Banco Popular Dominicano held its Annual Ordinary Extraordinary General Assembly of Shareholders, where it reported on the excellent performance obtained in 2021.
It was a period in which it contributed to the economic reactivation of the productive sectors, maintained the pace of growth and the quality of its assets, achieved high levels of liquidity, efficiency and solvency, and consolidated its digital leadership in the modernization of financial services. in the country.
Among the main decisions made at the Extraordinary General Assembly session, the shareholders approved the issuance of a green bond as a public offering debt, for an amount of RD$2,500 million, whose funds will be used to continue supporting the Dominican Republic in its ecological transition. towards a low-carbon economy, mainly financing new renewable energy, electromobility and eco-efficiency projects.
Likewise, the assembly members approved increasing the bank’s authorized capital stock by RD$5,000 million, now standing at RD$50,000 million.
Immediately after the celebration of the Extraordinary Ordinary Annual General Assembly of Shareholders, the new Board of Directors of Banco Popular held its first meeting, by virtue of the provisions of article 37 of the bylaws, where Mr. Manuel Grullón Hernández was appointed as Vice President of the Board of Directors and Mr. Alex Pimentel M. as Deputy Secretary of the Board of Directors.
The assembly members and Panama subsidiary
In the session as an ordinary meeting, after verifying the statutory quorum, the shareholders took note of the subscribed and paid shares charged to the authorized share capital, learned about and approved the Annual Management Report of the Board of Directors, the financial statements that detail the situation of the assets and liabilities of the company, the profit and loss statement, other accounts and balance sheets, and the report of the auditor.
The assembly members ratified Mr. Marino D. Espinal as president and Messrs. Adriano Bordas and Pedro G. Brache Álvarez as members, forming Group II, for a period of three years. In addition, Mr. Rafael A. del Toro G. was appointed as a new member of this Board of Directors for a period of one year, and the appointment as member of Mrs. Cynthia T. Vega was ratified.
The assembly learned of the change in their functions of the directors A. Alejandro Santelises, Manuel E. Jiménez F. and Enrique M. Illueca, who will now exercise new functions for the organization.
Specifically, Messrs. Santelises and Jiménez F. will chair the Board of Directors of a new financial brokerage entity of the Popular Group, as chairman and vice-chairman of said board, respectively, continuing as members of the Board of Directors of the firm matrix, Popular Group.
Additionally, Mr. Illueca will be part of the Board of Directors of Popular Bank Ltd, a banking subsidiary of Grupo Popular located in the Republic of Panama. The shareholders appointed KPMG Dominicana as an external auditing firm, approved the bank’s annual objectives and learned about the budget for the current year 2022.
Similarly, information was provided on the Comprehensive Risk Management Report and the Annual Report on compliance and execution of the System for the Management of Risks of Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, according to the provisions of the Superintendence of Banks.
Quantitative results
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Banco Popular, Mr. Marino D. Espinal, informed the shareholders that Banco Popular has the healthiest portfolio indicators in Dominican banking. From a quantitative point of view, he indicated that the bank’s total assets ended in 2021 at RD $ 606,918 million, showing a growth of 9% over the previous year.
The gross loan portfolio resulted in a balance of RD$378,202 million, experiencing an increase of RD$30,382 million, equivalent to 9% more. This growth was achieved while maintaining the quality of the portfolio, which concluded with a past due portfolio ratio of 0.70% over the gross portfolio and provision coverage of 436%.
The total deposits received ended last year 2021 with a balance of RD$474,793 million, registering an increase of RD$38,123 million, for a growth of 9%, according to the information provided.
The ratification of Fitch Ratings and Feller-Rate
The achievements were obtained by maintaining a solvency level of 16.71%, higher than the minimum limit of 10% required by current regulations, presenting a capital surplus of RD$28,904 million that would allow the entity to grow by RD$289,000 million in assets. Gross profits amounted to RD$17,381 million which, after discounting the amount of Income Tax for RD$3,796 million, resulted in net profits of RD$13,585 million, showing an increase of RD$4,018 million.
The ratification of Fitch Ratings and Feller-Rate, which granted solvency ratings to Banco Popular of AA+ (dom), with a stable long-term outlook, was highlighted as an achievement.