Foreign Trade Bank of Latin America, Inc. (BLX)
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Bladex has financed Latin America's foreign trade since 1979, and a sixth of it belongs to the region's central banks. Our price-to-free-cash-flow ranking carries the stock at 1.9, in 35th place — which sounds like two years of profit for the whole company. Except that in 2025 its operating cash flow swung between plus $874.8 million and minus $599.7 million, while quarterly profit sat quietly between $51.7 and $64.2 million. We do the arithmetic on what that ratio can really tell you about a trade finance bank — and on what it simply cannot.
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AI Rating
Uses AIBladex ist eine Handelsfinanzierungsbank ohne KI-Umsätze, setzt generative KI laut 20-F aber ausdrücklich intern in genehmigten Unterstützungstätigkeiten unter einem eigenen KI-Governance-Rahmen ein und macht „KI-Beschleunigung“ in der Investorentag-Präsentation 2026 zu einem von vier strategischen Effizienz-Hebeln bis 2030.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„As of the date of this Annual Report, the Bank's use of generative AI is limited to authorized support activities and does not extend to decision-making in financial reporting, credit, commercial, or strategic processes."
Zum Datum dieses Jahresberichts beschränkt sich der Einsatz generativer KI durch die Bank auf genehmigte Unterstützungstätigkeiten und erstreckt sich nicht auf Entscheidungen in der Finanzberichterstattung, im Kreditgeschäft, im kommerziellen Bereich oder in strategischen Prozessen.
„To manage the associated risks, the Bank has established an AI governance framework comprised of policies, standards, procedures, and control requirements designed to govern the use of AI-enabled tools and to protect sensitive and non-public information."
Zur Steuerung der damit verbundenen Risiken hat die Bank einen KI-Governance-Rahmen aus Richtlinien, Standards, Verfahren und Kontrollanforderungen eingeführt, der den Einsatz KI-gestützter Werkzeuge regeln und sensible sowie nicht öffentliche Informationen schützen soll.
„Deploy AI applications that unlock efficiency for the business, with targeted use cases"
KI-Anwendungen einsetzen, die mit gezielten Anwendungsfällen Effizienz für das Geschäft erschließen
„We will progressively embed AI agents across monitoring, early warning, anomaly detection, scenario analysis and decision support to increase frequency, granularity and response speed in the Risk function."
Wir werden KI-Agenten schrittweise in Überwachung, Frühwarnung, Anomalie-Erkennung, Szenarioanalyse und Entscheidungsunterstützung einbetten, um Frequenz, Granularität und Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit der Risikofunktion zu erhöhen.
Filings Reviewed: 20-F 2026-04-20 · 20-F 2025-04-15 · 6-K 2026-06-23 · 6-K 2026-06-08 · 6-K 2026-05-05 · 6-K 2026-04-30 · 6-K 2026-04-28 · 6-K 2026-03-24
Rated on July 28, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 1.40 | 10.30 | 190 | -7.80 | 27.10 | -305 | -306 |
| 2025: Q1 | 1.40 | 0.00 | 202 | -0.60 | 25.60 | 197 | 196 |
| 2025: Q2 | 1.74 | 27.50 | 217 | 4.40 | 29.60 | 875 | 874 |
| 2025: Q3 | 1.48 | 2.50 | 209 | -0.30 | 26.30 | 68 | 69 |
| 2025: Q4 | 1.50 | 7.20 | 89 | -53.30 | 63.10 | 58 | 55 |
| 2026: Q1 | 1.31 | -6.50 | 83 | -58.90 | 67.90 | 214 | 214 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
A specialist trade finance bank founded in 1979 by Latin America's central banks, whose class A shareholders are to this day those same central and state-owned banks — the basis for the de facto preferred creditor status the bank claims and which has carried it through several regional crises. As of December 31, 2025 the loan book spread over more than 20 countries, the largest of them carrying 16.7 percent.
Profit rose from $166.2 million through $205.9 million to $226.9 million between 2023 and 2025, and by a further 9 percent to $56.4 million in the first quarter of 2026. Return on equity was 15.43 percent in 2025 and the efficiency ratio 26.5 percent in the first quarter of 2026 — a level barely any bank with a branch network reaches.
A Basel III Tier 1 ratio of 17.9 percent, an equity ratio of 12.4 percent, impaired loans at 0.3 percent of the portfolio with 2.9 times coverage (all as of March 31, 2026). The 2025 accounts received an unqualified opinion from KPMG Cárdenas Dosal, as did internal controls; S&P Global Ratings upgraded the bank to "BBB+" on June 22, 2026.
