability to obtain additional debt or equity financing on attractive terms; changes in, or failure to comply with, banking regulations; and certain other factors indicated in our  annual report20F. The risk factors and other key factors that we have indicated in our past and future filings and reports, including those with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, could adversely affect our business and financial performance.

Note: The information contained in this report is not audited. Nevertheless, the consolidated accounts are prepared on the basis of the accounting principles and regulations prescribed by the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores) for credit institutions, as amended (Mexican Banking GAAP). All figures presented are in nominal terms. Historical figures are not adjusted for inflation.

SOURCE Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V.