Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (Montevideo) (Uruguay)

Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU) is a public financial institution specialized in mortgage credit. It was founded on March 24, 1892, during the presidency of Dr. Julio Herrera y Obes, from the Mortgage Section of the bankrupt Banco Nacional de la República Oriental del Uruguay. It began operating with the consent of shareholders and holders of mortgage bonds, and with a state contribution of four million pesos in public debt, granted in property. On May 23, 1912, President José Batlle y Ordóñez, along with his Minister of Finance, José Serrato, presented the nationalization project, and on June 8 of that year, it was nationalized. Since 1996, it has competed in mortgage loans with private banks; until then, BHU had a monopoly on this line of credit. In the 1990s, the combination of activities carried out by BHU - construction, real estate, subsidy channeling - generated an overlap of risks that left BHU in an extremely vulnerable situation during the 2002 crisis: insufficient capital and availability, very high levels of delinquency, and high operating expenses. A new legal framework approved during the 2005-2009 government period provided for the capitalization of BHU (USD 250 million) and its restructuring (announced in March 2006), in order to position it as a financial institution and provide it with appropriate economic, operational, and regulatory conditions to re-enter the mortgage market by developing credit products accessible to the population with repayment capacity, but historically not served by the rest of the banking sector. The restructuring also involved the separation and transfer to the National Housing Agency (ANV) of a significant portion of its more difficult-to-manage loan portfolio, a large part of its branches, and almost two-thirds of its staff. ANV was created by Law No. 18,125 of April 27, 2007, which also modified the BHU's Organic Charter with a clear redefinition of its roles. In June 2008, the Bank launched the sale of newly built properties on credit, and in December of that year, it obtained authorization from the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) to return to the credit market, an activity that had been suspended since 2002. BHU currently offers loans for the purchase of new or used homes, as well as for home renovations. It carries out its credit activity for both savers and non-savers throughout the country.