The general tone of the area is still one of buoyant activity, both in lending and customer funds, in all the countries where BBVA operates:
- The annual growth of the balance of the loans under management, has accelerated to 25.3%. There has been a significant rise in the individual portfolios thanks to an increase in credit cards (up 43.7% year-on-year), consumer finance (up 25.2%) and, to a lesser extent, mortgages (up 18.4%). Lending to small businesses has also performed very well (up 39.0%).
- Good risk indicators. Asset quality in the area continues to be high, thanks to the strict risk admission policies and active management of recoveries.
- Customer deposits under management continue to rise at a fast pace (up 28.9% year-on-year), with lower-cost transactional deposits (current and savings accounts) being the main drivers of this growth. These funds have posted a year-on-year gain in market share of 34 basis points, according to the latest available information as of February 2014 (all the figures below on market share refer to February 2014, the latest available data).
- There has also been growth in the balance of mutual fund assets under management by banks in the region, with a rise in total customer funds of 26.9% on 31-Mar-2013.
- By countries, the highlights of banking activity are as follows:
- Argentina: excellent performance of lending, which increased by 24.7% on the figure for March 2013. Worth noting was the increase in consumer finance and credit cards (up 39.5%), with a gain in market share of 17 basis points over the last 12 months. Deposits increased 28.1% year-on-year, with good performance in time deposits, where there was a gain of 34 basis points in market share since February 2013.
- In Chile lending increased year-on-year by 12.2% and deposits by 16.7%. The mortgage portfolio performed particularly well (up 14.9%, with a rise of 24 basis points compared with data as of 28-Feb-2013).
- In Colombia, there was sustained growth in lending (up 20.0%) and deposits (15.0%), above that registered by the system in both cases, and with year-on-year gains in market share of 62 basis points in lending and 41 in deposits. This strong performance has been reflected in practically all the business lines in customer funds and lending.
- In Peru lending has also grown above the average for the system (up 21.6% year-on-year and 46 basis points of gain in market share), thanks to the notable increase in corporate lending (up 31.5% and a rise of 100 basis points in market share). In deposits (up 18.1% year-on-year) there was a particularly outstanding increase in the rate of growth of lower-cost transactional deposits (31.3%).
- Venezuela: excellent performance of lending and deposits, with year-on-year growth of 73.8% and 79.2%, respectively. Although this strength is recorded across all the business lines, the commercial portfolio has been outstanding (up 40.5%), with a gain in market share of 70 basis points, as have current and savings accounts (up 98.2% and a gain of 9 basis points in market share) and in the quarter time deposits (up 61.7% since December 2013).
