Deutsche Bank Upgrades BCH And SAN To Hold

Deutsche Bank is upgrading Banco De Chile (NYSE:

) and Santander Chile (NYSE:

) to Hold, as the Chilean banks are now trading at 4.4x trailing book value, down from a peak of 5.5x reached in mid-September. “While still at a significant premium to their peers, we think this is partially justified by continued strong ROAEs (DBe of 28% in 2011), the highest in the region,” Deutsche Bank writes. “Furthermore, loan growth in 2011 should benefit from a strong economy and asset quality should remain under control.” Banco De Chile currently trades at $85.16; Santander Chile trades at $91.58.