Panama, with 31 banks, again dominates this year’s compilation of the Top 100 banks in Central America. It is followed by Guatemala with 21 banks, Costa Rica with 15, Honduras with 13 and El Salvador with 11. The listing covers seven countries. The Dominican Republic was omitted this year because it is not strictly a part of Central America.
Six of the top 10 come from Panama. Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones (BLADEX) moves up from second place to head the list. The bank has a made a strong recovery following the problems of the previous year when large increases in loss provisioning, coupled with mediocre operating results, drove a large pre-tax loss. Banco Nacional de Panama drops to second place with Banco General at three and Primer Banco del Istmo at four. The highest placed non-Panamanian bank is Banco Agricola from El Salvador, which moves in to fifth place, with Banco de Costa Rica at eight, and two more Salvadorean banks, Banco Cuscatlán and Banco Salvadoreño, at nine and 10 respectively.
