The Puerto Rico banking industry reached a pre-tax ROE of 22.5% in the Jan-Sep 2021 period driven by three factors: 1) Higher leverage levels, 2) Higher operational efficiency, and 3) Lower provision expense.
Current Medicaid funding proposal does not resolve Puerto Rico’s program needs in the long-term. The island is at a disadvantage to meet service access which impacts health outcomes of a significant portion of our population.
Total banking assets increased by 12% in the first half of 2021 driven by higher private and public deposits. The lending business has remained stable in the past years with a very dynamic auto financing compensating for the decreasing mortgage, commercial, and consumer credit portfolios
The PR Banking sector reached a Pre-Tax ROE of 20.9% in Q1 2021, the highest profitability level since 2004. There is excess liquidity in the banking system, part of which is likely to be deployed to lending activity as the local economy takes off.
The PR Banking sector reached double digit Pre-Tax Return on Equity in 2020 (10.2%) despite the low interest rate environment, the impact of COVID-19 on business and consumer activity, and higher credit provisions.
Banks remained profitable during the first nine months of 2020 despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they experienced a moderate reduction in profitability (8.8% Pre-Tax ROE) vs 2018 and 2019 due to lower interest margin and fee income, and higher loan loss provision.
Reduction in profitability in the first half of 2020 (7.0% Pre-Tax ROE) vs 2018 and 2019 due to lower interest margin and fee income, and higher loan loss provision, mostly driven by the Covid pandemic and its impact on the local and US economies. Despite the magnitude of the pandemic impact, no bank had negative net income, with Popular reaching the highest pre-tax ROA (0.97%), followed by Oriental (0.68%), Santander (0.58%), and FirstBank (0.40%).
The impact of Covid-19 has been partially absorbed by local banks in their Q1 2020 results through a significant increase in loan loss provision. However, the reduction in fees and transactional income was small (last two weeks of March 2020) and will be felt mostly in Q2 2020 and in subsequent quarters depending on the pace of return to normal economic activity. In this Q1 2020 Banking Industry Report we present a brand new format where the user will be able to select particular periods of time and banks to review key metrics trends and make bank comparisons.
The deep economic effects of Covid-19 are reflected in the unprecedented rise of unemployment claims around the world. In Puerto Rico, cumulative unemployment claims in the five weeks following the lockdown reached 200,419, three times the total claims during 2019. This number is in line with the US when measured in relation to the labor force. Covid-19 is also impacting the large informal economy of the Island, which is not eligible for unemployment insurance. On the other side, Puerto Rico may be seen as a safe place to do business given the successful containment of the virus so far, and as an ideal location from where to work remotely in the future.
