A concentrated banking system with weak capital indicators faces the challenge of reducing past-due loans, which in large banks have grown from an average of 1.1% in 2013 to 2.3% this year.
From a report by Fitch Ratings:
Loan Performance Adequate but Impaired:The behavior of loans has been affected in the last 4 years; in the second half of 2017 (2Q17), non-performing loans (arrears of greater than 90 days) for the largest banks averaged 2.3%, from 1.1% in 2013. In general, this trend was due to the fact that the default of some large creditors from different sectors affected the banking system, as well as the gradual increase in consumer loans. The temporarily established credit card law, which limited interest rates and collection practices in 2016, did not have an immediate impact. Current indicators are adequate.
Fitch Ratings notes that the Guatemalan banking system reports one of the lowest rates of delinquency in the region.
From the report 'Panorama of Guatemalan Banks' by Fitch Ratings:
Local Majority Banking System: The largest banks (70% of loans in the system) belong to local shareholders. At the same time, foreign-owned banks increased their share after Bancolombia acquired the controlling stake in Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala, S.A. (BAM).
The company Financiera de Inversión has received authorization to start operating as a private bank in the country.
With capital of $15 million, the company which has so far only operated in the financial segment will start providing banking services under the brand Banco INV, and will be subject to the regulation required of participants of the banking system.
With the purchase of another 20% stake, Bancolombia Group now holds 60% of the shares of the Group Agromercantil de Guatemala.
Two years after the acquisition of a 40% stake of Argomercantil Holding Group, Grupo Bancolombia has decided to consolidate its presence in the country by acquiring a further 20%. The Colombian company said the acquisition is part of a consolidation strategy in Guatemala and Central America.
The banks Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Nacional and the Banco Industrial de Guatemala "will have to reduce the growth rate of their loans, since their core capital levels remain modest."
From Moody's press release:
Mexico, July 21, 2015 -- Central America's leading banks will need to slow the pace of their loan growth as their core capital levels remain modest, said Moody's Investors Service in a new report.
The five largest banks account for 82% of total assets in the system, three of them focusing on the corporate credit segment and the other two on retail banking.
From the report by Fitch Ratings "Panorama of Banks and Guatemala"
Largest banks of Guatemala: Related to the Sovereign Ratings
Banking System Concentrated in Five Largest Banks: The five largest banks account for 82% of the system's assets.
Limitations on control of casinos and gambling, and the inability to legally access banking information, limit the chances of success in the fight against money laundering.
Passing laws that favor combating money laundering have stalled in Congress, impeding the implementation of effective measures against the problem. This situation affects the results of the evaluation currently being carried out by representatives from the Financial Action Task Force group (FATF).
Analysis by Fitch Ratings projects that banks in the region will maintain strong balance sheets and have stable profitability in 2014.
Excerpted from Fitch Ratings:
Differential Growth and Opportunities: Low financial depth, in most systems, continues to provide significant opportunities for expansion of bank balance sheets; although this is limited by low average income levels.
The group has announced that as part of its long-term strategy it will withdraw from the consumer banking business in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Extract from a statement issued by Citigroup:
Citigroup today announced strategic actions to accelerate the transformation of its Global Consumer Banking (GCB) to focusing on those markets where it has the largest scale and growth potential.
In the last year, the sector was characterized by lower loan growth, lower returns and higher funding costs.
Fitch has presented its Special Report on the Central American Banking System, which analyzes the performance of the sector in the period between July 2012 and June 2013.
The rating company highlights:
Low Credit Growth:
The loan portfolios of most banking systems in Central America slowed their growth rates in 2013, in line with the downward revision of the region's GDP. In June 2013, the annual growth of loan portfolios of five Central American countries stood in the range of 6% to 12% in real terms, although it was only 2.2% in Honduras. According to Fitch Ratings, loans in the region will close 2013 with real growth of about 7% (2012: 8.9%). Panama will lead the growth of the loan portfolio, but inflationary pressures throughout the region will be an additional limit to real credit expansion.
In the last ten years the number of banks operating in the country fell by 52.6%.
According to information from the Superintendency of Banks (SIB), in 1999 there were 38 banks operating in the country, dropping to 18 in 2010. In contrast, sector earnings rose 1736.7%.
Bankers and financial analysts agree today that the financial system is stronger.
Between January and the first week of August 2010, the level of private capital increased from $6.8 to $7.4 billion.
According to information from the Guatemalan central bank, Banguat, the total for the period to August 2010 is $591 million higher than the same period last year, representing an 8.7% increase.
"So far in 2010 investments total $912.5 million, 1.3% up on the $901.1 million in 2009, which was 5.1% below the same period in 2008 when investments totaled $949.9 million," reports Sigloxxi.com.
Banks in Guatemala will have to increase their capital from 10% to 14% when granting loans in U.S. dollars to people with incomes in quetzales.
Banking Superintendent Edgar Barquín explained that the measure, which affects a third of the entire loan portfolio in dollars -$982 million-, will force banks in the system to increase their capital in $48 million.
Central American banks accumulate $61.119 billion in assets, and 55% of its capital is of foreign origin
The blog "From Guatemala" publishes an analysis that describes the different degrees of internationalization of the banking systems of the region, from the Salvadorian banking system, where 95% of assets belong to foreign banks to the cases of the National Bank of Costa Rica and the Industrial de Guatemala, the largest banks of the isthmus, both based on local capital.
The deposits were at $12 billion, an increase of $2 billion compared to 2006.
According to the Siglo XXI newspaper, the Superintendence of Banks in Guatemala indicated that the opening of accounts grew at a faster rate, going from 6.5 million accounts in 2006 to 8.3 million in 2008, an increase of 26%.
85.3% of the earnings where in local currency (the quetzal).