The Uruguayan banking system is looking healthy and robust and has emerged healthily from the crisis of 2002. The contrast is particularly marked and encouraging when one considers the very difficult situation prevailing five years ago, when Uruguay was just emerging from the worst financial crisis in its history, a period marked by the disappearance of 30% of the private banking system.
Nowadays, the banking system is composed of 14 first-rate international private banks and a sound, profitable public bank with a large market share. In the past five years, the system has grown consistently by an annual rate of 14% in US dollars. The favourable national and international context and the dynamism observed in deposits and lending have had a positive impact on almost all indicators (including solvency, profitability and portfolio quality).
