Subprime Lending Is on the Rise in 2023. Here's Why
The Financial Stability Report indicates that there was, in 2023, an increase in risky loans, particularly related to the indebtedness of poorer families.
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Economia BdP
According to the BdP, although the ratio of defaulted credit continued to decrease in 2023 from 3% to 2.7% - which it attributes to the maintenance of employment and family income and to credit renegotiations and government support measures, in the same year "there was an increase in loans with deteriorating credit risk".
The ratio of loans to individuals at risk (the so-called 'stage 2' in the jargon of the sector) increased by 2.2 percentage points in 2023 to 10.4% due mainly to variable rate housing loans.
The BdP considers, in the report released today, that this "reflects an increase in the credit risk associated with the greater weight of debt servicing on the income of the most vulnerable families".
Banks place in 'stage 2' credits that are not in default, but in which there are signs in the client's financial situation that this may happen.
Regarding the Portuguese banking sector, the report indicates that improvements continue to be recorded in terms of capital, liquidity and profitability, but warns that the "preservation of the financial margin is very relevant to support the organic generation of capital", considering that banks should contain the effects on the financial margin of the foreseeable reduction in interest rates.
"It is important to ensure that the increased resilience of the Portuguese banking sector to possible shocks takes on structural contours, allowing for the adequate remuneration of depositors and shareholders and the necessary effort to adapt to emerging realities", reads the Financial Stability Report.
The governor of the Bank of Portugal, Mário Centeno, presented the report today at a press conference in Lisbon.
Questioned about the possible merger of banks in Portugal (it is known that the investment fund Lone Star wants to sell Novo Banco), Centeno praised the banking sector and its performance in European 'stress' tests and said only that it is the "market that will determine all the processes" that may occur.
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