Report on Other Non-Financial Credit Providers

The BCRA has prepared, for the first time, a report on registered Other Non-Financial Credit Providers (Otros Proveedores No Financieros de Crédito, OPNFC), which currently more than triple the number of financial institutions: OPNFCs registered with the BCRA amount to 288, and financial institutions to 78.

This heterogeneous group of companies is made up of cooperatives and mutual associations, home appliances stores and fintechs, among others.

The major findings of the report are as follows:

- The average interest rates for the first quarter ranged from 113% to 125% for the ensemble of OPNFCs, whereas the median was close to 100%.

- Cooperatives and mutual associations were the OPNFC subgroup that charged the lowest average interest rates, while fintechs charged the highest rates in the first quarter of 2020.

- The stock of loans of OPNFCs amounted to 7.8% of total loans in pesos granted within the financial system to natural persons and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (as of January 2020). Excluding credit card assistance from both totals, this ratio rises to 9.6%.

- The number of single debtors is about 4 million persons, out of which 2.3 million also have a debt in the financial system.

- The non-performing portfolio was high: about 36% for the ensemble of OPNFCs in the first quarter, though there were differences among providers (lower ratios in the case of cooperatives and mutual associations, and higher ratios in the case of home appliances stores and fintechs).

- The debt of OPNFCs in the financial system represented nearly 20% of the loans they granted to their clients during the first quarter.

- The non-performing debt of home appliances stores in the financial system was the highest (above 40%), followed by non-bank card issuers registered as OPNFCs; whereas that of fintechs and cooperatives and mutual associations was very low or zero.

Download Report - in Spanish -

June 7, 2020.