new mortgage products in the market for lending to
home buyers. At year end, the mortgage loan-book
(excluding the old mortgage portfolio) had grown
7.0% year on year. According to the latest figures,
BBVA Bancomer still has the biggest volume of new
mortgages. Over the last twelve months it granted
36,027 loans to individual customers and 73,260 to
developers. BBVA Bancomer was also named by
Nacional Financiera (the government development
bank) as the most outstanding financial intermediary in
2009, for its SME-support programme and its
mortgage product for households facing economic
difficulties.
Consumer credit continued to shrink against the
previous year, reflecting both the economic downturn
and the Bank’s strict risk acceptance policy. Much of the
13.6% drop was due to lower credit-card lending.
However, over the last two months of the year, credit
cards performed better, helped by the brighter
environment and various campaigns to encourage
proper use of credit. A more suitable use of credit cards
was reflected in the stabilisation of the NPA ratio on
this loan book.
The balance of customer funds (bank deposits, repos,
funds and investment companies) reached €44,579m to
December 2009. This was a year-on-year increase of
5.2%. This positive performance was largely due to a
stronger distribution network and the launch of
innovative products. At year-end 2009, BBVA Bancomer
had more than 6,200 ATMs, 423 more than in 2008.
This has enabled it to become the bank with the largest
number of ATMs in the Mexican system. Additionally
BBVA Bancomer has been authorized to operate
banking correspondents which will enable it to increase
by more than 12,000 the points of sale over 2010.
These commercial establishments could perform
(current estimate) around 40 million banking
operations, thus reinforcing the current network. Apart
from this, a new kind of ATM has been activated
(practicajas) to allow customers to place deposits, make
transfers, pay for credit cards and services and request
loans. By expediting teller processes, these have
improved customer service.
The composition of customer funds has also improved:
41.9% are in lower-cost products (current and savings
accounts); 23.7% in investment companies and 19.0%
in time deposits. Off-balance-sheet customer funds
reflected the dynamic performance of investment
companies. These grew at 13.0% year on year.
BBVA Bancomer has continued to actively manage its
liquidity and its capital adequacy by making issues on
the local market. During 2009, it maintained its
position as the biggest mortgage covered bonds issuer
on the private market, and launched the biggest issue in
the Mexican market for a total of €312m. In order to
maintain adequate capital ratios, it issued €157m in
subordinate debt, thereby improving the bank’s capital
ratio by 123 basis points.
Additionally, BBVA Bancomer continued being leader in
corporate bond placements in the local market with a
20.6% share of the total issued (according to
Bloomberg and Thomson Financial).
The development of BBVA Bancomer’s own
management style and its effort to create leaders have
been recognised in the fourth quarter by Hewitt
Associated who ranked BBVA Bancomer among its Top
companies for Leaders 2009.
Pensions and Insurance
The BBVA Group pensions and insurance businesses in
Mexico contributed a combined attributable profit of
€246m in 2009. This was 35.6% more than in 2008.
The pension business had a tough year due to
significant drops in activity and employment rates
throughout the country. Nonetheless, Afore Bancomer
generated a €50m attributable profit (up 47.6% on
2008), in a year marked by good revenue performance
(up 10.6%), dynamic sales and a reduction in costs
(down 14.4%). Consequently, 2009 operating profit
reached €70m, increasing by a significant 55.6%.
The insurance business suffered from the marked
slowdown in banking volumes, which meant lower sales
of bancassurance products. However, the three Group
companies contributed an attributable profit of €196m
(up 32.9% year on year). The growth in savings
products not directly linked to banking activity and
products sold through alternative channels accounted
for a substantial part of this figure. €816m premiums
were written in business during 2009 (including sales of
savings products). This was 10.4% higher than in 2008.
4Q09 BUSINESS AREAS
Mexico
43
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