Overview
- Regulators reported that credit operations via digital wallets grew more than 22-fold between 2023 and 2025 and that by the end of last year over half of individual loan disbursements were made through digital channels.
- Digital microloans are the main gateway to the financial system, with new entrants to banks rising about 25% in 2025 and roughly three-quarters of those users receiving a first small consumer loan via digital channels.
- The typical digital loan has shrunk sharply: average nonrevolving consumer loan amounts fell by more than 60% between late 2024 and March 2026, with many first loans around S/200–S/300 and some issued through messaging apps and mobile wallets.
- Key household and portfolio indicators improved, with the quota‑to‑income ratio at 25.8% for 2025 and the consumer loan nonperforming ratio falling from a 10.5% peak in June 2024 to about 6.2% by March 2026, and overall consumption credit up 8% year‑on‑year to March 2026.
- The SBS judges the banking system liquid and solvent and able to withstand a modeled 30% deposit outflow, but it warns that sustained digital expansion requires stronger cybersecurity, data‑protection rules, risk controls and continued physical access where cash use and connectivity gaps persist.