The Latin American Banking Federation (Felaban) will be meeting in the Dominican Republic in November. The country’s banks are growing their balance sheets; however profitability is on a downward trend.
The Dominican Republic will play host to the 52nd annual meeting of the Latin American Banking Federation (Felaban) from November 11-14. The conference will cover economic challenges in the region, including the situation in Brazil and Argentina; regulatory challenges for the region, particularly Basel III reforms; and de-risking in Latin America. It will also be looking at the economy and the banking system of the host nation.
The state of the banks in the Dominican Republic is relatively positive. The top five banks by total assets have been steadily boosting their balance sheets over the past five years, increasing their total assets by around 40%, to $25.8bn at the end of 2017. The country’s largest lender, Banco de Reservas de la Republica Dominicana, has increased its total assets by 33%.
However, the banks’ return on capital (ROC) has seen a downward trend over the same period, which means they are less profitable. The third largest lender, Banco Multiple BHD Leon, has seen its ROC almost halve, from 40.8% in 2013 to 23.3% in 2017. All top five banks in the Dominican Republic are below the regional ROC average of 25.8%.
Read a special report on the Dominican Republic in the November issue of The Banker.
All data sourced from www.thebankerdatabase.com
