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Applicable laws and regulations
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Applicable laws and regulations  
Applicable laws and regulations
Liquidity index
Rule No. 2-2018 issued by the Superintendence of Banks of Panama (SBP) establishes that every general license or international license bank must guarantee, with a higher level of confidence, that it is in the position to face its intraday liquidity obligations in a period when liquidity pressure may affect the lending market. For that purpose, the SBP has established a short-term liquidity coverage ratio known as “Liquidity Coverage Ratio or LCR”. This ratio is measured through the quotient of two amounts, the first one corresponds to the high-quality liquid assets and the second one corresponds to the net cash outflows in 30 days.
As of December 31, 2024, and 2023, the minimum LCR to be reported to the SBP is 100% for both years. The Bank´s LCR as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 was 264.6% and 205.8%, respectively.
Rule No. 4-2008 issued by the SBP establishes that every general license or international license bank must always maintain, a minimum balance of liquid assets equivalent to 30% of the gross total of its deposits in the Republic of Panama or overseas up to 186 days, counted from the reporting date. The formula is based on the following parameters:
Liquid assets
x 100 = X% (Liquidity index)
Liabilities (Deposits received)
In compliance with the provisions established by the Superintendency of Banks of Panama, beginning in April 2024, the Bank reclassified the presentation of certain assets held in financial institutions with less than 186 days of maturity, previously reported in the obligations category, and transferred them to the loans category, with an impact of approximately 32 percentage points. Even with this reclassification, the legal liquidity ratio has remained above the minimum required at all times and has not entailed a material change in the Bank's liquidity management.
The liquidity index reported by the Bank to the regulator as of December 31, 2024, and 2023, was 47.2% and 93.4%, respectively. If the aforementioned reclassification is applied, the liquidity ratio for the period ended as of December 31, 2023 would have been 60.98%.
Capital adequacy
The Banking Law in the Republic of Panama and Rules No. 01-2015, 03-2016 and 05-2023 require that the general license banks maintain a total capital adequacy index. As of December 31, 2024, the capital adequacy index may not be less, at any time, than 8.5% (including the capital conservation buffer of 0.50% required for 2024, according to Agreement No. 05-2023) of total assets and off-balance sheet irrevocable contingency transactions, weighted according to their risks; and ordinary primary capital plus conservation buffer that shall not be less than 5% of its assets and off-balance sheet transactions that represent an irrevocable contingency, weighted based on their risks; and a total primary capital plus conservation buffer that shall not be less than 6.5% of its assets and off-balance sheet transactions that represent an irrevocable contingency, weighted based on their risks.

Capital Conservation Calculation

As of July 2024, Rule No. 05-2023, issued by the Superintendency of Banks of Panama, came into force, which establishes rules on the creation of a capital conservation buffer, whose objectives are:
(i) ensure that banks accumulate reserves that can be used in case of incurring losses,
(ii) that banks do not fail to comply with the established minimum requirements, without considering the conservation buffer, in episodes of deterioration in solvency.

As established in the Rule, banking entities must establish a capital conservation buffer of 2.5%, (established in a phased manner starting with 0.50% as of July 1, 2024, 0.75% for July 1, 2025 and 1.25% for July 1, 2026) of risk-weighted assets (credit, market and operating), made up of capital ordinary primary and in addition to all the minimum regulatory capital requirements that are established, for which the total minimum regulatory capital will be 8.5% for 2024, 9.25% for 2025 and 10.5% for 2026, (before the modification of the Rule 8%).

The primary objectives of the Bank’s capital management policy are to ensure that the Bank complies with capital requirements imposed by local regulators and maintains strong credit ratings and healthy capital ratios to support its business and to maximize shareholder value.

The Bank manages its capital structure and adjusts it according to changes in economic conditions and the risk characteristics of its activities. To maintain or adjust the capital structure, the Bank may adjust the amount of dividend payment to shareholders, return capital to shareholders or issue capital securities.

