Awards for Excellence country winners: Uruguay

While one of the smaller banking markets in Latin America, Uruguay has some excellent banks that generate some exceptionally strong financial results. Part of that success is due to a consistently strong economic backdrop – and in 2023 significantly higher interest rates also helped. However, individual management teams can also take a large part of the credit and this year Banco Santander’s chief executive Gustavo Trelles repeats his success of last year by retaining the award for Uruguay’s best bank.

During 2023 Santander delivered on its digital bank with branches strategy – essentially a mixed model but with the emphasis on converting clients to digital transactions. While the strategy is far from revolutionary, the execution has been flawless, and Santander saw its efficiency ratio fall to 39.4% in 2023 from 48.5%