Before financial entities arrived in Colombia, the credit market was dominated by the church and independent merchants. According to the cultural network of the Bank of the Republic, it was a “very little developed monetary and credit system.”
(Also read: What was the banking system like before 1923?).
The panorama began to change at the beginning of the 1870s with the arrival of the first private bank in Colombia: Banco de Bogotá. Although there were a few more before the foundation of this entity, none with its economic impact and success within the market.
Banco de Bogotá was promoted by a large group of Bogotá businessmen and landowners. It officially began work on November 15, 1870 and is listed as the first financial institution created in the country.although before its founding there was the British Colonial Bank (1839), about whose existence almost nothing is known.
(Read on: Why Central Banks Are Buying Gold At The Fastest Pace In 80 Years.)
To get to the creation of the first bank, many changes had to take place. One of them, and perhaps one of the most important, is the confiscation of ecclesiastical assets that, by then, will be inalienable.
In the second instance, there was the promulgation of the Rionegro Constitution of 1863, through which “the principles of freedom for private economic initiative, including the banking business” were defended, details the cultural network of the Bank of the Republic.
The last transformation that helped to prepare the ground for the incursion of the banks in the financial market was related to the increase in exports, which allowed the improvement of the national economy, which had been affected by independence.
The Banco de Bogotá was created in 1870.
(Of interest: BBVA will invest $467,000 million and further lower the cost of its loans).
After the success it had at Banco de Bogotá, more banking entities were founded in Bucaramanga, Popayán, Medellín, Barranquilla, Cartagena and in the nation’s capital. Together with Banco de Colombia, created in 1875, this institution was one of the most prominent and also contributed to the development of free banking in Colombia.
By the year 1876, the Banco de Bogotá overcame the government crisis of the time and, two decades later, overcame the convulsive situation of the Thousand Days’ War, “which torpedoed the normal development of national banking.” as the entity points out on its website.
With the diversification of its services and the foray into other markets, Banco de Bogotá is one of the largest in Colombia by size of assets. By the year 2022, it had one of the highest profits, together with Bancolombia and Davivienda, created in 1875 and 1972, respectively.
This is how Colombians see the most important banks in the country
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VALERIA CASTRO VALENCIA
DIGITAL SCOPE WRITING
TIME
