Awards for Excellence 2017
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The recent trend for growth among local pan-regional banks continues and, in the last year, Grupo Financiero Ficohsa’s acquisition of Citi’s banks in Honduras and Nicaragua shows that it may well be a challenger in the future for BAC International Bank, which retains this year’s award for the best bank in central America and the Caribbean.
The attraction for BAC, which is part of Banco de Bogotá, is clear. The region has a population of roughly the same size as Colombia and, with low credit penetration and projected GDP growth of 4%, offers both opportunity and diversification.
Investing in this region also offers Colombian banks (others are also expanding in central America) a hedge to domestic economic performance as most are oil importing nations and so will prosper with lower oil prices, unlike oil-exporting Colombia.
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Rodolfo Tabash, BAC |
In 2016, Rodolfo Tabash, previously country manager of BAC’s Panama subsidiary, assumed the role of CEO of the regional bank. His background ensures he is up to speed on the breadth of the bank’s regional business and he will seek to maintain its unrivalled presence in the region. BAC has substantial market share in six countries. The bank’s share of loans in Guatemala is 10.1%, Honduras 14.3%, El Salvador 12.8%, Nicaragua 25.9%, Costa Rica 13.4% and Panama 6.8%.
Despite its broad regional presence, the bank has centralized management and support functions to achieve scale within the group that generates profitable growth. The bank says that it has now fully integrated its 2015 acquisitions of BBVA’s Panamanian bank and Reformador in Guatemala. The bank’s consolidated balance sheet includes $20 billion in assets, a $14 billion loan portfolio and $13 billion in deposits that generated $366 million in profits.
