Monday, On the Margin
Banks; stats up north; trucking companies; consumer confidence and Mexican stocks.
Banks
On Friday, CNBV updated all major banking statistics for the month of February.
Total assets for commercial banks closed the month of February at $15 trillion pesos (+10% YoY), as total loan portfolios continue to rise at double-digit pace (+13.4% YoY).
Despite the strong performance for the industry’s balance sheet, we saw some deterioration on key profitability indicators as efficiency ratios rose by 83 basis points and return over assets contracted by 9 basis points. Regarding asset quality, NPL adjusted ratios remained flat, but cost of risk came up by 21 basis points on an annual basis.
Here’s the major KPIs for the top 15 banks (ranked by total loans):
If you need constant updates and access to what’s happening in the Mexican financial industry, we recommend signing up to our financial institutions dashboard.
On the consumer side of the portfolio we continue to see solid growth across loan portfolios and no major changes in asset quality ratios. Personal loans and other consumer loans — which are mostly made up of “micro” or group loans grew by more than 16% and 18% YoY, respectively.
Commercial loans also boasted double-digit growth rates, excluding government loans (which grew at 3%). Loans to non-banking financial entities increased by almost 19% YoY and has now reached a balance of $281 billion pesos.
Housing, on the other end, continues with it’s “lukewarm” growth of high-single digits — as mortgage financing continues to decelerate across the country.
North of the border
According to BTS transborder freight statistics, the value of imported goods from Mexico into the U.S. increased by 3% YoY during the month of February.
Key products such as vegetable and vehicle imports contracted at double digit rates during the month — impact which was offset by the 22% increase in imports of machinery, electrical and audiovisual (AV) equipment.
Interestingly, imports of precious metals, jewelry and the like saw a spike in trade during the first two months of the year; with people looking to import their high-value items into the U.S. before tariffs go into full effect.
Truck crossings on the other hand went down by 4% YoY, with the five major crossing points reporting decreases in truck traffic flow during the month.
This was slightly offset by double-digit growth rates in Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuña, both in the state of Coahuila.
Despite the contraction, the average number of containers loaded per truck — i.e. trucks that actually carried merchandise into the United States — increased by 2% YoY (overall), as well as posting strong numbers across key entry points into our northern neighbors.
Hitting the breaks
On this side of the border, trucking companies decreased total vehicle registries by more than 26% for motor units and 41% for non-motorized units (towed vehicles, or “cajas”).
Despite the strong contractions, the start of 2025 has seen total motor vehicle registries cross the 4 thousand unit mark — a figure that’s well above historical figures, at least, for a start of the year.
Some players are also not slowing down. Here’s a selected list of players that registered more than 30 motor vehicles this year.
At tukan we have a comprehensive database with detailed vehicle registries for all transportation companies all the way back to 2016. If you’re interested, shoot me an email at miguel@tukanmx.com
Declining
Consumer confidence dropped 0.6% MoM during March and marked the 5th consecutive month with declines for consumer optimism in the country, according to INEGI’s seasonally adjusted figures.
Only 3 other times, since 2010, has consumer confidence contracted 5 straight times on a month-over-month basis: June 2013, January 2014 and July 2019.
Mexican stocks
Despite the turmoil regarding tariffs and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq being down by double-digit’ year-to-date (YTD), the Mexican IPC has managed to achieve a near 4% gain since the start of the year.
Some stocks such as: Axtel, Gentera, Peñoles and Megacable are having one their best starts in years (in terms of stock price performance).
