DeSpanish Conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his weary troops were looking for El Dorado when they found the 2600m high plateau where Colombia's capital Bogotá was founded. "Good land! Good given land! Land that puts an end to our suffering," they are said to have exclaimed.
This has proved far from the case for BBVA and Banco Santander, the two Spanish banks that are only now beginning to emerge from the red. Colombia is one of the few Latin American countries where foreign banks do not dominate. Instead, Bancolombia and Banco de Bogotá are the two largest ones, owned by local conglomerates Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño and Grupo Aval respectively, and the most successful, while BBVA Banco Ganadero, Citibank and Banco Santander follow far behind in terms of market share.
