La Jornada: Consumer credit has been the driving force of commercial banking for 4 years

In May 2026, the financing that banks grant for family consumption completed four consecutive years of being the driving force of the credit portfolio of these financial intermediaries, above business or mortgage segments, according to information from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).

At the end of the fifth month of the year, the balance of the consumer financing portfolio stood at one trillion 966 thousand 183 million pesos, which meant an increase of 11.7 percent in nominal terms and 7.5 percent in real terms; that is, by discounting the inflation of the period.

The bank’s credit portfolio is made up of three large segments: commercial financing, which includes loans granted to companies, financial entities and governments. In addition, there is housing credit, intended for the acquisition, construction or remodeling of properties.

Then there are consumer loans, made up of the financing that banks grant to families to buy goods and services, such as credit cards, personal loans, payroll loans and automobile loans. Since May 2022, it is the segment that has the best performance.

The importance of consumer credit for banking is also reflected in the generation of income. At the end of the fifth month of the year, this segment contributed 218,406 million pesos in interest, equivalent to just over 47 percent of the 461,240 million that the banking system obtained in interest derived from its entire credit portfolio.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, trade financing was the main driver of growth in the bank’s credit portfolio. With the health emergency and the change in user needs as well as the decrease in interest, the dynamism shifted to housing loans and, once that stage was passed, consumer credit took over.

Financing for the acquisition of automobiles was the segment with the greatest dynamism until the end of May, since the balance of this portfolio stood at 372 thousand 975 million pesos, an amount that represented an annual growth of 15.3 percent in nominal terms and 11.9 percent in real figures.

Credit cards remained the second fastest growing segment. The balance of this portfolio amounted to 727,672 million pesos at the end of the fifth month, which implied an increase of 11.9 percent in nominal terms and 7.7 percent in real terms compared to the same month of 2025.

Meanwhile, the personal loan portfolio reached a balance of 308 thousand 756 million pesos. According to the CNBV, this segment reported an annual growth of 11.3 percent in nominal figures and 7.1 percent when discounting inflation. Payroll loans registered the slowest rate of expansion among the main components of consumer financing. At the end of May, the balance of this portfolio was 453 thousand 321 million pesos, a figure that represented an annual advance of 9.4 percent in nominal terms and 5.2 in real terms.