Mexico's 23 financial institutions posted total profits of 158.20 billion Mexican pesos in 2017, up 27.5% from a year ago, as the financial margin shot up 12.8% and financial intermediation and net commissions increased, banking regulator CNBV said.

The group's combined net interest income through December 2017 was 431.7 billion pesos, up 12.8% from a year ago. In addition, income from intermediation reached 48.5 billion pesos, up 50.9%. Meanwhile, net commissions hit 106.6 billion pesos, up 5.6%.

The companies' total loan portfolio reached 4.38 trillion pesos, up 9.0% year over year. Four financial groups — Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer SA de CV, Grupo Financiero Banamex SA de CV, Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV and Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico SAB de CV — held a combined 68.4% of total loans.

Total assets increased 4.9% to 9.17 trillion pesos as of December, with banks holding 90.3% of these assets, brokerages 4.0% and insurers 3.0%.

The financial institutions' combined 12-month return on assets was 1.79%, up from 1.47% a year ago, while their return on equity was 16.13%, up from 13.49%, the CNBV noted.

The overall delinquency rate was 2.07%, down 0.02 of a percentage point from December 2016. However, the delinquency rate for consumer loans edged up 0.21 of a percentage point to 4.07%, the regulator said.

As of March 23, US$1 was equivalent to 18.54 Mexican pesos.