LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 40

to Ficohsa to support export financing in
Honduras and Nicaragua. The Cargill loan,
with $18 million earmarked for Honduras
and $13 million for Nicaragua, allows
Ficohsa to offer lower trade finance rates
for exporters.
Ficohsa is also the leading insurance
company in Honduras with 1.14 billion
lempiras in premiums in the first half of
2016. LF

BANK OF THE YEAR CHILE

SANTANDER CHILE

With a solid funding
base and steady lending
growth, Santander Chile is
prepared to keep growing
despite tighter regulations
Chile's economy is growing around 2.5%
per year, or merely half of its potential,
according to Claudio Melandri Hinojosa,
the country head of Grupo Santander in
Chile. Banco Santander Chile is growing
slightly faster than its competitors, but
it is also positioning itself for when the
economy picks up pace again by cutting
costs and putting funding in place
"There is a great opportunity to grow
the pie," Melandri says, pointing out that
4 million Chilean workers do not have
checking accounts and 600,000 small
businesses lack access to formal credit
markets.
Santander Chile recorded net income
of 250 billion Chilean pesos ($377 million)
in the first half of this year, up 6% on the
same period last year. The bank expanded
its loan portfolio 8% year-on-year in the
first six months of 2016, with retail banking
loans rising 12.7%.

CLAUDIO MELANDRI, BANCO
SANTANDER CHILE

"THERE IS A GREAT
OPPORTUNITY TO
GROW THE PIE"
40 LATINFINANCE.COM - November/December 2016

To support loan growth, Santander
Chile plans to raise at least $400 million
from local bond sales and international
private placements before the end of
2016, says chief financial officer Emiliano
Muratore. "The local market will be the
most important but the rest will come
from private placements," Muratore says.
"Europe and Japan are the most convenient
markets."
Santander Chile could raise more
funding, possibly somewhere between
$500 million and $600 million, but a
benchmark bond in dollars is too big for a
bank its size, he says. Santander Chile raised
$3.08 billion in the capital markets, both at
home and abroad, through the end of the
third quarter this year, including €74 million
($82.9 million) in euros, $30 million in
dollars and ¥3 billion ($29.1 million) in yen.
"We have a very comfortable funding level,"
Melandri says.
The bank has also implemented costcutting schemes, investing $100 million
in its ATM network over three years and
is looking to open all-electronic branches
around the country. "The most important
thing is service," Melandri says. LF

BANK OF THE YEAR COLOMBIA

sharply improved its capital base and
increased its digital presence.
It is merging with Leasing Bogotá
Panamá, which is the holding company
for its Central American operations BAC
International, to help mitigate the impact
of currency swings on the banks' balance
sheet, according to Moody's. At the same
time Banco de Bogotá has deconsolidated
its investment bank, Corficolombiana,
to reduce volatility on the balance sheet.
Moody's estimates that these capitalization
initiatives will increase the bank's tangible
common equity to nearly 6.2% of risk
weighted assets, from 4.7%.
Meanwhile, the bank is advancing digital
solutions. Banco de Bogotá launched a
new website in the last quarter of 2015 and

ALEJANDRO FIGUEROA
BANCO DE BOGOTÁ

"WE ARE IN A
CONSTANT MODE OF
INNOVATION IN TERMS
OF DIGITALIZATION"

BANCO DE BOGOTÁ

The oldest financial institution in Colombia has outshone peers despite a tough
political and economic
backdrop
It has been a busy few years for Banco
de Bogotá. Since buying assets in Central
America, the Colombian lender has
concentrated on integrating the new
businesses and strengthening its capital
ratio.
The bank is focused on "consolidating
its position in current markets," Alejandro
Figueroa, chief executive, tells LatinFinance.
It has also been hard at work reshaping the
company structure to best effect.
Banco de Bogotá is LatinFinance's Bank
of the Year Colombia for 2016 thanks to
solid growth in consolidated assets (15.8%
through March, the last publicly available
figures), deposits (15.7%) and total loans
(18.8%) despite slower economic growth
in Colombia. Additionally, the bank has

logged 80 million transactions last year, a
jump of 84% versus 2014. Transactions on
its mobile banking app spiked 316% in 2015.
"We are in a constant mode of
innovation in terms of digitalization,"
Figueroa says. Banco de Bogotá is "adapting
to the 21st century" he adds, with new
initiatives allowing clients to access account
information digitally through smartphones
and tablets.
"We offer a specialized treatment
to large corporations, medium and
small enterprises," Figueroa says as he
enumerates the bank's strengths. It has
developed new online platforms including
new web portals catering to its corporate
clients. And it understands the critical role
of digital operations, having witnessed its
mobile banking service (Banca Movil) add
264,000 new clients throughout the year of
its inception.
This has not been a totally easy year,
however. Moody's, S&P and Fitch all
downgraded Banco de Bogotá, pointing to
financial strain as a result of the slowdown
in the bank's markets. LF


http://www.LATINFINANCE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LatinFinance - November/December 2016

Contents
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - Cover1
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - Cover2
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - Contents
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 2
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 3
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 4
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 5
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 6
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 7
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 8
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 9
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 10
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 11
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 12
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 13
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 14
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 15
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 16
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 17
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 18
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 19
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 20
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 21
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 22
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 23
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 24
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 25
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 26
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 27
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 28
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 29
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 30
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 31
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 32
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 33
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 34
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 35
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 36
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 37
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 38
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 39
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 40
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 41
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 42
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 43
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 44
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 45
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 46
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 47
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 48
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 49
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 50
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 51
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - 52
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - Cover3
LatinFinance - November/December 2016 - Cover4
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