Non-performing loans (NPLs) at the four largest banks in Honduras rose last year as the country struggled to cope with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the destruction wreaked by storms Eta and Iota. The Central American country’s economy shrunk by 9% in 2020, according to The World Bank.
The sharpest NPL rise was at Banco de Occidente Honduras, the fourth-largest bank in the country by assets and Tier 1 capital, which saw its NPL ratio increase to 8.6% in 2020 from 5.6% in 2019, according to The Banker Database. The bank has seen its NPL ratio drop from a high of almost 10% in 2016.
Other leading lenders in Honduras saw more modest rises in NPLs last year. Banco Financiera Comercial Hondureña, the largest bank in the country by assets but second largest by Tier 1 capital, saw its NPL ratio increase to 2.0% in 2020 from 1.4% in 2019.
Banco Atlantida, the largest bank by Tier 1 capital and second biggest by total assets, saw its NPL ratio rise to 2.6% in 2020 from 2.2% in 2019. The bank’s NPL ratio rose to 5.9% in 2018.
Banco de America Central Honduras, meanwhile, the third-largest lender by assets, saw its NPL ratio increase to 2.2% in 2020 from 1.6% in 2019.
Trends identified using The Banker Database, an online database providing comprehensive financial data and insight for 4000 of the world's leading banks in 190 countries. Contact us.
