The most important point with respect to business activity in the quarter is the faster pace of growth in lending to the retail segment, despite the country’s economic growth being more moderate than expected. This faster pace can be explained by the good performance of the commercial portfolios (basically SMEs and small businesses), credit cards and consumer finance, this last one being influenced by the success of the pre-approved loan campaign. Deposit gathering also performed very well, thanks to the increase in current and savings accounts in the retail segment, although the corporate and institutional banking unit also performed well.
Earnings in the area are still buoyed by the good performance of recurring revenue, more moderate growth in expenses and a cumulative risk premium to September that is practically stable compared with the close of the first half of 2013.