Mexico City. In recent months, the placement of loans that banks grant for family consumption has slowed down; However, this has not meant that default rates are on the rise and increases in overdue portfolio balances are not, for the moment, an alarm signal, said BBVA México, the bank with the greatest presence among those that operate in the country.
When presenting the Banking Situation report, the financial institution indicated that the slowdown in the placement of consumer loans, such as cards, payroll or personal loans, among others, is due to variables such as employment or real salaries of People are growing at a slower rate than they did last year.
Mariana Torán, chief economist at BBVA Mexico, said that throughout 2023 consumer loans maintained good dynamism that was fully supported by the strength of the labor market, that is, formal employment and salaries grew and “that is what that can justify or explain the high dynamism of consumer credit.”
If employment levels or real salaries maintained the same dynamism, the growth of consumer credit would continue, but that has not happened, the economist clarified.
“The data that we are already observing, in particular employment, we see that it continues to grow, but it is slowing down, the real salary is growing, but not at the same rate and that is being reflected in the data for the fourth quarter of 2023, we see a slowdown that goes hand in hand with these variables.
“We are also reaching a limit of households that are creditors of possible credits, they already have credits or commitments that it seems that it would not be possible for them to reach or exceed their payment capacity, so it is a precautionary issue that could be dampening growth” Toran said.
Increased defaults do not worry
Carlos Serrano, chief economist at BBVA, explained that although the balances of overdue loans in the consumer segment have increased in recent months, the proportion with respect to the total financing portfolio remains at low levels, which is why which the financial system is not yet in alarm.
“The balances are growing at a high rate, but because the overdue portfolio came from very low balances, after the pandemic we saw restructurings and write-offs, the portfolio was cleaned… it was not possible to sustain those levels, such low levels were not sustainable.
“But the growth in the balance is not worrying because we came from very low levels, if we see the overdue portfolio with respect to the total portfolio, then those in Mexico continue to look very good… It is true, the increase in overdue balances is there, It is worrying, yes, but it does not represent any threat to the stability of the financial system,” Serrano mentioned in a conference.
He added that given the expectation that the Bank of Mexico (BdeM) will begin to reduce the reference rate soon, it is expected that some financing, such as automotive, payroll or cards, will also reduce their interest rates.
2024-02-29 20:05:42
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