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At the end of the first quarter of this year, the net profit of the Bancolombia Group totaled 335,884 million pesos, which represented a decrease of 59.69% compared to the report for the same period in 2019, when it accounted for 833,328 million.
This was reported by the financial establishment when reporting the results of its operations between January and March, which had in particular in this last month the impact of the restrictive measures decreed by the Government to contain the expansion of the coronavirus.
In this sense, the bank indicated that it executed a series of business continuity plans that have allowed it to service its operation and provide uninterrupted service to its clients in atypical circumstances of confinement.
“Likewise, commercial measures have been adopted for the benefit of clients, monitoring and follow-up strategies to maintain liquidity at adequate levels, and special procedures for remote and teleworking operations,” it was mentioned in the document delivered to the Financial Superintendence.
Although for the analysts of Davivienda Corredores, with the conjuncture of covid-19 the perception of the demand for credits plummeted for the housing and consumption segments, in the case of Bancolombia these niches continued to increase in relation to the performance they had in the last quarter of 2019.
For their part, commercial loans and microcredits also appreciated a rebound, which could be explained by an increase in the liquidity and financing needs of companies to face the lower generation of income due to compulsory isolation.
In this context, Bancolombia’s loan portfolio went from 182.2 trillion pesos between October and December 2019 to 203.9 trillion in the first three months of 2020, that is, it increased by 11.8% (see Parenthesis).
Mauricio López González, coordinator of the Applied Macroeconomics Group of the University of Antioquia, part of the results can be explained because some credit payments were stopped, since there are grace periods for companies and individuals.
“The other part is explained because the production of the companies is paralyzed, having the real sector paralyzed hits the financial segment a lot, since these go hand in hand. The drop in profits is very big for me, but Bancolombia is a strong bank ”, mentioned the teacher.
Additionally, he warned that this may be a wake-up call for the financial system, and despite the fact that it has obtained positive results, it gives a break, but emphasized that “the fall is great and you have to be careful there. It is a wake up call ”.
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