Just over three years after the outbreak of the pandemic, the bank credits with public guarantee of the ICO created by the government to prevent a massive debacle of companies, SMEs and freelancers Due to the health crisis, they continue to show a behavior more positive than would have been expected when the decree was confinement in 2020. At the end of March, the delinquency of these loans – more than 90 days of default– was limited to 1.67% (2,350 million euros)according to a report from Official Credit Institute (ICO) to which EL PERIÓDICO has had access. These defaults have led to State to pay 391.4 million of euros to banking by virtue of the guarantees it granted to ensure that financing continued to reach the economy in the early phases of the coronavirus.
The delinquent operationsthus, amount to about 39,800granted to around 28,800 clients. The State promised to assume the 80% of the losses that will cause banks delinquent credits to freelancers and SMEs and between the 60% and 70% on bad loans to companies larger. The amount disbursed is still low because delinquency is being contained, and also because the ICO is paying to the entities the guaranteed amount of the unpaid installmentsnot of all the outstanding principal of the credit, given the possibility that the client will once again be able to meet the installments.
The 39,800 delinquent operations compare with the 1,192,484 which were granted, with 674,922 beneficiaries what did you recieve 140,737 million euros (from them, 107,187 million guaranteed). That unpaid operations (3.33% of the total) are greater than the amount in arrears (1.67%) implies that customers who requested smaller amounts -usually freelancers and SMEs– are having a little more trouble meeting the quotas. In any case, it is also a low data as much about what expected about three years ago Historical facts of delinquency. At the end of June, the grace period for the majority of operations that benefited from the payment moratorium of principal, but there has not been a notable increase in delinquency.
Differences with the Bank of Spain
The figures in the ICO report, which will logically grow in the coming quarters, are different to which he has been giving Bank of Spain due to differences in the methodology calculation. The ICO takes as a reference the maximum amount of credit granted because it estimates that it offers the most realistic image. Thus, it is a portfolio closed to new entries (the period for requesting guarantees ended in June of last year), which is also going reducing by amortizations (mainly from the most creditworthy clients). Instead, the delinquent credits or with greater payment difficulties do not come out of the portfolio, with which their weight is always will tend to increase with respect to the last data of outstanding balance. In addition, the ICO takes into account only unpaid loanssince they are the most relevant for the institution since they are the ones that force it to pay the banks.
He Bank of SpainInstead, it takes as a reference the last outstanding balance of the drawn down credit (There are approved amounts that the companies did not ultimately need, even though they had it approved and available). Also, calculate the doubt rate (not delinquency, like the ICO), which includes both credits unpaid as those registered in the category of subjective doubt (transactions that are up to date with payment but that are considered probable that they will no longer be). This is so because for the supervisory body what is relevant is not the impact who may have said credits in public accounts, but in banks and in the financial system stability.
According to his latest data, the living arranged credit of ICO credits dropped to 79.212 million euros at the end of last year (11.3% less than in 2021). Of them, a 7.1% (5,633 million78% more) were in a situation of doubtful collection (they would be 6.3% if compared to the maximum point of the arranged portfolio). Specifically, there were 2,905 million and a 3.7% in delinquency and 2,728 million and one 3.4% in subjective doubt. Also, there was another 19.6% (15,504 million, 14.5% less) in the category of special surveillance (up to date with payments but showing signs of weakness), while a 73.3% (58,075 million, 14.5% less) they had no problems.
within expectations
Doubtful 7.1% or 6.3% of these credits calculated by the Bank of Spain is higher than 3.55% general bank doubtful February and the 4.2% business doubtful from December. The agency itself justified this in its recent financial stability report: “The worst behavior of the credit quality of this portfolio in relation to that of the group of loans to companies within expectations deployment of the ICO guarantee program, especially aimed at companies facing the 2020-2021 health crisis with a weaker financial position and that they would be more affected by it, particularly due to the nature of their sectoral activity”. Likewise, it is well below the all-time high of 13.61% of general banking doubtful reached in 2013 or of the levels above the 30% of that registered by construction companies and developers after the bubble burst.
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After the start of the pandemic in March 2020, thus, the Government approved the two lines of guarantees for an amount up to 140,000 million euros (100,000 million for liquidity and working capital and 40,000 million for investment), which together with the erte for the workers It was key to avoiding a massive destruction of the productive fabric and employment during the confinement. He 98% of operations were signed by freelancers and SMEs and 73.5% were for self-employed workers and micro-SMEs with fewer than 10 employees.
Catalonia was the community that registered the highest number of operations with 238,016 credits for 134,260 companies and freelancers for an amount of 26,507 million euros (20,352 million in guarantees). For financing, the first was the Madrid’s community (28,486 million) due to the greater concentration of large companies. The sectors those who were granted the most guarantees were the tourism, leisure and culture; construction and infrastructures; business, professional and administrative services; consumer goods and ‘retail’; equipment and industrial goods; and commercial distribution of food and beverages.