Year: 2022

Winner: Banreservas

Time for internationalization

Banco de Reservas de La República Dominicana (Banreservas) is racing up the profitability
rankings of Latin American banks and leaving behind other local banks in the Dominican
Republic.

The largest financial institution in the Domini-can Republic, Banreservas is now looking
beyond the island’s shores to continue growing. It plans to expand abroad mainly to attend the
diaspora of 20% of Dominicans who live outside the country.

State-owned Banreservas is the winner of the award for Bank of the Year in the Dominican
Republic, thanks to its outsized growth.

The bank climbed seven positions in the 2022 edition of S&P Global’s Top 50 ranking of Latin
American commercial banks by assets on the back of its sterling financial performance in the
last year. Banreservas jumped to the 41 from 48 a year earlier, the biggest advance by any bank
in the list.

The bank’s international business general director José Obregon tells LatinFinance that the
institution is the first Dominican bank to reach 1 trillion pesos ($19.4 billion) in assets, which
is equivalent to 40% of the banking system. The bank also has the system’s larg-est loan
portfolio — equivalent to 32% of the market — as well as its lowest delinquency ratio (0.5%)
plus a 41% share of all deposits.

Its net profit increased by 39% to $342 million in the year ending June 30.

Banreservas is primarily a retail bank and has 3.4 million customers. It is currently looking to
swell its client base by offering services the island’s diaspora in Europe and the U.S. The bank
plans to open its first office in Madrid before year-end, followed by Miami and New York in
the first quarter of 2023.

“It will be the first time that a Dominican bank grows abroad. It will be a milestone for the
bank but also for the country,” says Obregon.

The diaspora is growing in financial heft. “They are an important part of the economy in terms
of remittances,” he says.

Banreservas, which currently has a 35% market share of trade finance in the Dominican
Republic, is looking to help promote commerce between the island’s businesses and
counterparts in the US and Europe.