Context: How Bolsa de Valores de Caracas works, and what it makes issuers disclose · Venezuela on the LatAm Power Map
A century-old Venezuelan bank and insurance empire, Mercantil has survived currency collapse, hyperinflation, and geopolitical isolation to remain the country’s most complete private financial group — owned by a Panamanian holding company that is itself a Vollmer family vehicle.
| Full name | Mercantil Servicios Financieros, C.A. – Clase A |
|---|---|
| Ticker / exchange | MVZ.A & MVZ.B — Bolsa de Valores de Caracas (BVC) |
| Headquarters | Avenida Andrés Bello, N° 1, Edificio Mercantil, Caracas 1050, Venezuela |
| Sector | Diversified financial services (banking, insurance, wealth management) |
| Employees | Not disclosed in available sources |
| Market value (Class A, approx.) | Bs 458.75 billion (~$656.8M USD) (our calculation; TradingView, July 2026) |
| Total assets (Dec 31, 2024) | Bs 50.27 billion (~$71.97M USD) (our calculation) |
| Total operating income (Jan–Sep 2024, 9 months) | Bs 5,733M (~$8.21M USD) (our calculation) |
| Net profit (Jan–Sep 2024, 9 months) | Bs 135M (~$193K USD) (our calculation) |
| Net margin | ~2.4% on 9-month operating income basis (our calculation) |
| Return on equity (annualised, approx.) | ~2.9% on Bs 6.2B equity (our calculation) |
| Price-to-earnings | Not calculable from available data (EPS not disclosed on this class) |
| Dividend yield (2024) | ~0.14% (Class A, TradingView) |
| Website | www.msf.com |
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Now let me write the full profile:
Mercantil started as a Caracas bank a century ago and is now Venezuela’s most complete private financial group — banking, insurance, and wealth management under one roof, operating from Switzerland to Panama despite living inside one of the world’s most difficult economies.
| Full name | Mercantil Servicios Financieros, C.A. – Clase A |
|---|---|
| Ticker / exchange | MVZ.A (Class A) & MVZ.B (Class B) — Bolsa de Valores de Caracas |
| Headquarters | Edificio Mercantil, Av. Andrés Bello, Caracas 1050, Venezuela |
| Sector | Diversified financial services — banking, insurance, wealth management |
| Employees | Not disclosed in available sources |
| Total assets (Dec 31, 2024) | Bs 50.27 bn (~$71.97M USD) (our calculation) |
| Total operating income (9M Jan–Sep 2024) | Bs 5,733M (~$8.21M USD) (our calculation) |
| Net profit (9M Jan–Sep 2024) | Bs 135M (~$193K USD) (our calculation) |
| Net margin | ~2.4% of operating income (our calculation) |
| Return on equity (annualised, approx.) | ~2.9% on Bs 6.2B equity (our calculation) |
| Market value — Class A (approx., July 2026) | Bs 458.75 bn (~$656.8M USD) (our calculation) |
| Dividend yield (2024, Class A) | ~0.14% |
| Website | www.msf.com |
What it is
Mercantil Servicios Financieros, C.A. was constituted in 1997 and calls itself Venezuela’s first and most complete financial-services provider, present in four Latin American countries.
Its roots, however, go back to 23 March 1925, when Mercantil Banco began operations.
It is a Venezuelan holding company of financial services, active in nine countries across the Americas and Europe. Its key subsidiaries include Mercantil Banco Universal and Mercantil Seguros in Venezuela, Mercantil Bank in Panama, and Mercantil Bank (Schweiz) in Switzerland.
Insurance arm Mercantil Seguros held first place among Venezuelan insurers by net premiums collected, with a 30.5% market share. Mercantil Banco Universal ranked third in private-sector lending with a 15.7% market share, and was Venezuela’s number-one private-bank by savings deposits with a 26.9% share.
Who owns it
The company is 93% owned by Mercantil Servicios Financieros Internacional, S.A. (MSFI), a holding entity domiciled in Panama. MSFI is itself the Vollmer family’s vehicle: Gustavo Vollmer serves as Chairman and CEO of Mercantil Servicios Financieros Internacional, overseeing the group’s banking, wealth management, insurance, and fintech activities across Panama, Switzerland, and Venezuela.
The remaining 7% of shares in MSF C.A. trades freely on the Bolsa de Valores de Caracas.
The group also maintains a Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programme in the US over-the-counter market under the symbols MSFZY and MSFJY.
Who runs it
At the board level, Gustavo Vollmer A. serves as Presidente (Chairman) and Ignacio Vollmer S.
as Presidente Ejecutivo (CEO) of MSFI, the controlling parent. Gustavo Vollmer Acedo has held the Chairman and CEO role since the group’s founding in 1997, and has been Chairman of Mercantil Banco Universal since 2013.
He led the corporate reorganisation of Mercantil and oversaw its listing on the Latin American stock exchange Latinex. He also conducted the process of listing Amerant Bancorp on Nasdaq as its Chairman — Amerant was a former Mercantil subsidiary.
The money, in plain words
Reading Mercantil’s numbers requires two cautions. First, the accounts are kept in nominal bolivars — the Venezuelan regulator SUNAVAL does not permit inflation-adjustment, so all figures are understated in real terms.
Second, the reporting period is semi-annual, not annual; the audited 31 December 2024 statements cover only the second semester of 2024.
Total assets hit Bs 27.8 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2024, a 78% rise on the same period in 2023. By end-December 2024, total assets had reached Bs 50.27 billion (~$71.97M USD at the current exchange rate) — a 54.6% jump in just six months (our calculation).
Camino a cumplir sus 100 años, Mercantil se consolidó como el primer banco privado en depósitos de ahorro en Venezuela.
For the nine months to September 2024, the group generated Bs 5,733M (~$8.21M USD; our calculation) in total operating income, but kept only Bs 135M (~$193K USD; our calculation) as net profit — a net margin of about 2.4% of operating income (our calculation). That is thin, but must be read against Venezuela’s cost structure, mandatory reserve requirements, and currency rules; the equity base of Bs 6.2 billion yielded an annualised return on equity of roughly 2.9% (our calculation).
The dividend yield on Class A shares was 0.14% in 2024, with a payout ratio of 0.50%.
The group’s securities brokerage unit reached total assets of Bs 70M by September 2024, with a net result of Bs 1.3M for that quarter. Assets under management in wealth management reached Bs 25,351M by end of the third quarter of 2024, while the trust-management arm administered Bs 2,903M — first place among private banks.
What it is doing now
Global Finance named Mercantil Banco Universal “Best Bank in Venezuela 2024,” a recognition the institution has now earned four times. In early 2025, Ignacio Vollmer formally assumed the Presidencia Ejecutiva (CEO role) of Mercantil Servicios Financieros Internacional, the Panamanian parent.
The shareholders’ assembly approved the financial statements for the first semester of 2024 on 30 September 2024. The group is navigating Venezuela’s increasingly dollarised economy: deposits in foreign currency represented 33.8% of total deposits at end of September 2024, reflecting how much of Venezuelan commerce now runs in US dollars alongside the bolivar.
This is news, not investment advice.
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