Awards for Excellence 2018
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| Regional awards |
BAC International Bank introduced a new brand for its network across central America, but in all other aspects it was business as usual.
BAC remains the most profitable bank in the region, having delivered an impressive compounded annual growth rate of 11.9% since 2000. In 2017, it generated a net profit of $376 million and closed the year with return on equity of 14.9% and a return on assets of 1.8%.
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Rodolfo Tabash, BAC |
The bank, a subsidiary of Colombia’s Grupo Aval, is the largest financial institution in the region, with total assets of $22 billion, total loans of $15.5 billion and deposits of $14.9 billion. The bank continues to leverage its regional technology at a local level to grow market share; across the region BAC has improved its numbers during the last three years by 60 basis points in terms of assets, 80bp in receivables and 90bp in deposits.
On a country level, BAC now has a double-digit market share in loans in all markets except for Panama (where it is 7.1%): with a 10.6% share in Guatemala, 13.6% in El Salvador, 14.2% in Costa Rica, 14.4% in Honduras and 24.3% in Nicaragua.
Colombian banks have long been interested in central America as a means of diversification – especially away from their domestic economy’s exposure to oil revenues.
Local banks such as Ficohsa and Banpro in particular are keen to grow regionally. The attraction is clear, the region’s combined GDP is now around $250 billion with a population of nearly 50 million.
