After El Salvador approved a legal framework that recognizes Bitcoin as a legal tender, the cryptocurrency exchange Coincaex announced that at the end of June it will open an office in the country.
Following the approval of the legal framework that recognizes Bitcoin as a legal tender in El Salvador, one out of two local businessmen are concerned that the circulation of the cryptocurrency is mandatory and one out of three are distrustful of this change in the laws.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador carried out a survey among its members, businessmen in general and citizen consumers to know the expectations of the productive sector regarding the implementation of the cryptocurrency.
In order to assess risks, verify regulation and other issues, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration will provide the Salvadoran government with advice on the implementation of the new cryptocurrency scheme, called Bitcoin.
Currently, financial leasing operations in Guatemala amount to $1,290 million, but with the approval of the new legal framework the portfolio could increase in the medium term between $1,677 million and $1,935 million.
After the Nicaraguan Assembly approved a bill that forces local banks to allow public officials sanctioned by OFAC to have an account, there are fears that the country will be isolated from the international financial system.
A statement issued by the National Assembly on February 3 explains that the deputies approved the Law Initiative of Reform and Addition to the Law for the Protection of the Rights of Consumers and Users, a legislative project which guarantees a better and greater protection of the rights of consumers and users in the access to goods and services as a human right recognized by the Nicaraguan State.
In order to face the crisis generated by the covid-19 outbreak, Costa Rica extended until December 31, 2021 the measure that allows clients of financial institutions to benefit from extensions, refinancing and readjustments without the need to carry out debtor stress analysis.
According to Conassif, additionally, banks were asked to reapply their internal policies for measuring the payment capacity of each client as of April 1, 2021.
For 2021, some of the financial institutions competing in the Costa Rican market are betting on placing loans for the purchase of homes, consumer loans and business financing.
In Costa Rica, home purchase loans were already showing positive signs at the end of 2020, since in November of last year the amount of the loan portfolio in question reported a 7% year-on-year increase.
The law regulating the service of information on the credit history of consumers in the country was published in the Official Gazette.
After the legislative plenary approved in third debate initiative 424, which modifies Law 24 of 2002 related to this system of registration in the Panamanian Association of Credits (APC), in the last days of 2020 the Executive approved the bill.
In June 2020, in the context of confinement and the economic crisis, bank credit to the private sector reported an 8% year-on-year increase, but as of July growth began to slow and in September the increase was 5.7%.
According to figures from the Bank of Guatemala, total credit to the private sector began 2020 with a 5.7% year-on-year increase. As of March, when the first cases of covid-19 began to be detected and the government decreed restrictions on mobility, the growth of the credit portfolio accelerated, with a variation of 8% being reported during the third month of the year.
In the Honduran Congress there is a bill that seeks to prohibit banks and finance companies from capitalizing interest on payments not made from March 2020 to December 2021, a measure that worries the sector.
The initiative was sent by the Executive to the National Congress months ago.
In the last few months, interest in credit cards has been increasing in the digital environment, a rise that is mainly explained by the behavior of consumers in Panama, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
Through a system monitoring changes in consumer interests and preferences in Central American countries in real time, developed by CentralAmericaData, it is possible to project short and long term demand trends for the different products, sectors and markets operating in the region.
Suspension of contracts, uncertainty about the economic future and reduction of salaries, are some of the factors that have affected the banks in Panama to place fewer loans in this context of health crisis.
The amount of new loans granted by Panamanian banks was $589 million during May this year, a 26% reduction compared to what was reported in April 2020. This fall is explained by the economic crisis, which derives from the restrictions decreed due to the outbreak of covid-19.
Given the outbreak of covid-19 and the imposition of restrictions on economic activity, between February and June of this year the amount of loans granted by the banking sector reported a 1.2% drop.
Data from the Superintendence of the Financial System (SSF) indicate that between February (the month before the beginning of the health and economic crisis) and June of this year, the credit portfolio contracted by $149 million, from $13.276 million to $13.127 million.
In an auction process in which more than 200 investors from different parts of the world participated, the bank placed the debt at a rate of 2.5% for a 10-year term.
This transaction is the first international bond issue in the capital markets of Banco Nacional in its almost 116 years of existence and represents the largest issue that any Panamanian financial institution has made.
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