Bancrédito Costa Rica
in Central America
Friday, January 13, 2012
The four state-owned banks intend to lend $682 million in housing in 2012, 20% less than last year.
Publicly owned banks (National, Costa Rica, Bancrédito and Popular) have set a goal of granting ¢351,000 million ($682 million) in housing loans during the course of 2012, reported Nacion.com.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A project to unify their technology platforms has proved unsuccessful, a fact that limits the possibilities of integrating their services.
Apart from the failure of the macro project, some synergies have been achieved. Between the National Bank and Bank of Costa Rica (BCR) there is an agreement that clients can change checks and make deposits and both share the use of ATMs.
Monday, January 31, 2011
State banks will allocate $670 million through different programs aimed at Small and Medium Enterprises.
According to a survey conducted by La Nacion with State owned financial institutions, the sectors most favored will be service and trade.
Friday, January 14, 2011
State banks will allocate $ 788 million through programs for all social strata.
Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), Banco Nacional and Bancrédito, have placed more than 20% of their portfolios in this area.
In the case of Banco Nacional, the institution will provide $ 535 million of which $ 347 million will be targeted for families with low and middle income.
Monday, August 23, 2010
The difference in the interest paid by banks on deposits and loans can be as much as 22%.
Intermediation margins are a measure how a financial sector performs its mediation role and is one indicator of efficiency. Though there are various ways to calculate the figure, Costa Rica's margin is higher than in other economies.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Reforms are planned to the "Sistema de Banca para Desarrollo" (SBD) "banking toll fee" arrangement with the introduction of a fixed payment.
In addition, the concept of differentiated regulation will be introduced and the role of Costa Rica's national learning institute (INA in Spanish) in carrying out business training will be clarified.
Friday, December 11, 2009
A MEIC study found that credit card issuers charge interest rates between 20% and 54%.
There are 27 issuers in the country, whom collectively offer 407 different products, according to the study by the Economy, Industry and Commerce Ministry (MEIC).
Monday, August 24, 2009
State owned banks will now be able to loan up to 20% of their equity to state entities.
With the approval of the law project, the available loan portfolio at state-owned banks will be 8.6 times larger.
"The modification increases from 6% to 20% the capital and reserves limit that state banks can loan to public institutions. ICE, AyA (Sewer and Aqueducts Institute) and CCSS (Costa Rica Social Insurance) will remain outside of this limits", reported Elfinancierocr.com.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Costa Rica Development Banking System will finance SMEs productive projects in up to $110.000.
Small and medium businesses with viable projects will be able to request financing from state owned banks "Banco Nacional", "Banco de Costa Rica", "Banco Popular" and "Banco Nacional de Costa Rica".
Friday, June 26, 2009
Money is not reaching the productive system in Costa Rica because of defects in the law, for which reforms are still being studied by the Advisory Council.
The guidelines that regulate the Development Bank System contain inconsistencies that have impeded the allocation of a good part of the abundant financial resources available. Because of this, the Advisory Council will send a reform proposal to the Legislative Assembly.
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Academy of Central America heads a group of companies and institutions seeking to promote the use of banking services in this sector.
With funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Office of Technical Cooperation of Spain, the project seeks to combat poverty in this immigrant sector, for which it is implementing different methods, including lower remittance costs, by intensifying the use of banking services such as savings accounts.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
SMEs may defer payment of the principal on loans made by state banks for 2 years, paying only the interest during that period.
Some 34,500 lending operations by the National Bank, Bank of Costa Rica and Bancrédito may opt for this measure.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Arnoldo Trejos, assistant manager at Bancrédito, announced that the Superintendent of Pensions (SUPEN) authorized the bank to sell INS (National Insurance Institute) policies.
The assistant manager informed Nacion.com: "We are presenting the Supen resolution to the board of directors as part of the last legal procedures for the subsequent registration of the society with the National Registry. The expectation at Bancrédito is that the new company will be registered and ready to go into the market within 15 days or so."
Friday, March 6, 2009
The money is intended for loans to small and medium sized businesses at preferential rates, but Bancrédito, the state bank which manages it, alleges legal flaws that prevent it from granting them.
For Bancrédito, the problems are that these funds require separate supervision and that the interest rates at which the loans need to be made as provided by law would cause the bank losses.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Starting February 15, a 2 percentage point decrease in the rates will come into effect for home and small and medium business loans with balances lower than $69,246."
Nacion.com says that "Said measure will last for 24 months, although it will be revised annually.
These measures are in response to the request from the Government that the banks reduce their rates in order to deal with the crisis.