That crisis passed and Banamex remains part of Citi. "There were all sorts of rumours during the crisis," says Javier Arringunaga, chief executive of Banamex and Citi’s chief administrative officer for Latin America, refusing to confirm or deny any specific speculation. "But Citi always made it absolutely clear that it had no intentions of selling Banamex. Ten years ago Banamex contributed approximately 5% of Citi’s net income, whereas today it’s more than 10%."
Banamex reported a net income of Ps5 billion ($401.5 million) in the fourth quarter of 2010 and Ps22.2 billion during the year, an annual increase of 18%. The consumer bank’s growth was particularly strong: credit for families increased 11%, reaching over Ps140 billion – the biggest increase among Mexican institutions. Banamex granted around 40% of all new mortgages by Mexican banks in 2010 and did so in partnership with the state’s Infonavit. That enables the bank to deduct mortgages directly from payroll – lowering risk and resulting in lower non-performing loans than for the rest of the industry (under 2%).
In the institutional segment Banamex and Citigroup were the leaders in Mexican-issued capital and debt placement in domestic and international markets (and included deals such as América Móvil’s Ps15 billion bond, Cemex’s Ps715 subordinated debentures – a record size for this deal structure by a Latin American issuer – and Chedraui’s Ps5 billion IPO).
