AV Villas Q1 earnings up 36% on mortgage lending

Colombian bank AV Villas reported a 35.7% jump in first quarter earnings on the back of strong consumer lending operations. AV Villas' profits rose to 12.6bn pesos (US$5.38mn) compared to 9.26bn pesos during the same quarter last year, the bank said in a statement. "Our consumer loan book was fueled primarily by mass market products and mortgage lending," a spokesperson told BNamericas. The Colombian government has been pushing for an increase in home lending through state-run programs such as Mivivienda. The bank's non-performing loans decreased 63% year-on-year to 141bn pesos. Its past-due loan ratio fell to 8.1% at the end of March. "We expect the same growth in lending and earnings in the second quarter this year, which will continue to be driven by retail loans and in particular mortgage lending," the bank spokesperson said. AV Villas' assets rose to 3.5tn pesos at the end of March. Colombian financial group Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores controls Banco AV Villas along with four other local financial institutions: Banco de Bogota, Banco de Occidente, pension fund administrator Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones y Cesantías Porvenir and Leasing de Occidente.