That is from the announcement made by the Minister of EconomyLuis Caputo, within the framework of the 41st Annual Congress of the Argentine Institute of Finance Executives (IAEF), where he said that the yield offered by the Treasury to obtain pesos in the market should be adopted by banks as the reference.
There does not seem to be a big difference between what the National Treasury pays and what the Central Bank can offer. to financial entities, especially to follow the dynamics of capture pesos from savers through a fixed term and lend it to some State entity. It is worth remembering that the BCRA reduced its rate to capture repos to 40% nominal annually.
They have to be taken as refers to short Lecaps, analyst Christian Buteler tells Ámbito. For example, the Treasury instrument pays a annual nominal of 42.15% at 21 days and 44.18% at 38 days.
“Caputo must want the banks to average,” said Buteler, who clarified that “the “Banks have a limit to operate with Treasury debt.”
Strictly speaking, due to international regulatory standards, banks They cannot raise all the pesos they would like and lend it to the public sector.
“Seeing the history of the Treasury with defaults, There is going to be a lot of talk about exposure,” to Treasury risk, explained the economist. On the other hand, he explained that The National Treasury “is not in a position to absorb two and a half monetary bases” without generating a debt disaster.
For the analyst, It does not depend on the willingness of the banks to raise the interest rate they can offer their clients.. The fixed term is not the only instrument to raise funds, since even today, given the sharp drop in the rate, It is likely that it will be more business for financial institutions to finance the private sector.
Pedro Siaba Serrate, from Portfolio Personal Investments (PPI) He points out that “they will have as a reference the shorter Lecap rate of around 25 to 30 days.”
“Today in the secondary market that has an Annual Effective Rate of around 51%,” explained the PPI analyst.
So for banks that want to take money from their clients to transfer it to the Treasury, through a fixed term, that mark should be the ceiling. The rates to be offered should be a few points lower.
Some then assume that It is better for a saver to go directly to the Treasury instrument through brokerage companies or common funds.
“We believe that the lowering of BCRA rates, together with higher minimum Lecap rates, will make these securities attractive. We consider that the Treasury could cover the maturities thanks to this rate incentive. The future intention seems to be r“create a fixed Lecaps rate curve, although demand is conditioned by the exchange controls that still persist,” explained Juan Manuel Franco, chief economist of Grupo SBS.
Based on this new scheme, Caputo told them that they should take the LECAPS rate as a reference, which would allow them to improve the rate for their depositors.
What are the nominal annual rates that are paid at the moment according to the Central Bank page:
BANCO NACION ARGENTINA 30%
SANTANDER BANK ____28%
BANK OF GALICIA ____30%__
BAPRO 30%
BBVA BANK 28%
MACRO BANK ____30%
HSBC BANK ARGENTINA 32%
CREDICOOP BANK 30%
ICBC BANK ____28.7%
CITY BANK 31%
Source: Ambito
