Active and Passive Rates by Bank Guatemala 2026: Highest Savings APY, Lowest Loan APR

Last verified: May 16, 2026 · Data from Banguat and published bank tariffs · Full methodology · How we calculate scores

TL;DR — The Essentials in 7 Lines

• System average GTQ (Banguat, May 16, 2026): Active 12.47% · Passive 4.18% · Spread 8.29 points.
• System average USD: Active 6.89% · Passive 3.42% · Spread 3.47 points.
• Highest passive GTQ (savings): BAM and Bantrab tied at 4.50%. BI follows at 4.25%.
• Lowest passive GTQ: BAC Credomatic 3.80%. Promerica 3.90%.
• Lowest active GTQ (lending): Banco Industrial 11.50%. BAM 12.00%.
• Highest active GTQ: Bantrab 14.00%. Banrural and Promerica 13.50%.
• Best Bank to Save Score (0-100): 1) BAM 100 · 2) BI 82 · 3) G&T 65 · 4) Banrural 58 · 5) Ficohsa 58 · 6) Promerica 51 · 7) BAC 20.

System Averages and What They Mean

The Bank of Guatemala publishes four rates weekly that summarize the full banking system. These are not rates you’ll personally receive or pay — they’re portfolio-weighted averages. They’re the benchmark each bank is measured against.

Three readings:

1. GTQ spread is 2.4x the USD spread. USD funding anchors to international rates (Fed Funds) and the Guatemalan banking system doesn’t control that rate. In quetzales the system has pricing power — and the spread reflects operating cost + funding cost + credit risk.
2. The average active rate excludes credit cards. If plastics (24-54% APR) were included, the average would jump to ~18-22%. The published rate is for commercial, mortgage, and non-revolving consumer credit.
3. Policy rate at 3.50% (easing cycle since 2024). Banguat started cutting in June 2024 from 5.00%. This gradually compresses the passive rate — which is why retail CDP rates have fallen versus 2023.

Per-Bank Comparison — 8 Banks x 4 Rates

Main table. Annual rates in percent. Data from Banguat scraper + bank tariffs, May 16, 2026.

How to read the table:

• “Active GTQ” = bank’s portfolio average lending rate in quetzales (full book excluding credit cards).
• “Passive GTQ” = the GTQ deposit rate the bank pays to depositors.
• “vs System” = how far the bank’s active GTQ differs from the system average. Negative is better for the borrower.
• A low spread isn’t automatically “good” or “bad” — it reflects the bank’s business model.

Best Bank to Save — Proprietary Score

If you only care about the pure passive rate, BAM and Bantrab tie at 4.50%. But the real decision of where to put savings also depends on fees (what eats into the yield) and app quality (how much friction you face using it). The score combines all three in a public formula.

Best Bank to Save formula (0-100):

• 50% passive GTQ rate (higher = better). Normalized within panel range (min 3.80% = 0 points, max 4.50% = 100 points).
• 30% account fees (lower = better). Zero monthly fee = 100. Linear penalty: each Q1 of monthly fee subtracts 4 points. Q25 = 0.
• 20% online banking quality (better app = better experience). Rated “good” = 100, “fair” = 70, “basic” = 40. Sourced from banks.json field onlineBanking.quality.

Full scoring methodology

Note on Bantrab: the GTQ passive rate is 4.50% (tied with BAM for highest), but banks.json does not have complete fee and app-quality data for Bantrab — it doesn’t enter the primary score ranking due to missing data. If all three factors matched BAM, Bantrab would tie at #1. Recommendation: Bantrab makes sense for public-sector employees (its historical niche) and for anyone chasing the pure highest passive rate regardless of app friction.

How to read the score:

• BAM #1 at 100: combines the highest passive rate with zero fees and a quality app. It doesn’t have BI’s branch network, but for app-banking users, it’s the dominant pick.
• BI #2 at 82: 0.25 pts less passive than BAM, but offset by the highest-rated app in the panel (4.2) and the largest network (1,600+ branches). If “I need a branch in every town” matters, BI is the answer.
• BAC #7 at 20: the only bank with a monthly fee (Q25) in the panel. Q25/month is Q300/year — on a Q60,000 balance at 3.80%, the fee eats 13% of the interest generated. BAC has a good app and good ecosystem (especially on credit cards), but it’s not the bank for savings.

If you want to apply different weights, the raw data is above — calculate your own.

Best Bank for Borrowers — Lowest APR

For borrowers the priority is different: low active GTQ rate > branch network > app. There’s no composite score here because the published active rate is the key information; loan origination fees are smaller than the rate itself.

Three caveats before taking the table at face value:

1. It’s portfolio average, not your rate. Your specific rate depends on amount, term, collateral, and credit profile. A mortgage with 30% down at BI may come in at 9-10%. An unsecured personal loan at BI may be 18-22%. Use the average as preselection, not a guaranteed rate.
2. Banrural is high, but its niche is agricultural/rural. Its average climbs because it lends to profiles other banks won’t touch. If you need an agricultural loan, Banrural is still the destination — the rate “premium” reflects access, not inefficiency.
3. Bantrab at 14% is justified by public-sector lending. Bantrab lends to public employees via payroll deduction, which lowers risk but offsets with a higher rate because its passive deposits also pay more (4.50%).

Spread Analysis — Why Some Banks Have Wider Spreads

The spread (active minus passive) is the bank’s gross margin. A low spread can signal aggressive competition or a lower-risk book; a high spread can signal heavier consumer-credit exposure or higher operating cost.

