Latin American regional awards
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Best Bank: Banco Agrícola |
At the end of March 2007, Banco Agrícola had the highest total assets for any bank in El Salvador, amounting to $3.36 billion. It had also granted more loans than any other bank, totalling $2.31 billion, and had the highest level of bank deposits at around $2.27 billion (some 29% of total deposits in the country). According to El Salvador’s banking superintendency, the bank had put aside the highest level of reserves against bad loans among all the banks in the country, meaning that any loan defaults would not affect its strength.
The bank has a total of 61 branches, 342 ATM machines and 178 sales points throughout El Salavdor. Last year, Banco Agrícola also successfully completed a $100 million future flow securitization.
In May, the biggest banking group in Colombia, BanColombia, acquired 89.1% of Banagrícola, the holding company for Banco Agrícola, for $791 million.
BanColombia says it will introduce into the El Salvadoran market products that it had developed as a speciality in Colombia, such as loans for small and medium-sized companies and micro credit.