According to the US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s (the Fed’s) January 2026 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS), which corresponds to the fourth quarter of 2025, survey respondents reported tighter lending standards for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to firms of all sizes. Banks also reported stronger demand for C&I loans to large and middle-market firms and relatively unchanged demand for C&I loans to small firms, as well as generally unchanged standards and stronger demand for commercial real estate (CRE) loans, the Fed confirmed.
“Over the fourth quarter, modest net shares of banks reported having tightened standards on C&I loans to firms of all sizes. Meanwhile, moderate net shares of banks reported lower costs of credit lines and narrower spreads on C&I loans to large and middle-market firms, and a modest net share of banks reported having tightened the maximum size of credit lines for small firms,” the SLOOS also noted.
The Fed added that among banks that reported having eased C&I loan standards or terms, all cited more aggressive competition from other lenders as an important reason for doing so. “Further, significant net shares of such banks cited a more favorable or less uncertain economic outlook and increased liquidity in the secondary market for these loans as important,” according to the US monetary authority. “In contrast, among banks that reported having tightened standards or terms for C&I loans, major net shares cited a less favorable or more uncertain economic outlook, a reduced tolerance for risk, and increased concerns about the effects of legislative changes, supervisory actions, or changes in accounting standards as important reasons for doing so.”
Separately, the Fed announced the timing of revisions to banks’ capital-buffer requirements. Michelle Bowman, vice chair for supervision, said large banks’ “stress capital buffers” will not be recalculated until 2027, after the Fed has had a chance to identify any “deficiencies” in the models it uses to test large banks’ finances against a hypothetical economic downturn, even though the Fed published the scenarios for the 2026 stress-testing cycle. Instead of updating capital requirements this year, regulators will wait until they have solicited public feedback on disclosure and modelling issues related to stress tests.
The stress-capital buffer is a key component of post-crisis regulation; it determines how much additional capital large banks must hold above minimum requirements based on how they perform under hypothetical severe-downturn scenarios. Bowman emphasised that the Fed intends to improve transparency around stress-testing models and scenarios, allowing market participants and the industry to better understand how tests are conducted and how capital requirements are determined.
Canada’s federal government included a Consumer-Driven Banking Act (CDBA) as part of its broader budget-implementation framework, marking a pivotal step toward formalising open banking after years of consultation and policy debate. While open banking has been discussed for years, tabling this legislation signals a real policy commitment to modernise the Canadian financial ecosystem.
Under the proposed framework, consumers and small businesses would be empowered to direct the sharing of their financial data among federally regulated financial institutions and accredited service providers securely, enabling better personal financial management and increased competition for banking products and services. This is designed to replace risky practices such as “screen scraping”—by which third-party apps obtain login credentials to access data—with a secure, consent-based API (application programming interface) regime.
The open-banking initiative has been largely welcomed by a banking sector historically dominated by a few large institutions operating under limited competitive pressure. As such, the framework could enable fintech (financial technology) and challenger firms to compete more effectively, expanding consumer options while leveraging banks’ core deposit and credit infrastructures. Some analysts argue this could encourage significant innovation in Canadian financial services without compromising safety or privacy.
According to figures from Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) published in December, the non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio of consumer credit reported by Mexican banks reached a record high of 53.895 billion pesos (US$2.9 billion) in October. According to a report from Mexico News Daily, the overdue balance of consumer credit—including credit cards, payroll loans, personal loans and auto loans—was 3.3 percent of the overall loan portfolio of private banks at the end of October, amounting to approximately 1.6 trillion pesos (US$87.4 billion).
The personal-loan segment posted the highest annual increase in delinquency rates, rising by 47 percent from a year earlier. The outstanding balance reported by Banxico stood at 17.1 billion pesos (US$934 million) in October, which represented a hefty 6.1 percent of the current portfolio.
In late January, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pressed domestic lenders to prepare financing for a number of energy and infrastructure projects, including renewable energy and transmission, as well as highway and train projects. According to Bloomberg, Sheinbaum, Bank of Mexico Governor Victoria Rodríguez Ceja and Secretary of Finance Edgar Amador Zamora met with the country’s top bankers “to discuss increasing credit and digitalizing payments in the country’s cash-heavy economy, according to people at the meeting who requested anonymity since the talks were private”.
Sheinbaum also confirmed that discussions covered Mexico’s economic outlook, with growth markedly slowing amid uncertainty over US trade policy. Lending in Mexico trails its peers as a share of output, while infrastructure bottlenecks have stymied the country’s industrial expansion.
The Brazilian financial system experienced substantial credit expansion in 2025. According to Banco Central do Brasil’s (BCB’s) January 29 press release, the balance of total credit to the non-financial sector reached BRL 20.8 trillion (163.2 percent of gross domestic product [GDP]), up 11.4 percent over the year and reflecting increases of 19.1 percent in public-debt securities and 10.0 percent in National Financial System (SFN) loans.
