Mexico City - Mexico's biggest banks kept their balance sheets on solid ground in August despite loan defaults and a deep recession that has weighed on their businesses, the country's financial regulator said this week. The banks all maintained capital adequacy ratios in excess of 10 percent, a measure of capital that shows how prepared a bank is to weather losses, the regulator said in a statement. Following a spike in defaults on credit cards this year because of Mexico's economic downturn, banks have improved their nonperforming loan ratios. Nonperforming credit-card debt was equivalent to 10.58 percent of Mexican banks' credit card portfolios in August, down from 12.16 percent in July. When a bank's ratio dips below 10 percent, the regulator requires it to come up with a plan to raise its capitalization. The statement also said: • HSBC Holding Plc's (HSBA.L) Mexican bank increased its capital adequacy ratio slightly to 13.22 percent from 12.85 percent in July. • Leading Mexican bank BBVA Bancomer, a unit of Spain's BBVA's (BBVA.MC), had a capital adequacy ratio of 14.52 percent in August, down a bit from 15.11 percent in July. • Mexican bank Banamex, whose parent Citigroup (C.N) was rescued by the U.S. government after facing billions of dollars of losses, let its capital adequacy ratio decline marginally to 17.21 percent from 17.51 percent. • Banorte (GFNORTEO.MX), one of Mexico's locally controlled big banks, saw its ratio rise slightly to 15.73 percent in August from to 15.34 percent in July. (Editing by Gunna Dickson)
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Business News | October 2009 
Noel Randewich - Reuters
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