The Dominican commercial banking establishment performed quite well during the past year, earning in excess of RD$4.5 billion during the first eleven months of 2005. According to Listin Diario, the sector was supported, in part, by their role as a financial intermediary, the banks rolled on in 2005. Even so, analysts believe that the end results for the year will not better the results of 2004, but that they do reflect an improvement within the system. Lower prime rates helped banks to earn more, since they reduced the cost of serving as a financial intermediary. According to the Superintendent of Banks, in 2004 the banks had financing costs of RD$22.236 billion, while in 2005 these same costs were reduced to just RD$25.180 billion, for a net gain of just over RD$7.0 billion. Two cases, reflecting the figures from two of the largest banks in the Dominican Republic are interesting. The Banco de Reservas, said to be the largest local commercial bank, closed its fiscal year with net profits of RD$1.137 billion. Banco Popular, the largest private bank in the country closed its year with RD$1.565 billion in net profits. Citibank reported RD$426 million in profits as of 30 November, and Scotia Bank reported RD$426 million in profits at the same time.
At the same time the Internal Revenue Department, which receives 25% of the net profits from corporate entities, received RD$813.5 million as of 30 November, 2005