“Total credit to non-financial corporations reached BRL 7.0 trillion in December (55.1 percent of GDP), up 4.6 percent in the year, highlighting the increases of 8.3 percent in SFN loans and 12.9 percent in debt securities issued by non-financial corporations, partly offset by the 5.2 percent decrease in the foreign debt balance,” Brazil’s central bank added. “Total household credit added up BRL 4.8 trillion (37.5 percent of GDP), up 11.9 percent in 12 months, mainly reflecting the performance of SFN loans.”
The total SFN credit balance totalled BRL 7.1 trillion in 2025, 10.2 percent higher than the previous year, although this was less than the 11.5-percent growth recorded for 2024. What’s more, the slowdown in credit expansion last year occurred in both corporate credit (8.1 percent in 2005, compared with 9.9 percent in 2024) and in household credit (11.6 percent compared with 12.6 percent in the same periods). “In December, the total credit balance grew 1.8 percent, up 3.3 percent in corporate credit and 1.0 percent in household credit,” the central bank also confirmed. “Non-earmarked credit operations totalled BRL 4.1 trillion in 2025, up 8.6 percent in the year, a slower growth rate compared with 2024 (11.3 percent).”
This credit performance is significant because it occurred while the Banco Central do Brasil kept its monetary policy extremely tight, with the benchmark Selic rate held at 15 percent—the highest level in nearly two decades—throughout 2025 to anchor inflation toward the 3-percent target. This outturn suggests Brazil’s banking system retains considerable capacity to supply loans even under restrictive monetary settings.
But while credit growth remains robust, the quality and pricing of that growth have become a central concern for commercial banks entering 2026. The expansion in lending has been increasingly concentrated in lower-risk, policy-supported segments, such as payroll-deductible consumer loans and subsidised housing credit, rather than higher-margin corporate or unsecured retail products. This shift has helped keep non-performing loan (NPL) ratios broadly stable, but at the cost of compressed net-interest margins for the sector.
On January 29, Chile’s financial regulator, the Financial Market Commission (CMF), published its “Report on the Performance of the Banking System and Cooperatives as of December 2025”. “Loans in the banking system deepen the decline posted last month with a fall of 1.03 percent in real terms over 12 months due to a drop in the commercial portfolio,” the report noted. “Meanwhile, consumer loans grow for the 8th consecutive month, and housing loans also expand—albeit at a slower rate than in November.”
The CMF has also been actively updating its regulatory framework. It published a 2025-2026 Regulatory Plan outlining sector priorities late last year, including updates to consent requirements for data access, modernisation of supervisory tools and consultation on new rules for mutual and investment funds.
One of its most strategically significant initiatives is the development of an open-finance system to enable better data sharing between banks and fintechs, thereby enhancing interoperability and competition. By lowering entry barriers to innovative digital services and codifying how consumer financial data is shared across platforms, this initiative is expected to broaden the competitive field, potentially compressing traditional banks’ margins while expanding market access for new players.
The Venezuelan government notified four domestic banks in mid-January that they would split $300 million in oil revenue—funds held in a Qatar-based account—to enable them to sell dollars to Venezuelan companies that need foreign exchange (forex) to pay for raw materials. This move is designed to increase the availability of US dollars for local companies requiring foreign currency to import materials, a critical support given the country’s heavy reliance on petroleum exports.
The injection follows reports of tightened dollar supplies in late 2025, including incidents in which US seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers disrupted revenue flows, exacerbating foreign-exchange scarcity for both the private sector and the broader economy. Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez (Gómez), confirmed that oil revenues would be channelled through the central bank. “They will reach private banks through the foreign-exchange market mechanism.” She also noted that the $300 million received would stabilise the exchange rate and protect incomes and purchasing power, acknowledging the acute pressure on prices due to foreign-exchange shortages.
Economic leaders, including representatives of Venezuela’s private sector, have welcomed the measures, noting that fresh dollar flows could support exchange-rate stability and help temper inflation, which remains high and has significantly eroded purchasing power. However, structural challenges such as pervasive triple-digit inflation and a weak bolívar mean that forex injections are a short-term stabilisation tool rather than a longer-term solution.
Banco Central de Bolivia’s (BCB’s) new president, David Espinoza, has promised to restore complete independence and implement a fully technical approach for the monetary institution going forward. The bank’s new chief made the pledge during his swearing-in ceremony. “We must return the central bank to its technical foundations, far from political influence,” Espinoza said, adding that his team of central bankers inherited a “destroyed economy”. Indeed, Bolivia’s international reserves stood at just $3.23 billion at the end of October, with only $73 million in cash, which covered less than a single month of imports.
Under previous administrations, Bolivia’s central bank had become a major source of financing for the government. The country’s new president, Rodrigo Paz, confirmed that his government would respect the bank’s independence and asked the institution to enforce monetary and fiscal discipline with “social responsibility”.
Separately, the new government disclosed its plans to create a gold bank, supported by public and private capital, to ensure sustainable mining and marketing practices. According to José Gabriel Espinoza, the finance minister, who spoke to Bloomberg in late November, President Paz aims to continue the state buying of locally mined gold but adopt different mechanisms from those in place since 2023, with the gold bank helping to improve oversight. “We’re going to create the gold bank, and what we need to do is set mechanisms that ensure traceability, development of the gold sector and respect for environmental standards,” Espinoza added.
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