Supporting clients with deferred payment of their loans was worth it, as most have resumed their financial obligations and delinquency remains, in general, at low levels, he said. Luis Niño de Rivera, President of the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM).
In an interview, the banker made an account of the support that the bank has given in this year that has led the pandemic of the Covid-19. He stressed that since March 2020, the sector has been very attentive to the situation that was beginning, and since April, in the hands of regulators, the loan payment deferral program was launched for a period between four and six months.
“This could be done because the financial strength of the banks has been present since last year and until now. That is, the capitalization, liquidity, reserve versus past due portfolio and available resources ratios are at very high levels and are the platform on which we have made banking part of the solution ”, he explained.
He explained that the way to support clients, who had problems in those months, was to give them liquidity so that they could get ahead, anticipating that the economic situation would become difficult, and therefore deferring payments was endorsed. With this program, he explained, 8.6 million people and 9.3 million loans were supported for a total amount of 1.1 trillion pesos, which represented 22% of the total banking portfolio.
Later, he explained, knowing that it was a temporary measure, and that ending there would be customers who would still need more payment facilities, a permanent solution was offered through loan restructurings.
However, only 1.1 million people joined this program, for a total credit amount of 334,000 million pesos.
“What happened to the rest? they returned to their original payment program and that shows that the borrowers have behaved with great responsibility and that the deferral program was worth it, “he said.
He added that the past due portfolio has gone from 2.3 to 2.5% and the coverage of reserves against past due portfolio rose from 1.6 to 1.7 times, by increasing the amount of additional reserves by 44,000 million pesos in 2020, and adding 218,000 million for the whole year.
“And that gives us the certainty that in the decision to support clients, it was worth it; that customers are behaving very well, and that we are going to continue supporting all those individuals and entities that require it ”.
Said they will work hand in hand with National Financial Y Bancomext for the use of support programs for MSMEs and different sectors.
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