SANTO DOMINGO.– The financial statements of the banking sector continued to reflect good health in terms of liquidity, asset quality, equity strength and other indicators, at the end of the January-March quarter of this year, assessed the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA).
The association reported that, as of March 2024, the banking sector's net assets reached RD$3.1 trillion (RD$3,121,175 million), representing a year-on-year growth of 16.5%, equivalent to RD$442,911 million. The March expansion (16.5%) also reflects an acceleration compared to the same month in 2023, when assets grew at a year-on-year rate of 9.7%, it specified.
He specified that investments represented 25.1% of total assets and amounted to RD$782,914 million, for a year-on-year growth of 16.5%. Meanwhile, the liquid asset ratio stood at 41.0, remaining well above the average for Latin American countries, according to an ABA analysis based on statistics from the Superintendency of Banks.
Regarding the gross loan portfolio, the entity that brings together multiple banks reported that the total balance was RD$1.7 trillion (RD$1,737,999 million), with a relative year-on-year growth of 21.4%, which is equivalent to RD$306,783 million more than that recorded in March 2023.
The ABA highlighted that customer behavior regarding commitments remained at excellent levels, reflected in a delinquency rate close to 1.0% during the period, making it the lowest in the region.
He highlighted that the Dominican banking sector ended the third month of the year with a non-performing loan coverage ratio of 271.9. This means that for every peso of overdue loans, multiple banks have 271.9 pesos to cover expected losses, he explained.
Regarding total liabilities, the ABA indicated that these showed a pace consistent with the increase in assets and reached a value of RD$2,790,749 MM, a figure that is equivalent to an annual expansion of 16.4% with respect to the same month of 2023.
Funding, assets and solvency
The Banking Association reported that, between March 2023 and March 2024, the growth rate of deposits increased by 3.1 percentage points, reaching 13.1% at the end of the first quarter of this year.
He maintained that this growth was largely influenced by the performance of public deposits, which reached RD$2.1 trillion (RD$2,162,018 million), representing an annual growth of 10.9% compared to March 2023. In this regard, he stated that this result was mainly due to the strong performance of time and demand deposits, evidence of the high level of public confidence in the banking sector.
Regarding assets, he pointed out that during the first quarter of 2024, this indicator registered a growth of 17.8%, which implies 3.5 percentage points more than in March of the previous year and a total of RD$330,426 million.
Meanwhile, the solvency ratio of multiple banks in the Dominican Republic reached a value of 14.72 as of December 2023, an indicator that consistently remains comfortably above the 10% minimum required by law, the ABA stated.
