Leonard V. Berrio M.Sc.
(Panama City-ANPanama) The management of the delinquency of some products such as mortgages, personal loans and credit cards, of some people who have not been able to meet these commitments, would be possible because the banks will be able to renegotiate the terms and conditions, since regulation 004-2013 establishes those mechanisms.
According to Javier Motta, director of Financial Studies of the Superintendence of Banks of Panama (SBP), what has been said about the modified portfolio is that it already had a termination date, however it does not restrict banks from having negotiations with people in terms of their obligations.
The index of punishment of Panama or of repossessed goods, have remained intact, in all the countries of America, and that has been a very significant increase, however the position that the banks have had with the people in that sense is the one that has had a greater social conscience.
However, Motta explained that the 004-2013 does establish that they can be renegotiated, but there will come a time when the banks will have to see what they are going to do with those assets if there is no approach and a negotiation that is positive for both parties.
What the banks try to do is to have a negotiation that is suitable for the client, but if the bank detects that there are possibilities that people can pay, knowing that they have financial information within the banks’ portfolio, the negotiation can be different.
For his part, the Superintendent of the SBP, Amauri Castillo, stated that effectively each bank is going to establish internal policies in order to make this credit viable as long as the person goes to the bank, that is very important because the regulation what it has done is to give that flexibility, but understanding the responsibility of the debtor.
“In that I can say that everyone who has gone to the bank has simply shown their face, has explained their situation, whether it is a situation of decreased income or the total loss of their income, the banks and their clients have managed to reach agreements,” Castillo said.
He assured that normally these agreements can be for three months to see each other again in three more months and so on until the person recovers and the restructuring of their debt can be formalized.
Within the statistics, the portfolio of mortgage loans, particularly residential low-income houses or the preferential segment, are the ones that predominate within that portfolio. There is indeed a guarantee that from the bank’s point of view and that is how the bank has established it in general terms, it is not in the interest to enter into an executive auction process in the event of non-payment.
“It is important that people understand that they have to approach the bank and they have to try to reach an arrangement, that is fundamental and this is largely due to the fact that they are money from savers who finance those loans,” Castillo said.
From the point of view of credit cards, they are normally credits that do not have a guarantee, there are also special laws such as 81 that establish a series of rights for cardholders. And personal loans are also obligations that do not have collateral behind them.
Finally, the Superintendent indicated that the banks will handle each product according to their own policies, and each debtor will also have their own realities, it is not an easy context to handle, but to date these measures have been achieved to be able to accompany those debtors until they manage to normalize their income situation.
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