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Will top Colombian banks snap up Citi assets

Tuesday, November 11, 2014


Following the announcement by Citigroup last month that it plans to sell its consumer operations in six Latin American markets – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru – the question of who will snap up the assets in question arises.

Colombia's three largest banks, Bancolombia, Banco de Bogotá and Davivienda, seem well positioned to acquire Citigroup's assets in Central America, said Francisco Alegrias, economist on banking risk at risk analysis firm Information Handling Services (IHS).

These banks are profitable in Colombia, exhibit adequate capital ratios and have already expanded into Central America. Additionally, they have all recently been active in capital markets, said Alegrias.

Source: BN Americas