General pattern: large banks (BI, BAM, G&T) operate with spreads below the system average — scale + diversification let them compete on finer margins. Banks with portfolios concentrated in consumer or rural niches (BAC, Banrural, Bantrab, Promerica) operate above the system average.

Don’t confuse spread with efficiency. Spread reflects cost of capital + operating cost + risk. A consumer bank with a 9.5 spread can be as profitable and as efficient as a corporate bank at 7.5 — they operate in different markets.

USD Accounts — A Separate Rate Consideration

USD rates are significantly different from GTQ:

Why the USD spread is much smaller: USD funding cost anchors to the US Federal Reserve. Guatemalan banks don’t control that rate — they import it. The system USD spread (3.47) is comparable to USD spreads at commercial banks in other LATAM countries with dollarized systems or strong USD-account demand.

Best USD passive rates in the panel:

For anyone with USD income (diaspora, remote workers, exporters) the USD account has two advantages: a natural hedge against quetzal depreciation, and a USD lending rate roughly half the GTQ rate. The downside is that the USD passive rate is 0.76 points below the GTQ — if your consumption is in quetzales, you’re losing purchasing power by saving in USD at a lower rate (unless FX moves your way).

See also: USD savings account in Guatemala · USD/Q today.

Who Should Care — Cohort Segmentation

Not every reader needs to optimize the same numbers. Four main cohorts:

1. Salaried Guatemalan with payroll account (balance Q5,000-50,000). Passive rate barely matters — the gap between best and worst rate is ~Q35-350/yr. Prioritize: branches near home and work, an app that doesn’t fail, zero monthly fee. Best pick: BAM or BI on app + branches + zero fee. Avoid BAC for primary savings.

2. Professional with Q200,000-Q1,000,000 balance. Passive rate now matters — Q1,400-Q7,000/yr between best and worst. Prioritize: passive rate, but not at app’s expense. Best pick: BAM (4.50% + good app + no fee). Consider moving the surplus over Q20,000 to a CDP — the cuenta-de-ahorro rate is always below the time-deposit rate. See CDP comparison.

3. Diaspora receiving remittances or working remote for the US. Needs a USD account. Prioritize: USD passive rate + cheap international ATM + cheap incoming wires. Best pick: BAM (3.75% USD passive + lowest USD spread at 3.0) or BI (3.50% USD + the best ATM network). Consider Wise + local USD account to cut conversion cost.

4. Business owner or entrepreneur looking for a loan. The average active rate is only a starting point — your real rate depends on collateral, term, and profile. Prioritize: bank with a strong commercial book and a low active rate in the panel. Best pick: BI 11.50% or BAM 12.00% as first call. Ask explicitly for a “preferential rate” with mortgage or pledge collateral — it’ll come in 1-3 points below the published average. See Mortgage rate by bank.

How We Compare the System to the Region

Guatemala’s 8.29-point GTQ spread is in the low-to-mid range for LATAM. As an indicative benchmark:

• Highly concentrated banking systems + high competition (Chile, Colombia, Mexico) typically run spreads of 10-12 points in local currency.
• Low-inflation + stable-policy systems (which describes Guatemala — January 2026 inflation: 0.96% annual, below Banguat’s 3-5% target range) tend to have lower spreads because funding cost is stable and predictable.
• Dollarized systems (El Salvador, Ecuador, Panama) have USD spreads comparable to Guatemala’s USD spread (~3-4 points).

Guatemala’s spread is not high in regional terms. What is high is the dispersion between banks — from BI’s 7.25 to Promerica’s 9.60 there’s a 2.35-point gap. That dispersion is what creates room for the consumer to optimize.

Methodology + Sources

Update frequency: This page is regenerated with each run of the daily rate scraper and monthly tariff review.

Sources:

• System averages: Bank of Guatemala — Average Active Rate MN/ME and Average Passive Rate MN/ME. Published weekly.
• Per-bank rates: Published tariffs of the 8 banks (BI, Banrural, BAM, G&T, BAC, Bantrab, Ficohsa, Promerica). Updated monthly.
• Policy rate: Banguat — Monetary Policy Lead Rate. Junta Monetaria decisions.
• Account fees and app quality: in-house research + Google Play reviews + data from SIB Superintendence of Banks. Local banks.json archive.
• Scoring system: see How we calculate scores for the 5 full formulas with weights, components, and worked examples.

Acknowledged limitations:

1. Per-bank rates are portfolio averages — your actual rate for a specific loan or account may differ.
2. Bantrab is not in banks.json with complete fee and app data — it does not enter the primary score ranking.
3. USD rates are affected by Fed Funds movements — they don’t track 1:1 with Banguat’s policy rate.
4. FOPA deposit insurance only covers Q20,000 (~$2,591) per person per bank. For larger balances, split across banks.

See General methodology and Data sources.

Related Pages

• Banguat policy rate — monetary policy — the rate that moves the whole system.
• Mortgage rate by bank — detailed mortgage breakdown.
• USD savings account — USD options by bank.
• Opening a bank account as a foreigner — requirements by bank.
• CDP and time deposit — 8-bank comparison — fixed-term rates.
• USD account — bank-by-bank — USD products.
• Personal loans — comparison — consumer rates.
• How we calculate scores — the 5 public formulas.
• Methodology and Data sources.