11.   But exposure in Argentina weighed on profits, as the company took substantial write-downs on its corporate and consumer loan portfolios.

12.   Cabiallavetta also said the company will tighten its lending policy in order to improve the loan portfolio.

13.   Comerica Inc. said fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled as the bank reaped benefits of recent cost-cutting measures and increased the size of its loan portfolio.

14.   Dan Garcia, who recently resigned his CRA board chairmanship to move to the airport commission, agreed the loan portfolio and repayment issue deserve scrutiny.

15.   Despite heavy losses and a problem-riddled loan portfolio, Komercni represents an attractive investment opportunity to foreign financial institutions, banking analysts say.

16.   Expanding the business so rapidly may also be masking trouble in the loan portfolio, because loans usually take a few years to sour.

17.   FirstCity shrugs off such losses as long as loan portfolios are profitable as a whole.

18.   He points to Banco Bradesco SA and Banco Itau SA as two firms that could expand as smaller institutions succumb to shaky loan portfolios.

19.   He said the loan portfolio shrunk in an effort to free the bank from some credit arrangements it no longer desired.

20.   IFC officials said the ultimate goal of the loan package is to help Mexico develop a market where banks can go and sell part of their loan portfolios.