Puerto Rico's Popular (Nasdaq: BPOP) believes there is a possibility to expand margins on the deposit side, given low current interest rates and the effects of the recent industry consolidation experienced in the island, chairman and CEO Richard Carrion told a conference call.
Popular's net interest margin increased to 4.49% in 3Q10 from 3.21% in the previous quarter, boosted by a continued reduction in the cost of deposits.
"We are focused on reducing the cost of deposits, and they have clearly been coming down following the three [recent bank] closings [by US financial regulators]. There is still some pressure in Puerto Rico, as some banks shift from brokered deposits to client-generated local deposits," Carrion said.
Last April, Popular as well as Canada's Scotiabank (NYSE: BNS) and Puerto Rico's Oriental Financial Group (NYSE: OFG) purchased Westernbank, R-G Premier Bank and Eurobank respectively in an auction held by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
"There has been an effort by other banks to try to capitalize on that and take clients away, and everybody's waiting for that dust to settle. I do expect deposit costs to continue to decrease given the level of interest rates we are seeing," Carrion said.
The sale of a 51% stake in its processing business EVERTEC to asset manager Apollo Management allowed Popular to post a US$495mn net profit in 3Q10 - the first after eight straight quarters of losses.
Excluding that one-time gain, Popular booked a US$36mn quarterly loss, 71% less than in 3Q09 and also better than the US$55.8mn loss posted in the previous quarter.
Popular is the leading banking institution by both assets and deposits in Puerto Rico and ranks 33rd by assets among US banks.
Source: www.bnamericas.com
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