Argentina

Argentina's financial system comprised 60 banks and 13 finance companies at mid-2026, with total assets of ARS351.5tn in July 2026. Public banks play a central role: Banco de la Nación Argentina alone held 22.8% of system assets at end-2025 and Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires a further 6.3%, with 14 public banks in total. The five largest institutions—Nación, Galicia, Santander Argentina, BBVA Argentina and Macro—accounted for 58.6% of assets. Domestic private banks, foreign-owned subsidiaries, the cooperative Banco Credicoop and a growing group of digital banks, including Ualá Bank and Brubank, make up the remainder.

Since the phase-out of the central bank's LELIQ notes from December 2023, balance sheets have shifted towards private lending: credit to the private sector reached 44.9% of assets in July 2026, 1.9 points higher than a year earlier, while claims on the public sector were about 30%. Private credit rose to 12.5% of GDP, 0.6 points above December 2025, driven by foreign-currency lending to companies. Dollar intermediation is expanding: private US-dollar deposits grew 23.9% year on year in July. Peso deposits are more volatile, falling 3.4% in real terms in July, and banks keep large liquidity buffers of 31.3% of peso deposits and 49.2% of dollar deposits.

Solvency is high by international standards: regulatory capital was 30.5% of risk-weighted assets in July 2026, and capital in excess of requirements equalled 277% of the regulatory minimum. Asset quality has weakened, especially in household lending: the private-sector non-performing ratio was 7.7% in July, 12.9% for households and 3.6% for companies, although provisions covered 87.6% of irregular loans. Profitability is moderate after inflation adjustment, with return on assets of 1.3% and return on equity of 5.7% over the twelve months to July 2026, and a three-month annualised return on assets of 2%.

The main risks are macroeconomic. Disinflation has progressed—monthly consumer price inflation was 1.9% in June 2026—but remains vulnerable to exchange-rate and fiscal shocks; since January 2026 the limits of the peso's floating band have been adjusted monthly in line with the latest inflation print. Other risks include rising household delinquency, sovereign exposure, peso-rate volatility in the absence of a conventional policy rate, and the growth of dollar lending, which rules confine largely to borrowers with foreign-currency income or exporter guarantees.