The study, coordinated by the Financial Think Tank and published by the Mexican Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), was formulated in compliance with Article 55 Bis 2 of the Credit Institutions Law.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey presented an assessment study of Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior (Bancomext), which recommends integrating periodical methodologies and evaluations to measure its impact on society.

In addition, the main conclusion of the January 2018-December 2020 analysis is that this Mexican development banking institution is financially “healthy, profitable and stable”.

The study was published on April 30 this year by the Mexican Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, formulated in compliance with Article 55 Bis 2 of the Credit Institutions Law, and reported to the Finance and Public Credit Commissions of both Chambers of the Congress of the Union.

Jesús Garza García, a professor from the Department of Finance and Economics at EGADE, was in charge of formulating the study, with the support of Vanessa Bonilla Hernández and Jorge Palacio Garza, research assistants and B.A. in Economics students at Tec.

The entire study was supervised and coordinated by the EGADE Financial Think Tank, through its director, Jorge Martínez, who also contributed with a section of a chapter, and professor Teofilo Ozuna, among other members.

The study concludes that the institution complies with all the legal requirements and states that:

“Financially, Bancomext is a healthy, profitable, and stable bank, as can be seen in the principal financial variables. Specifically, Bancomext reflects a low delinquency rate, and stable portfolio, asset, and stockholders’ equity growth, among other factors. Moreover, the bank enjoys prudent risk management, which is reflected in a low overdue portfolio and a high level of capitalization. This means that its internal control and risk management are adequate. It is important to note that the recent drop in the bank’s profitability is related to the circulating capital transferred to SHCP. Therefore, apart from this item, Bancomext is profitable.”

The study highlights that Bancomext is a very important financial intermediary for export companies of every size, but it also has a significant social impact through its contributions to job creation and to the proliferation of remunerated activities.

“Having methodologies and periodical assessments to measure the social impact of Bancomext would be highly valuable,” it states.

The study considers that there are areas of opportunity to improve Bancomext's operation and impact, and lists its recommendations, including:

• Include social impact metrics to aspire to greater financial inclusion. For example, in terms of gender, very specific metrics such as the number of companies with female CEOs or female founders.
• Boost financial products whose growth rate has not matched credit granting, such as guarantees and factoring, which are essential to provide national companies with liquidity, particularly in a year of economic recovery.
• Ensure that direct credit to micro and small businesses, and their guarantees, grow constantly year by year through new financial intermediaries or new programs or products.

Read the complete study here.