No changes have been made to the objectives, policies and processes from previous periods. However, they are under constant review by the Board.
The information corresponding to the total capital adequacy index is as follows:
December 31,
20242023
Capital funds1,341,0311,206,753
Risk-weighted assets9,873,7728,898,408
Capital adequacy index13.6 %13.6 %
Leverage ratio
Article No. 17 of the Rule No. 1-2015 establishes the leverage ratio of a regulated entity by means of the quotient between the ordinary primary capital and the total exposure for non-risk-weighted assets inside and outside the consolidated statement of financial position as established by the SBP. For the determination of the exposure of off-balance-sheet transactions, the criteria established for credit and counterparty credit risk positions will be used. The exposure of the derivatives will be the fair value at which they are recorded in the Bank’s assets.
The leverage ratio cannot be lower, at any time, than 3%. The Bank will inform to SBP as often as the compliance with the leverage ratio is determined.
The table below presents the Bank´s leverage ratio in compliance with Article No.17 of Rule No. 1-2015:
December 31,
20242023
Ordinary capital1,195,914 1,070,734 
Non-risk-weighted assets12,220,660 10,994,085 
Leverage ratio9.8%9.74%
Regulatory reserves:
Below is a list of the regulatory reserves that the Bank maintains in accordance with the Prudential Standards of the SBP:
December 31,
20242023
Dynamic provision145,117136,019 
Regulatory reserve for individual credits
4,549
Total regulatory reserves
149,666136,019
Credit risk coverage - dynamic provision
The SBP by means of Rule No. 4-2013, establishes the compulsory constitution of a dynamic provision in addition to the specific credit provision as part of the total provisions for the credit risk coverage.
The dynamic provision is an equity item associated to the regulatory capital but does not replace or offset the capital adequacy requirements established by the SBP.
Methodology for the constitution of the regulatory credit reserve

The SBP by means of the General Resolution of Board of Directors SBP-GJD-0003-2013 of July 9, 2013, establishes the accounting methodology for differences that arise between the application of IFRS and the application of prudential regulations issued by the SBP; as well as the additional disclosures required to be included in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
The parameters established in this methodology are the following:
The calculations of accounting balances in accordance with IFRS and the prudential standards issued by the SBP will be carried out and the respective figures will be compared.
When the calculation made in accordance with IFRS results in a higher reserve or provision for the bank compared to the one resulting from the use of the prudential standards issued by the SBP, the Bank will account the IFRS figures.
When the impact of the use of prudential standards results in a higher reserve or provision for the Bank, the effect of the application of IFRS will be recognized in profit or loss, and the difference between IFRS calculation compared to the prudential standards calculation will be appropriated from retained earnings as a regulatory credit reserve. If the Bank does not have sufficient retained earnings, the difference will be presented as an accumulated deficit account.
The regulatory credit reserve mentioned in paragraph 3 of this Rule may not be reversed against retained earnings as long as there are differences between IFRS and the prudential standards.
Considering that the Bank presents its consolidated financial statements under IFRS, specifically for its expected credit reserves under IFRS 9, the line "Regulatory credit reserve" established by the SBP has been used to present the difference between the application of the accounting standard used and the prudential regulations of the SBP to comply with the requirements of Rule No. 4-2013.
As of December 31, 2024, the total amount of the dynamic provision calculated according to the guidelines of Rule No. 4-2013 of the SBP is $145 million (2023: $136 million), appropriated from retained earnings for purposes of compliance with local regulatory requirements. This allocation is restricted for dividend distribution purposes.

Capital reserve
In addition to capital reserves required by regulations, the Bank maintains a capital reserve of $95.2 million, which was voluntarily established. Pursuant to Article No. 69 of the Banking Law, reduction of capital reserves requires prior approval of SBP.

Regulatory reserve for individual credits
Rule No. 11-2019, amended by Rule No. 4-2013, indicates that all loans classified as unrecoverable must be written off within a period of no more than one year. For corporate loans with real estate collateral, the Bank will write off all loans classified as unrecoverable within a period of no more than two years, from the date on which it was classified in that category. After two years, if the Bank has not made the write-off, it must create a reserve in the equity account, through the appropriation of retained earnings, which will be charged to the value of the loan net of the provisions already established, according to the percentages established in the following table:
Percentage applicable
Period
At the beginning of the third year
50%
At the beginning of the fourth year
50%
In accordance with the provisions of Rules No. 11-2019 and 4-2013, the bank recognized regulatory provisions for individual loans for $4,549 million as of December 31, 2024.

Specific provisions
SBP Rule No. 4-2013, modified by Rule No. 8-2014, states that the specific credit provisions are originated from the objective and concrete evidence of impairment. These provisions must be established for credit facilities classified according to the risk categories denominated as: special mention, substandard, doubtful, or unrecoverable, both for individual credit facilities as for a group of such facilities. In the case of a group, it corresponds to circumstances that indicate the existence of deterioration in credit quality, although individual identification is still not possible.

