Given the political and economic crisis affecting the country since April 2018, a scenario that has combined with the crisis of covid-19, the loan portfolio increased from $5,172 million in March 2018 to $3,404 million at the end of April 2020.
According to figures of the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Siboif), in the first four months of the year a decrease in the credit portfolio is also reflected, since it went from $3.578 million reported at the closing of 2019 to $3.404 million recorded in April 2020, representing -5% variation for the four-month period in question.
Between March 2018 and September 2019, the number of loans granted in Nicaragua by the banking sector has been reduced by around 540,000, a drop attributed to the economic crisis the country is going through.
Data from the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Siboif), say that in March last year, the month before the onset of the crisis, 1.8 million loans were reported, and in September 2019 the figure fell to 1.26 million.
Since April 2018 the total deposits of the National Banking System have been decreasing every month, but in August and September the trend seems to have reversed, as in both months there were increases.
According to data from the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Siboif), between July and August a $39 million growth in bank deposits was reported.
The Superintendence of Banks granted permission for Banco Atlántida, an entity of Honduran origin, to begin operating throughout the country under local supervision and regulation.
The constitution of Banco Atlántida in Nicaragua was authorized on October 24, 2017, but it was not until October 2, 2019 that the permit to operate in the financial system was published in La Gaceta.
Private banks are protesting because "the provisions contained in the banking law referring to the requirements and authorizations for the establishment and commencement of operations of commercial banks will not be applicable to Produzcamos."
In the process of starting operations, the entity is not required to comply with the rules of the General Banking Act and that of the Superintendency for Banks and Other Financial Institutions (SIBOIF).