Alexandre Albuquerque and Marcelo de Gruttola, vice presidents and senior analysts at Moody’s Ratings: “Colombian banks continued to report high loan delinquencies in the first quarter of this year. Banks began to report stabilization, or even declines, in the problem-loan ratios associated with their consumer loan portfolios, reflecting the conservative underwriting policies adopted last year. Despite this, a weakening of loan quality in commercial and mortgage lending portfolios is still evident. Although new problem-loan formation is beginning to show signs that it is becoming less intense than in 2023, we expect the overall level of problem loans will only consistently reduce toward the end of 2024 and early 2025, provided that both inflation and policy rates continue to decline and Colombia’s economy recovers. In addition, the banks’ conservative approach has contributed to a low volume of loan origination, which will also lead to…”