More delays than in another rate adjustment (since Milei came to the Government there have been five), the banks are slowly reflecting the decision of the Central Bank that on Thursday lowered the reference interest rate again by another 10 percentage points, placing it in 50% annual nominal. That descent impacts the performance of fixed deadlines.
The first cut occurred in the last month of last year, when the Central Bank took the reference rate from 133% to 110% annual nominal. At the beginning of March, he made another decision in this regard and that was to eliminate the rate floor that banks had to meet for their deposits and lower the reference rates to 80%.
Last week, the Central Bank lowered the reference rate again to 60% annually, from a previous level of 70%. And this Thursday, almost by surprise, it lowered it another 10 percentage points and left it at 50%.
In terms of fixed terms, the biggest change occurred in March when the monetary authority, in addition to lowering the rate, decided eliminate the minimum performance for fixed terms.
In previous days, with the rate of reference at 60%the entities gave an annual nominal return of about 50% (some more, others less), little by little that percentage begins to decline.
So about the banks that the BCRA has in the rate comparator. Seven remain between 51 and 50%, and the rest are well below that mark, ranging from 43% to 37% (TNA).
Fixed term: bank by bank, what is the TNA and the interest you pay per month
Mortgage: a nominal annual rate of 51%, that is, an interest for a fixed term of 30 days of 4.25%.
ICBC, City and Bank Julio: 50% (TNA), or an interest of 4.17% for 30 days.
Uala: 45% (TNA) or 3.75% monthly return
CMF: 44% nominal annual rate, or 3.66% per month.
Banco Galicia and Bank: 43% TNA, that is, a yield of 3.58%.
Macro, Regional, BICA and VOii: a nominal annual rate of 42%, or an interest of 3.50%.
Comafi, Del Sol and Tierra del Fuego: 41% annual nominal rate, that is, 3.42%.
Bapro, Credicoop, BanCor, Dino and Meridian: 40% (TNA), that is, a monthly return of 3.33%.
HSBC: 39% nominal annual rate, or 3.25%.
Santander and BBVA: nominal annual rate of 38%, or a monthly return of 3.16%.
BMV: with a nominal annual rate of 37%, that is, an interest of 3.08%.
As an example, it is worth saying that by maintaining about $500,000 for 30 days, you will receive interest for 30 days, between $23,750 (from the one that yields the most) and $15,000 (the one that contributes the least). Between one and the other there may be a difference of up to $8,750, depending on the entity chosen to create a fixed term.
The data comes from the rate comparator published daily by the Central Bank and is compiled based on the data reported by the banks to the monetary entity.
Why the Central Bank lowers the rate
As explained by the BCRA itself, “the reduction in the monetary policy rate and the normalization of bank reserve requirements share a common goal in the absorption of liquidity surpluses resulting from monetary financing accumulated during recent years. The correction of these imbalances represents a central element for the elimination of controls in the financial system”.
In this way, both for banks, savers and companies, the Central Bank accelerates the liquefaction in the face of inflation. as a way to change the logic of the economy. On the one hand, the drop in rates forces banks to migrate the pesos they lent to the Central Bank to the debt placements carried out by the Treasury.
On the other hand, the strategy seeks to get banks to begin reducing the rate they charge for loans and focus on their traditional business: taking pesos over time to lend to families and companies.
