Banco BISA S.A.

What it is

Banco BISA S.A., formerly Banco Industrial S.A., is a Bolivian banking and financial services company headquartered in La Paz, and Bolivia’s third-largest bank by assets. It serves customers through 66 banking centres, 280 ATMs, call centres, and online and mobile platforms.

The bank was founded on 5 July 1963 as Banco Industrial S.A. before adopting the BISA name. It now operates in all nine departments of Bolivia, including small towns such as Copacabana, Puerto Suárez and Yacuíba.

Who owns it

The principal shareholder of the bank is Grupo Financiero BISA S.A., the largest financial group in Bolivia by combined equity of its member companies. The holding company — established in 2017 — is mandated to maintain a stake of more than 51% in each subsidiary of the group.

Beyond the bank itself, Grupo Financiero BISA includes BISA Seguros y Reaseguros S.A. (general insurance), La Vitalicia Seguros y Reaseguros de Vida S.A. (life insurance), BISA Leasing S.A. (leasing), BISA Agencia de Bolsa S.A. (brokerage), and BISA Sociedad Administradora de Fondos de Inversión S.A. (fund management). The exact percentage held by Grupo Financiero BISA in the bank, and the identity of the ultimate controlling families behind the holding company, are not disclosed in available sources from current exchange or regulatory filings.

Who runs it

The board is chaired by Julio César León Prado, who signed the 2024 annual report as President of the Board of Directors. He presented the audited financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2024, describing it as “a year of outstanding results” for the institution.

Day-to-day management sits with Marco Antonio Asbún Marto, who holds the title of Vicepresidente Ejecutivo (Chief Executive) and signed the 2024 and 2025 audited financial statements alongside chief accountant Héctor Del Callejo Q. Finance is led by Mónica Patricia García Luzio, Vicepresidente de Finanzas; these names come directly from the 2024 Memoria Anual.

The money, in plain words

Net profit for 2024 reached US$63.2 million — a return on equity of 19.1%, comfortably ahead of the Bolivian banking system average of 12.6%, and with a capital adequacy ratio of 13.15%. That profit was Bs 433.5 million, up Bs 72.6 million from 2023 — the largest annual profit in the bank’s history.

For every boliviano of financial income the bank kept about 27 centavos as net profit — a net profit margin of 27.0% (our calculation), strong for any bank. With that result, the bank’s net equity — the owners’ cushion — rose to Bs 2.421 billion (US$354 million), one of the largest capital bases among Bolivian financial institutions.

Customer deposits stood at US$2.989 billion at year-end 2024, down 1.81% from 2023 — a modest dip in a year when Bolivia faced a severe shortage of US dollars and inflation hit 9.97%. The bank ranked fourth in Bolivia by direct lending, but held the leading position in the corporate segment.

The more recent FY 2025 audited statements, published in 2026, show a dramatic further jump: financial income rose to Bs 1.754 billion (US$256 million) and net profit to Bs 778 million (US$113.6 million) — an 80% increase year-on-year (our calculation) — while total assets grew to Bs 31.25 billion (US$4.56 billion). These figures come directly from the bank’s signed 2025 financial statements; no annual report commentary is yet available to explain the drivers.

What it is doing now

In October 2024, Banco BISA became the first regulated financial institution in Bolivia to launch a custody, purchase and sale service for the USDT stablecoin, designed to enable secure international transactions. The service was created as an alternative channel for customers to transfer funds abroad — a pressing need in a country facing a structural shortage of US dollars.

The move followed Bolivia’s central bank lifting its 2020 ban on crypto assets in June 2024, authorising licensed banks to use electronic payment channels for virtual asset transactions. BISA was the first to act; Banco de Crédito BCP followed in 2025.

What to watch

• Dollar scarcity. Bolivia’s foreign-currency shortage is the single biggest macro risk for any bank in the country. BISA’s deposit base fell in 2024 despite strong profits; if dollar access worsens further, funding costs could rise.
• Loan quality. The 2024 profit surge was partly driven by extraordinary income from absorbing part of the failed Banco Fassil’s loan portfolio. How those absorbed loans perform will affect future provisions.
• CriptoBisa scale. BISA was first mover in bank-regulated crypto services; competitors are now following. Whether it can convert that head start into lasting fee income is the growth question to watch.
• Capital deployment. With equity now approaching US$440 million (FY 2025) and a return on equity of 19%+, the board’s decision on how much profit to reinvest versus distribute will shape the next phase of growth.
• Ownership transparency. The exact shareholding structure behind Grupo Financiero BISA S.A. is not publicly disclosed in the filings reviewed; any regulatory push for disclosure would change the investment case.

This is news, not investment advice.