Banco Agricola
In a gruelling year for all El Salvadoran banks, Banco Agricola wins the prize for not only holding up well but also carrying out a successful retail banking strategy.
Declines in net profit and ROE marked a difficult year but they were not as steep as those of its rivals. Moreover, the bank managed to improve its cost-to-income ratio to 35.96% from 44.81% in 2001. Even more impressive is Banco Agricola’s retail banking strategy. It has emerged as El Salvador’s biggest retail bank with a 30% share of the market and a customer base equalling 20% of the country’s population. Its vast retail network includes more than 300 cash machines, 70 kiosks and, like other modern banks, an internet portal.
On the technology front, the bank has installed customer relationship management software from Oracle, which improves its ability to gain in-depth knowledge about its clients before lending to them.
Partly in recognition of the bank’s success, Banco Agricola’s chief executive Archie Baldocchi has recently been named as head of an association for Latin American banks.
“Banco Agricola has consolidated its dominant market position in El Salvador and Central America’s banking system, based on a clear strategy of customer service and the application of technological tools that have allowed us to pinpoint our customers’ needs and steer our services and the development of new financial products towards the satisfaction of those requirements,” said the president of Banco Agricola, Rodolfo Schildknecht.
