With trade agreements signed with many countries, foreign investment and trade in Colombia is expected to increase, further integrating Latin America’s fourth largest economy into the global system and consequently boosting activity in its banking sector. At the same time “the global financial crisis created opportunities [for the Colombian banking sector] to become more international”, says Gerardo Hernandez, head of the Financial Superintendency of Colombia (SFC), the country's financial services regulator.
Recent Colombian acquisitions by Scotiabank, Canada’s third largest bank, are a clear illustration of this. In three successive moves, Scotiabank bought the wholesale assets of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Colombia when they came on sale in 2010. Then, in 2011, it acquired 51% of Banco Colpatria, a mid-size, principally retail Colombian bank, with a 5.5% share of the credit market, in a cash and share deal worth $1bn. Finally, in 2012, Scotiabank bought a majority of Colfondos, Colpatria’s pension fund business.