As of December 31, 2025 five depositors together supplied 35 percent of all deposits, the deposits of the region's central and state-owned banks had an average remaining maturity of 48 days, and every deposit is uninsured. Panama has neither a central bank nor a lender of last resort — the bank buffers that with $1,988 million of liquidity, 80 percent of it at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The net interest margin has been falling for three years: 2.49 percent (2023), 2.47 (2024), 2.36 (2025), 2.34 in the first quarter of 2026; the average lending rate fell 0.82 points within a year to 6.71 percent. At the same time the entire book hangs on Latin America, with only 34 percent of the commercial portfolio in investment-grade countries. Volume growth of 13 percent has more than offset the margin pressure so far.
The price-to-free-cash-flow ratio of 1.9 (rank 35, measured July 28, 2026) captures the turnover of the loan book at this bank, not cash actually earned: in 2025, $1,057.6 million flowed out into new loans and $1,191.2 million came in as deposits. Adjusted for those balance sheet movements, $388.8 million was left — which becomes an order of magnitude of 5.9. Altman Z" (1.07) and interest coverage (0.47) likewise carry no meaning at a bank.
Bladex is the test case for the label trap: the ratio that led to the stock measures something other than its name says — at a trade finance bank under IFRS the movement of the loan book sits in the middle of operating cash flow, and in 2025 that swung between plus $874.8 million and minus $599.7 million against quarterly profit between $51.7 and $64.2 million. The company behind it is sound: 47 years of trade finance, three years of rising profit, 17.9 percent Tier 1 capital, 0.3 percent problem loans, rated "BBB+" since June 22, 2026. The real risk sits on the funding side: five depositors, 35 percent of deposits, 48 days of maturity, no deposit insurance. Not investment advice.
- Hook: the price/FCF ranking of the U.S. selection, rank 35 of 100 displayed hits out of 837 stocks screened, displayed ratio 1.9 — hit list measured July 28, 2026, underlying scanner run of July 27, 2026. The lists are recomputed daily.
- Data status: the annual report 20-F for 2025 (filed April 20, 2026) is fully evaluated; every filing after it was reviewed — 6-K on the annual meeting (April 24, 2026), on the dividend (April 28, 2026), on first-quarter 2026 figures (April 30 and May 5, 2026), on the name change (June 8, 2026) and on the S&P upgrade (June 23, 2026), plus one insider Form 4 of June 9, 2026. No Form 15, no Form 25, no SC 13D. Prices through July 24, 2026, ratios as of July 27, 2026.
- A definitional break in the revenue series of the data sheet: through the third quarter of 2025 gross revenues were reported ($202.1 / $216.7 / $209.0 million), from the fourth quarter of 2025 total revenues after interest expense ($88.8 million and $83.1 million). The displayed revenue decline of 53 and 59 percent respectively is a change of definition, not a collapse in business. Price-to-sales ratios on that series are therefore not dependable and are not used here.
- Do not confuse: Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. ("Bladex", NYSE: BLX) is neither the Brazilian Banco do Brasil nor the Inter-American Development Bank. The former name in the SEC register was "Latin American Export Bank" (until June 22, 2009); the English translation "Foreign Trade Bank of Latin America, Inc." still appears in many databases, although the bank has been called "Bladex, Inc." since June 4, 2026.
- AI rating: uses AI. The 20-F for 2025 states that the bank's use of generative AI is limited to authorized support activities and does not extend to decisions in financial reporting, credit, commercial or strategic processes, and that an AI governance framework has been established for it. The 2026 investor day presentation (6-K of March 24, 2026) makes "AI acceleration" one of four strategic efficiency levers through 2030. There is no AI revenue source, and no concrete AI risk to the business model itself.
- The quality light of this analysis judges the company, not the moment of entry.
About the Company
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A.
| Headquarters | Panama City, Panama |
|---|---|
| Website | bladex.com |
| IPO Date | 24. Sep 1992 |
| Next Earnings | 3. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Jorge L. Salas | Chief Executive Officer | 1970 |
| Annette van Hoorde de Solis | Executive VP & CFO | 1972 |
| Geraldine Francis Abreu Cumarin | Executive VP of Technology & Operations and CTO | 1966 |
| Carlos Daniel Raad Baene | Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, Chief Investor Relations Officer & Head of ESG | 1980 |
| Tatiana Calzada | Executive VP & Chief Compliance Officer | 1970 |
| Jorge Luis Real | Executive Vice President of Legal & Corporate Secretary | 1973 |
| Jessica Janson | Vice President of Corporate Communications & Social Investment | 1974 |
| Alejandro Tizzoni | Executive Vice President of Comprehensive Risk Management & Chief Risk Officer | 1976 |
| Monica Cosulich | Senior VP of Finance & Investor Relations | – |
| Olazhir Ledezma | Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning & Chief Strategy Officer | 1971 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 27, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.