Martha Isabel Woodcock, president of Banco Santander Colombia, said that although there is a difficult result for banks this year, with 12 entities registering losses as of last July, the entity has multiplied its profit by three compared to the same period in 2023.
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The bank, which has been in its new stage in Colombia for 10 years, does not have physical offices, but has been increasing its customer base, with new businesses and products and shows strength in vehicle credit and CDTs.
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How have the results been this year?
The bank’s results come with a positive and growing trend in the first seven months. We have increased net profit by about 3.4 times compared to the same results of the previous year.
And what behavior and quality does the portfolio show?
The portfolio has been growing by 16% leveraged in our businesses with us having a differential business model. As has happened with the rest of the industry, because we all know that banking is a reflection of what is happening in the economy, it has also suffered, mainly our vehicle and microfinance portfolio. However, we hope that in the coming months this will have a correction.
The bank has been in its new stage for 10 years…
A decade ago we entered the Colombian market again, and we started with a proposal that was to serve large Colombian companies with value-added products, a specialized bank that serves clients as well as products, and throughout these years we have consolidated ourselves in those two lines of business. But the bank continues and has continued to develop other lines of business and the segment of natural persons, we are serving it through vehicle loans together with alliances with large importers and brands in Colombia and we make vehicle loans at dealerships. At the same time, we are launching our savings and investment product, which is a digital CDT, for the Colombian customer who wants to save and offer the opportunity to save with a 100% secure digital solution from a Triple A bank with very good profitability.
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What other products have you launched?
In the last stage of 2021 we launched a loan for microentrepreneurs. This is to continue contributing to banking and financial inclusion. We have served more than 141,000 microentrepreneur clients in more than 700 municipalities in Colombia, we are covering 65% of the national territory with a solution that is 100% digital, but accompanied by an advisor and in short we serve all segments of the population from large companies, we serve individuals and the Colombian microentrepreneur. When serving customers at dealerships, they are offered digital credit, but with the support of the advisor. Today we are in the top 3 of vehicle financiers in the Colombian market.
We do not have a transactional savings account, but we do have an investment product, which is a digital CDT that upon entering the bank’s website you can contract a CDT that has some attributes thinking about the needs that the Colombian client has for agility and backup. There is a four-fold issue that if you move your resources from one entity to another, the bank recognizes it and it is a savings product with a purpose.
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Is there nothing left of the previous work model?
We do not have a network of offices, but we are in the regions through the model that I mentioned and we have a presence in all the cities in 720 municipalities in Colombia with microcredits, in the vehicle segment we are in most of the main cities of Colombia and we serve our corporate and business banking clients in the regional offices. Everything is absolutely digital but with the presence of our talent at the different meeting points in the different dealerships.
How do you think about the financing law or tax reform?
We do not see a tax reform as viable due to the impact it may have on the economy and the different sectors.
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