The Central Bank authorized several banks to offer these services: Popular, Nacional, de Costa Rica, BCT and BAC San José.
These cards enable users to participate in the wholesale dollar market, plus giving them a more secure way to perform banking transactions online.
“Digital cards are similar to credit or debit cards, they have an incorporated chip which stores a digital certificate, for users to authenticate at websites which implement this technology, in addition to digitally signing online operations”, explained journalist Patricia Leitón, in Nacion.com.
From January to November 2009, earnings at state banks reached $125 million, 28.4% less than the same period of 2008.
Banks blame the economic crisis, which caused a sharp contraction in credit.
"Data from the Banking Superintendence (Sugef), also points to other factors, like increased administrative expenses, and in some cases, less earnings for services", reported Prensalibre.cr.
Costa Rica's "Banco Popular", in agreement with the Economy Ministry, will support small and medium enterprises for their participation in public purchases.
Many SMEs don't participate in public purchases because they don't have resources to pay for compliance assurances, remarked Eduardo Sibaja, economy vice minister.
"Banco Popular will assist in providing guarantees.
State owned banks will now be able to loan up to 20% of their equity to state entities.
With the approval of the law project, the available loan portfolio at state-owned banks will be 8.6 times larger.
"The modification increases from 6% to 20% the capital and reserves limit that state banks can loan to public institutions. ICE, AyA (Sewer and Aqueducts Institute) and CCSS (Costa Rica Social Insurance) will remain outside of this limits", reported Elfinancierocr.com.
Costa Rica Development Banking System will finance SMEs productive projects in up to $110.000.
Small and medium businesses with viable projects will be able to request financing from state owned banks "Banco Nacional", "Banco de Costa Rica", "Banco Popular" and "Banco Nacional de Costa Rica".
"The loaner can supply mortgage, pledge or fiduciary guarantee" reports Elfinanciero.co.cr.
Starting June 2009, the bank is authorized to sell insurance, and it will start will INS policies.
Presently, Banco Popular only commercializes Popular Seguros services in its central offices, but will expand to other locations in the short and mid term.
Even though they might sell policies from other operators in the future, "currently there is only Sociedad de Seguros del Magisterio and the recently opened Grupo Mundial, so at first we will only work with INS, the strongest in the national market", commented William Alcázar, Popular Seguros manager, in an article in Elfinancierocr.com.
In the first quarter of 2009 state bank profits fell by 25% when compared to the same period in 2008.
According to the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (SUGEF), the opposite happened with private banks, which increased their profits by 12% over the same period.
Patricia Leitón reported statements by Guillermo Quesada, Bancrédito manager, in her article in Nacion.com: "The results for state banks were influenced by an increase in administrative costs, particularly due to increased spending on staff. In state banks, real spending on personnel rose by 4.7% during this period and it fell by 5.4% in private banks."
SMEs in Costa Rica can receive guarantee backed funds for viable projects.
The Development Fund for Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (Fodemipyme) gave guarantees and assurances to six cooperatives and one bank for $8.5 million. These guarantees will be used by the institutions to cover up to 75% of each loan request after having evaluated the feasibility of the project for which the funds are requested.
The Banco Popular will make the sum available for MSMEs that lack the collateral needed for a credit line.
Andrey Monge writes in Elfinancierocr.com: "The funds are part of the institution's net income, and will be assigned through an auction of guarantees, to be executed on February 20th by the Fund for the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Fodemipyme)"
The bank hopes to offer $548 million in loans for consumption, housing and development in 2009.
Nacion.com reports that "this year the bank hopes to offer $381 million (¢213 billion) in consumer loans and $55 million (¢31 billion) for house construction or purchase.
The Bank will also set aside $148 million (¢82.7 billion) in loans for development."
Just as they regulated the placement of credit in the last few months, they are also applying the same policy to the opening of branches for next year.
Of the 14 banks operating in the country, 8 announced that they will open a maximum of 56 new branches; 41 of these will be by public banks, which continue to have a aggressive expansion plans.
Private banks are more conservative and link the opening of new branches to the behavior of the economy and business in 2009.
The Development Bank System (SBD) will start to function in December, but a great part of it is still incomplete and will take at least six months to complete.
The Government confirmed that the system will start with the Nacional, Popular and Credito Agricola de Cartago banks. The last of these three will administrate two of the main funds of the SBD.
Several banks are focusing on services to help put small and medium companies in the international market.
Bac San Jose Bank revealed a few weeks ago a new product which they will offer to the companies. The factoring service is a method by which the bank helps businesses to position themselves in foreign markets with the process of accounts receivable.
State and public sector banks' earnings fell during the first semester of the year in comparison to the same period from the previous year due to lower profits at the Banco Popular Bank.
Together, the net profits (after taxes and dividends) of the three state banks and the Banco Popular Bank added up to almost $47 billion, 14% less than the figure for the first semester of last year.