At the close of March 2012, BBVA Bancomer’s loan book totaled €36,726m, 7.5% up on the same date of the previous year. In the first quarter of the year, the switch of the loan portfolio mix toward more profitable segments continued. The weight of consumer finance and credit cards increased by more than 3 percentage points compared to March 2011 and accounts for 25.7% of the total, while loans to companies and residential mortgages account for 48.5% and 25.8%, respectively.
Retail lending performed strongly and closed the quarter at €19,230m, up 13.7% year-on-year. By portfolio, loans to small businesses maintained a positive trend and were up 24.0% year-on-year. Consumer finance (including credit cards) also performed very well, up 22.3%, driven by the excellent performance of loans to pre-qualified customers and high new production in credit cards. Mortgages to individuals went up 4.9%, with a 21.6% increase in new production in the quarter. The above explains why BBVA Bancomer continues to grant one out of every three mortgages in the private market.
The loan portfolio in the wholesale segment went down 1.6% year-on-year to €15,094m. This was due to the high number of early repayments of credit lines by corporations and also the substitution of bank lending for capital markets financing as a result of low interest rates. BBVA Bancomer continues to support its global customers through various initiatives, including the issuance of bonds totaling €741m in the first quarter of 2012, which has enabled the bank to achieve a 24% market share in this type of placements, according to data released by the Mexican Stock Exchange. Lending to SMEs and the public sector performed strongly with a 12.5% increase on the same period of the previous year.
Customer funds (bank deposits, repos, mutual funds and investment companies) closed the quarter at €57,963m, 12.7% up on the same period of the previous year. The high volume of deposit gathering allows the bank to maintain a profitable business mix, with a weight of demand deposits (lower-cost) of 78%, while time deposits account for the remaining 22% of on-balance sheet funds excluding repos. Current and savings accounts in local currency totaled €22,528m, up 18.0% year-on-year. The decision to reduce the weight of higher-cost products is reflected in the 5.9% year-on-year decrease in the time deposits balance.