For HSBC, the crisis caused by the pandemic showed that banking customers in Mexico have changed and are different compared to the 2008 crisis.
The bank’s general director said that between the support programs approved by the regulator and the bank’s proactivity in negotiating loans with its clients, they had a better year than expected.
“We gave support for regulatory facilities and others were (made) by the same bank to recognize a different reality. In the end, we came out much better than expected, everything pointed to be a worse year than we really had,” said Arce interview.
The bank reported in 2020 a drop in its profit of close to 60% due to the creation of preventive reserves that would shield it from defaults on the part of its clients. The deferral program for the year also kept the bank’s delinquency level under control, which closed the year at 2.80%, a level similar to its competitors.
The bank closed the year with a loan portfolio of 357,352 million pesos, a drop of 10.7% compared to the end of 2019.
Like its competitors, the bank experienced growth in its digital clients. The bank even took a 5-year step in digitization issues with the implementation of CoDi and payments through SPEI.
“We are going to invest more than in the last 4 years on average and in total: the last four years we are going to invest in a single year, in cybersecurity, digital banking, robust and secure systems and a better customer experience,” he said.
One of the products that underwent this digital transformation in the pandemic was mortgage credit, where clients who just contracted their credit were able to make deferred payments.
For Jorce Arce, the economic recovery -and the bank- will take place in 2021 as long as the health crisis is managed, although he stressed that being the main commercial partner of the United States, it will boost manufacturing and agricultural exports.
“Vaccines have a preponderance in everything, we have to vaccinate the population well and quickly because Mexico is an open country and depends on international trade, it depends on tourism and the service industry,” he said.
The manager said that to reactivate the economy, joint work between banks, development banks and the government is also necessary, although he trusts that in the second half of the year the situation will be very different.
