Despite being a leader in the Costa Rican financial sector, Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) has never been one to rest on its laurels, always developing new and opportune products and services. It’s this forward-thinking attitude that has resulted in the bank being named the Best Banking Group in Costa Rica for the second year in a row by World Finance due to its ‘outstanding financial performance, excellent customer service and its careful risk administration in different business areas’.
It’s this sharp focus on integrity and its status as a trailblazer in the Costa Rican market that makes the bank a reliable partner for investors; BCR’s international risk ratings are similar to those of the Costa Rican government, with ratings of baa3 from Moody’s and BB+ from Fitch Ratings, both with a stable outlook. This has allowed BCR to successfully place $500m of bonds in the international market in 2013, a first for a Costa Rican state bank.
Our current business model has permitted us to obtain excellent financial results, with net profits of greater than $53m in 2013 – the second highest in the Costa Rican financial system – along with solid growth of 12 percent in assets and 10 percent in equity, and a credit portfolio with a closing 2013 delinquency rate of around two percent, one of the best in the financial system.
Evolving practices
Our drive to improve has led us towards a business model that incorporates the best international practices, with a view to increasing innovation, efficiency and productivity, in line with the high level of service expected by our clients. With this in mind, as of Q2 2013, we have begun a transformational process with the objective of updating our business model to continue meeting the challenges of the changing and competitive national and international financial market.
It’s this sharp focus on integrity and its status as a trailblazer in the Costa Rican market that makes the bank a reliable partner for investors
This initiative, which we have named ‘Evolucionemos’ (Spanish for ‘we evolve’), seeks to transform the relationship the bank has with its clients, stimulating customer loyalty, increasing the quantity and quality of the products and services used by our clients across the whole of the financial conglomerate, and establishing an operational model which permits the achievement of greater levels of efficiency and productivity, thereby increasing our competitiveness.
It is an ambitious project but a necessary one so that we can strengthen our competitive capacity to face future challenges in a fast-changing industry, while also meeting the demands and needs of our clients.
Cornering the market
Looking towards the future with optimism, BCR continues to consolidate its leadership: we are the second-largest bank in the country and the sixth-largest in Central America; our investment fund society is number one in the industry; our brokerage house is first in profitability and third in market volume in the Costa Rican stock market; our pensions operations service is third in the market; and our insurance brokerage division is a leader in policy placement in the Costa Rican insurance market.
Additionally, we are the majority shareholders for the Banco Internacional de Costa Rica – International Bank of Costa Rica (BICSA) – a financial entity based in the Republic of Panama with branches in Miami, US and offices in all Central American countries. This has permitted us to maintain a market share of greater than 20 percent, with continual growth over the last five years.
BCR has demonstrated over its 137 year trajectory its ability to adapt to the changes demanded by the times, always upholding excellent services through its many decades of serving its clients.
