Last year, BBVA Colombia achieved outstanding growth, with assets up 49% against a backdrop of economic turbulence. The bank also issued a $177m bond to improve its levels of liquidity and solvency, resulting in a 26.15% increase in the group’s Tier 1 ratio.
BBVA Colombia has responded to the highly competitive domestic market with initiatives like innovative mortgage loans, tailor-made debit and credit cards, retirement savings accounts and certificates of deposit. More services were added to its internet banking offering, and the self-service branch network was increased to 100 offices. On the IT front, BBVA Colombia updated more than 25% of its ATM network. This and other IT initiatives enabled the bank to achieve a record 131.85% increase in net profits, along with a sharp boost in RoE to 19.15% from 14.95% previously.
“For BBVA, being acknowledged as the Bank of the Year in Colombia by The Banker magazine reflects the bank’s professional service and the teamwork being undertaken,” says Luis B Juango Fitero, executive president of the bank. “The financial sector in Colombia is more and more competitive, and our performance during the past years has been especially favourable. We are extremely pleased to say that, although we are undergoing a complex merger process with Banco Granahorrar, we still follow a very important commercial dynamic, to the extent that we already gained market share. Therefore, for the BBVA Colombia team, this acknowledgement is especially meaningful.”
