Laura Garcia
08/31/2020 - 6:00
- Clarín.com
- Economy
Even with the hardships that so many companies are still going through, and the only partial relief that the beginning of the reopening of the economy supposes, the chain of payments, which had been dislocated with the quarantine, was normalizing oiled by subsidized credit and initiatives to keep SMEs afloat.
Thus, the amount of rejected checks fell from the maximum reached in April of 11.8% of the total (600,000 checks), to 1.1% in July, the latest data just published by the Central Bank, which means 45,000 bounced checks for not having funds.
Regarding the amounts involved, in April, the month with the greatest deterioration, 7.8% of the total was rejected, equivalent to almost $ 35,000 million. In July, on the other hand, with a weight of 1.2% on the universe of cleared checks, the figure did not reach $ 6,000 million .
The normalization was progressive as of April , starting from a percentage of rejected checks of just 0.8% in February in terms of amounts and 0.7% in terms of amounts.
But we are already at the pre-pandemic levels that marked the entire second half of 2019. If we look back a year, for example, July 2019, the numbers are very similar: 1.2% in quantities and 1% in amounts.
With the health crisis, a new phenomenon also broke out, fueled by the limitations of the context. Today the participation of the e-check or electronic check is 25% ($ 110,400 million), when in April, just four months ago, it was 5%.
From Banco Ciudad they explain: "We create specific lines, at promotional rates, to assist in the payment of assets and to rebuild working capital, which include the discount of checks and amortizable loans with a grace period that covers the entire stage of lower activity for mandatory quarantine ".
And they clarify that of the total loans granted, about 80% are lines created by the entity itself , which are complemented by the initiatives of the BCRA.
A key point was the flexibility of requirements. "To achieve this, we incorporated numerous lines backed by reciprocal guarantee companies, expanding accessibility to many micro and small businesses that otherwise could not be financed through the financial system."
For the most affected sectors , for example businesses with non-essential activity, the bank has loans at a fixed rate of 12%, for 24 months and with a long grace period, and a line for the discount of 90-day documents with a fixed rate of 15%.
In Banco Provincia they recapitulate: "So far this year some 8,400 SMEs have accessed special financing for more than $ 37,500 million, through some 124,000 loans with rates that are around 24% per year. Around 20% of these companies were new customers . "
"The recent launch of the e-check discount through the Province Internet Banking (BIP) is already one of the most used options, with rates of 22% in pesos for checks of up to 90 days and 24% for terms 180 days ", they point out.
At Banco Hipotecario they emphasize how crucial the speed of reaction was. "Three days after the announcement of the fortieth we had our entire sales force connected from their homes and that was a differential and a containment for our clients ."
"Now we have just launched (Pyme Pack), a package for SMEs that has service alliances that can generate savings in something as important as the health coverage of their employees, optimize their collections and manage their card sales flows. It also offers a salary payment service with benefits for employees, and a 100% bonus on the monthly maintenance commission, "they comment.
These are not times either to be left behind in the digital innovation that the situation demands. The entity comments that it incorporated the possibility of payment to providers with e-check without limit of amounts, also known as "mass issuance." With one click, multiple checks are issued.