BAC International Bank is simply the biggest and most profitable bank in central America and the Caribbean. Across the region it has 311 full service branches, 11 in-store branches, eight digital branches and 43 drive-through agencies – and it also has the largest ATM network, with more than 2,000.
BAC is headed by chief executive Rodolfo Tabash, who has instigated a region-wide branch transformation that promotes self-service and digitization, with the aim of optimizing the bank’s physical footprint. He is building from strength. Over the past 19 years the bank has grown earnings at a compound annual growth rate of 9% and in 2020 generated $312 million in profit with a return on equity of 11.6% and a return on assets of 1.2%.
BAC has total assets of $26.8 billion, up 11.1% in 2020, as well as $20.9 billion in deposits (up 19.6%) and a loan portfolio worth $17.3 billion (up 1.1%). In the past five years the bank has gained 113 basis points in market share in assets, 134bp in receivables and 193bp in deposits.
It is spread throughout the region but its largest businesses are based in Costa Rica, which represents 28% of the loan portfolio, Panama (23%) and Guatemala (20%).
The bank believes that the potential for intra-regional economic trade and development is significant and, with its physical network and growing digital platform, it is well positioned to capture this growth.
