Banking

With a record of consistent profitability and credit growth, the banking sector has ridden the wave of Peru’s economic expansion during the past decade. As of June 2014, direct lending by the banking sector stood at PEN211.7bn ($75.58bn), having increased by 16% over the previous year. A firm regulatory environment is credited with having ensured that the country’s banks made it through the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. However, in 2014, the proposed end of the commodities supercycle, an economic slowdown and the prospect of rising international interest rates presented the banks with a new set of challenges. Even so, recent developments, including accelerating de-dollarisation and the consolidation of microfinance providers, suggest that the maturing industry is already dealing with these issues. The sector is set to see continued growth going into 2015.

This chapter contains interviews with Julio Velarde, Governor, Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP); Carlos González-Taboada, CEO, Scotiabank Peru; and Daniel Schydlowsky, Superintendent for Banks, Insurance and Pension Funds.