Banks must calculate and maintain at all times the amount of the specific credit provisions determined by the methodology specified in this Rule, which takes into account the balance owed of each credit facility classified in any of the categories subject to provision, mentioned in the paragraph above; the present value of each guarantee available in order to mitigate risk, as established by type of collateral; and a weighting table that applies to the net exposure balance subject to loss of such credit facilities.
Article No. 34 of this Rule establishes that all credits must be classified in the following five (5) categories, according to their default risk and loan conditions, and establishes a minimum reserve for each classification: normal 0%, special mention 20%, substandard 50%, doubtful 80%, and unrecoverable 100%.
If there is an excess in the specific credit provision, calculated in accordance with this Rule, compared to the provision calculated in accordance with IFRS, this excess will be accounted for as a regulatory credit reserve in equity and will increase or decrease with appropriations from/to retained earnings. The balance of the regulatory credit reserve will not be considered as capital funds for calculating certain ratios or prudential indicators mentioned in the Rule.
Based on the classification of risks, collateral and in compliance with SBP Rule No. 4-2013, the Bank classified the loan portfolio as follows:
December 31, 2024
NormalSpecial mentionSubstandardDoubtfulUnrecoverableTotal
Loans at amortized cost
Corporations5,294,002 46,959 — 6,933 10,107 5,358,001 
Financial institutions:
Private2,521,065 — — — — 2,521,065 
State-owned413,775 — — — — 413,775 
2,934,840 — — — — 2,934,840 
Sovereign82,331 — — — — 82,331 
Total8,311,173 46,959  6,933 10,107 8,375,172 
Specific provision 9,392 5,546 5,558 20,496 
Allowance for loan
losses under IFRS (1):
51,427 14,248  5,441 7,042 78,158 

December 31, 2023
NormalSpecial mentionSubstandardDoubtfulUnrecoverableTotal
Loans at amortized cost
Corporations4,354,378 32,342 — — 10,107 4,396,827 
Financial institutions:
Private2,248,150 — — — — 2,248,150 
State-owned464,918 — — — — 464,918 
2,713,068 — — — — 2,713,068 
Sovereign85,672 — — — — 85,672 
Total7,153,118 32,342   10,107 7,195,567 
Specific provision 6,470   5,652 12,122 
Allowance for loan
losses IFRS (1):
45,958 6,554   6,898 59,410 
(1) As of December 31, 2024, and 2023, there is no excess in the specific provision calculated in accordance with Rule No. 8-2014 of the SBP, over the provision calculated in accordance with IFRS.
As of December 31, 2024, and 2023, the restructured loans are for $67.5 million and $40.5 million respectively.
Rule No.4-2013 defines as Past Due any credit facility for which payment of contractually agreed amounts present more than thirty (30) days in arrears, up to ninety (90) days; and as Delinquent, any credit facility for which payment of contractually agreed amounts present more than ninety (90) days in arrears, except for single-payment transactions and overdrafts, which will be considered Delinquent when payment exceeds thirty (30) days in arrears from the contractual payment date.
Below is the classification of the loan portfolio by maturity profile based on Rule No. 4-2013 and modified by Rule No. 8-2014:
December 31, 2024
CurrentPast dueDelinquentTotal
Loans at amortized cost
Corporations5,347,894 — 10,107 5,358,001 
Financial institutions:
Private2,521,065 — — 2,521,065 
State-owned413,775 — — 413,775 
2,934,840 — — 2,934,840 
Sovereign82,331 — — 82,331 
Total8,365,065  10,107 8,375,172 

December 31, 2023
CurrentPast dueDelinquentTotal
Loans at amortized cost
Corporations4,386,720 — 10,107 4,396,827 
Financial institutions:
Private2,248,150 — — 2,248,150 
State-owned464,918 — — 464,918 
2,713,068 — — 2,713,068 
Sovereign85,672 — — 85,672 
Total7,185,460  10,107 7,195,567 
In accordance with Rule No. 4-2013, as amended by Rule No. 8-2014, non-accruing loans are presented by category as follows:
December 31, 2024
NormalSpecial mentionSubstandardDoubtfulUnrecoverableTotal
Loans at amortized cost
Impaired loans— — — 6,933 10,107 17,040 
Total   6,933 10,107 17,040 
December 31, 2023
NormalSpecial mentionSubstandardDoubtfulUnrecoverableTotal
Loans at amortized cost
Impaired loans— — — — 10,107 10,107 
Total    10,107 10,107 
December 31,
20242023
Non-accruing loans:
Private corporations
17,040 10,107 
Interest that would be reversed if the loans had been classified as non-accruing loans474 328 
As of December 31, 2024, and 2023, no interest income was received from loans in non-accrual status.