A SHOW OF STABILITY

摘要

Chile, long considered one of Latin America's most developed and stable countries, is experiencing a post-crisis surge on the back of the high prices for the commodities it exports to Asia, in line with much of the rest of South America. However, the strong outlook for the banking sector has little to do with Chile's famous copper mining industry. "Most of the large corporate producers are funded by the headquarters of mining groups," says Raimundo Monge, CEO of Santander Chile. "They tend to borrow very little from local banks." The projected growth in lending in the country this year, about 15%, or roughly double projected gross domestic product (GDP) growth, depends more on consumers than the country's corporations. "The capital markets in Chile for the needs of corporations are very deep, because of our private pension funds. Corporate loans are not growing as much as we would expect. Corporations are very liquid," says Mr Monge. "We expect a good year, and the biggest challenge is the penetration and coverage of the country's poor."