Informe Sobre Bancos

Thisreport analyzes the situation of the Argentine financial system on a monthly basis.

Summary

The financial system closed the first half of 2016 with high levels of liquidity and solvency,
good credit quality and low foreign currency mismatch. So far this year, intermediation activity
has been moderate, influenced by the performance of the local economy. Within this framework, the BCRA
implements an agenda that aims at greater financial inclusion based on the development and
deepening of the financial system. To this end, it seeks to provide the sector with a more transparent, competitive and debureaucratized environment, while safeguarding financial stability.
In line with these objectives, the BCRA recently implemented changes to facilitate the migration
of customers between entities as a way to promote competition in the sector. It was determined that salary accounts can be opened at the request of the worker and not exclusively by the employer. It was established that, since November, banks will allow their customers to open and close accounts
from home banking, and from other channels without going to the entity personally. The same criterion will
operate to cancel credit cards. It was also provided that fixed-term certificates issued on
paper are compensable, being able to be deposited in an account of another bank of the same holder.
The BCRA relaxed the requirements for the authorizations of new branches. In the first half of the year, authorization was granted for the installation of 97 subsidiaries, with an effective net
increase of 44 units in the period. The sector’s operational infrastructure continued to expand so
far this year, also with more employees and greater availability of ATMs.
Seeking to stimulate access to financing under more favorable conditions and provide a better
quality of services to users, modifications have recently been implemented that tend
to reduce certain operating costs of banks. The transfer of cash
and the reloading of ATMs were provided with agility and efficiency, enabling the opening of treasures on non-working days, and establishing that those money dispensers that are located in third-party premises can be recharged by business personnel and using the cash collected by these establishments. In addition, the deadline for the mandatory closure of savings banks and salary accounts was extended
, and the
highest denomination banknote was launched, which contributes to reducing transport and recharging costs.
In July, the BCRA incorporated modifications to the Financing Line for Production and
Financial Inclusion (LFPIF) for the second part of the year, adding the lines granted to MSMEs for working capital for livestock, dairy farming or other activities in regional economies
. In the first half of the year, almost 84% of the LFPIF quota was channeled to MSMEs.
In the national payment system, although the use of working capital still maintains preponderance,
electronic means are gaining importance. Immediate transfers grew 57% YoY in
June (9% adjusted for inflation1
) and 28% YoY in amounts. In August, provisions
came into force that promote immediate transfers through cell phones, tablets or
laptops and that encourage the creation of environments conducive to these new payment channels.
As a result of the normalization of the foreign exchange market and a set of regulations promoted by the
BCRA, the balance of credit in foreign currency to the private sector doubled in the first half
of the year. To reinforce this trend, at the end of July the destinations of the deposit lending capacity in this currency were again expanded. For its part, bank financing in pesos reduced its
nominal rate of change in the same period, to 25.7% YoY (-12.8% adjusted for inflation). In June, the
NPL ratio for loans to the private sector remained at 1.9%. In mid-2016, the balance of accounting forecasts
for the sector represented 139% of the portfolio of the private sector in an irregular situation.
The balance of deposits in pesos in the private sector grew in June mainly due to the seasonality of demand accounts associated with the collection of the half bonus. Placements in foreign currency continued to increase in the period. In year-on-year terms, foreign currency deposits by the
private sector (in currency of origin) grew by 49%, while placements in pesos by the same
sector grew by 26.8% (-12.1% adjusted for inflation).
The liquidity ratio (excluding LEBAC) increased in the month to 31% of deposits, mainly due to the increase in the minimum cash requirement coefficients. As the holding of LEBAC fell in the month, the broad indicator only increased 1.1 p.p. of deposits to 47.2%.
The capital integration of the banks as a whole reached 16.2% of risk-weighted
assets (RWA) in June (15.3% for Tier 1 capital). The excess of regulatory integration of capital for
the sector at the aggregate level represented 72% of the requirement. In June, the financial system’s accounting results in terms of assets (ROA) reached 4.3% annualized (y), in line with last month’s
level. In the first half of 2016, the ROA of the financial system was 4.1%y, a level similar to that reached by both public and private banks.