The Association of Banks indicated that the rise in rates is affecting the dynamism of home loans.
The bench started 2022 on the right foot, which was reflected in the results obtained in January.
According to what was reported yesterday by the Commission for the Financial Market (CMF), the industry reached $422,874 million (US$522 million) in profits during the first month of the year, that is, 27.4% more than what was obtained in the same period of 2021.
The rise is explained by a higher interest margin and net commission income, which resulted in $949,214 million and $212,911 million, respectively.
In terms of provisions -which are the resources allocated by banks to cover eventual non-payments by their clients- the expense was $177,195 million in January, compared to the $137,336 million recorded in the same period last year.
Regarding delinquencies at 90 days, the indicator reached 1.26% of total placements, which means a decline from 1.54% in January 2021.
This was due to the decline recorded by the indicators for commercial, consumer and housing loans. In loans to companies the index reached 1.39%, in consumption and housing they reached 1.24% and 1.08%, respectively.
Loan growth slows
On the other hand, banking registered less dynamism in the credit business in January, when compared to December 2021.
The real growth of loans was 2.2% during the first month of the year, versus the 3.4% expansion noted previously.
“This growth is explained by the housing loan portfolio, which had a variation of 5.8% in 12 months and a contribution of 1.8 percentage points (pp) in total placements. For its part, the portfolio of consumption grew 2.1% and commercial 0.2%, with an incidence of 0.3 pp and 0.1 pp, respectively,” they indicated from the Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABIF).
And despite the fact that mortgage credit leads the contribution to the growth of placements, from the banking union they warned that the activity shows signs of weakness due to the rise in interest rates that this type of loan has suffered.
“This lower dynamism is mainly associated with the increase in the interest rate due to the deterioration of the capital market after the withdrawals of the pension funds. In effect, the CMF simulation for the financing of a 20-year home delivers an interest rate of 5.15%, a figure much higher than the levels observed in recent years,” they pointed out from the union.
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