Niche banks increase loan share in Dec-Aug

Several Chilean niche banks managed to increase their stake in the local loan market during the first eight months, local financial daily Estrategia reported. Banco Falabella was the niche bank that showed strongest loan growth, reaching a market share of 0.52% at the end of August, compared to 0.38% in December last year. In its core market, Falabella has 5% of total consumer loans. Rival consumer loan bank Banco Ripley also showed strong loan growth during the first eight months, increasing its loan market share from 0.02% to 0.11%. Small and medium-sized enterprise bank HNS increased its loan market share slightly to 0.22% in August, compared to 0.19% in December. Local niche banks should be able to continue to increase their participation in the loan market because there is still potential for client migration from banks that have recently merged and the consumer banks can also continue to penetrate the client bases of their retail parent companies, Santander Investment's banking analyst Raimundo Valdes told BNamericas.