The bank’s international expansion has achieved significant scale since launching representation offices in New York, Madrid and Miami. By the close of 2025, these offices had managed over RD$ 3,143 million in mortgage loans, serving around 100,000 Dominicans. The remittance platform alone sent currency transfers exceeding $1.8 billion in 2025, tapping 60% of the market and demonstrating the trust the Dominican diaspora places in the Banreservas brand.
The figures paint a picture of robust international operations: an active portfolio of RD$ 3,353 million, passive portfolio of RD$ 16,276 million, 42,355 active clients and 37,761 accounts. The offices processed 46,763 applications whilst handling 263,471 calls and 86,000 visits, with over six million monthly transactions. Notably, 95% of remittances are paid directly, strengthening Dominican savings and investment practices.
The development of Banreservas is directly linked to the wellbeing of Dominicans, regardless of where they reside,” says Leonardo Aguilera, chief executive officer at Banreservas. “Our country’s diaspora has always remained closely connected to its roots, and one of its long-standing aspirations has been to invest in the country.
Leonardo Aguilera, chief executive officer at Banreservas
Yet these international achievements represent only part of Banreservas’ identity. As a state-owned institution marking 85 years of service, the bank has embedded corporate social responsibility throughout its domestic operations, creating a model that informs its international strategy too.
Banking as social infrastructure
As part of the Bancarizar es Patria programme, more than one million people have accessed the formal financial system through Preserva financial education workshops. These financial inclusion seminars make banking services accessible to traditionally underserved communities whilst building financial culture among the community.
We are aware that when a Dominican obtains their first savings account, credit card, or loan, that citizen is prepared to contribute to the country’s development,” says Leonardo Aguilera. “For this reason, we say that ‘Banking is nation-building.’
Leonardo Aguilera, chief executive officer at Banreservas
The bank’s commitment to accessibility manifests through its BR Accesible initiative, which has adapted 160 commercial offices for persons with disabilities. The institution maintains an updated customer service manual, sensitivity-trained staff and financial products catering specifically to this segment. Through the BAIL employment programme, focused primarily on people with disabilities, Banreservas has adapted documentation, policies and recruitment processes to ensure genuine inclusion. The result: Banreservas has consolidated itself as the institution that hires the most employees with disabilities in the country on a regular basis, currently reaching 128 staff.
For micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the bank has created comprehensive support infrastructure. Cree Banreservas has mentored over 5,000 business initiatives and invested more than RD$ 100 million in seed capital for business plans demonstrating outstanding performance and innovation. The Coopera Programme has assisted over 300 social purpose enterprises by strengthening their management and legal establishment as cooperative initiatives.
A virtual educational platform called EmprendedorasBR, developed in alliance with Mastercard as part of Fomenta Pymes, aims specifically to boost growth and sustainability of women-led businesses. This channel offers free certificate courses, mentorship and digital tools designed for women entrepreneurs.
Environmental stewardship
The bank’s environmental commitments extend beyond policy statements. Voluntariado Banreservas operates the Vida Programme, which has removed seven million pounds of plastic from the Ozama and Yaque del Norte rivers over 12 years, whilst integrating communities living along these important river basins in improvement and cleanup efforts.
During the third quarter of 2025 alone, Ruta de Reciclaje collected 69,915 kilograms of paper, 15,805 kilograms of cardboard, three and a half tonnes of plastic, and thousands more kilos of electronic waste across offices.
Recent reforestation events saw the programme plant around 3,500 trees, including Dominican and Honduran mahogany and Caribbean pine, in coordinated efforts with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, with attendance records exceeding 300 volunteers in communities across Navarrete, Santiago, Villa Altagracia and San Cristobal province.
Banreservas has established itself as the business with the most 3Rs of Sustainability certifications in the country, with 65 commercial and administrative offices certified under this standard through implementing practices oriented towards resource conservation and responsible waste management.
Education and opportunity
Beyond banking, Banreservas supports strategic sectors fundamental to socioeconomic development and quality of life. Through Reservas del Futuro, more than 249 public school students have received scholarships to study in prestigious national colleges, creating pathways to opportunity for families who might otherwise lack access.
These comprehensive efforts across financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability and cultural development have earned Banreservas the title of Latin America’s best bank for corporate responsibility in the 2025 edition of Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence.
A model for regional banking
What distinguishes Banreservas’ approach is the integration of international growth and social responsibility rather than treating them as separate initiatives. The bank’s international offices do not simply process transactions — they extend the financial inclusion model beyond borders, serving unbanked Dominicans abroad and creating investment bridges that channel capital towards sustainable development at home.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that Banreservas goes wherever Dominicans are, creating the perfect balance to ensure the development of the Dominican Republic and the wellbeing of all its people, says Leonardo Aguilera.”
Leonardo Aguilera, chief executive officer at Banreservas
The guarantee facilities of RD$ 6.5 billion and discount transactions of RD$ 484.2 million generating RD$ 17.8 million in foreign trade gains demonstrate how international operations can support productive economic activity. Meanwhile, domestic social responsibility programmes ensure that economic growth translates into genuine development for the broadest possible cross-section of the Dominican society.
As Latin American banking grapples with questions of purpose and sustainability, Banreservas offers a compelling case study: a state-owned institution that has achieved commercial success whilst maintaining unwavering commitment to social impact, proving that financial institutions can expand internationally without abandoning the communities they were created to serve.
