The local banking industry has gone through a profound and long-lasting consolidation process since 2010, with only three remaining banks surviving, Popular, FirstBank, and Oriental. With this consolidation came a steep decline in assets, deposits, and loans. From 2009 to 2016, total banking assets decreased by 38% or $34.9 billion, deposits by 24% or $14.4 billion, and loan portfolios by 38% or $23.5 billion. However, 2016 seems to be a turning point in the financial condition of local banks with assets increasing by 21%, deposits by 33%, and loans by 8% during the 2016-2019 period. The banks that have survived the latest wave of consolidations exhibited a strong financial performance in 2019, posting a consolidated Pre-Tax ROE of 13.7%. Their productivity, credit quality, and capital position in 2019 were solid and moving in the right direction, posting a cost-to-income ratio of 57.9%, a nonperforming loans ratio of 5.0%, and a Tier 1 Risk-Based Capital Ratio of 21.0%. Looking into the rest of 2020, the banking sector will likely benefit greatly from the imminent inflow of $8.285 billion in Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds which have been made available by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), after months of delay. Additionally, new Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) regulations will likely have material operational implications as well as financial ones.

The local banking industry registered another strong quarter in Q3 2019, posting an industry-wide YTD 2019 annualized Pre-Tax ROE of 14.6%. All banks achieved double-digit profitability levels when looking at YTD Pre-Tax ROE, with Popular leading the way with 19.1%, followed by Scotia with 11.9%, FirstBank with 11.1%, Santander with 10.7%, and Oriental with 10.4%. The surviving banks have been able to perform well despite a challenging operating market and a still sluggish economic recovery. The slow pace of disbursements of post-disaster federal funds has thwarted a more robust recovery from materializing. While there have been some positive developments, like a historically low unemployment rate (7.7% in Oct. 2019), Puerto Rico is still very far from being on a sustainable growth path, and questions remain about growth drivers once post-disaster funds are depleted. In this issue, we analyze expected market share distributions in the wake of the latest wave of consolidations. In June 2019 Oriental announced the acquisition of Scotia's Puerto Rico operations, while in October 2019 FirstBank reported the purchase of Santander’s Puerto Rico operations. With these latest acquisitions, local commercial banks will come to dominate the local market.

The local banking industry showed strong profitability in Q2 2019, closing the first half of the year with an annualized Pre-Tax ROE of 14.7%. The second quarter of 2019 is the fifth consecutive quarter that local banks report double digit profitability levels on a consolidated basis. This level of profitability had not been seen since prior to the onset of the 2006 economic downturn. Local banks have been reporting robust earnings growth despite operating in a challenging market. Notwithstanding year-over-year improvements in some economic indicators, others remain weak. The Economic Activity Index increased by 5.8% in FY 2019 after six consecutive years of decline, but as of June 2019 it remained below pre-hurricane (August 2017) levels. In this issue we examine total deposits trends and banks' branch footprint. Total industrywide deposits reached $60.0 billion in 2009, falling by $14.9 billion or 25% to $45.1 billion by 2016. However, 2016 marks a reversal of this downward trend, with total deposits reaching $57.7 billion by the end of Q2 2019, an increase of $12.6 billion or 28%. On the other hand, the number of branches has declined steadily from 493 in 2009 to 296 at the end of Q2 2019, a decrease of 40% or 197 in the 10-year period. As a result, average deposits of branches have increased significantly in the past three years, from $141.0 million in 2016 to $194.9 million in YTD 2019. Given that physical coverage still plays a strategic role, banks will need to continue identifying opportunities to increase coverage and/or further reduce their footprint.