Banco de Crédito de Bolivia S.A.

—

What it is

Banco de Crédito de Bolivia — known locally as BCP Bolivia — describes its purpose as “Dar Oportunidades” (giving opportunities), and operates as a full-service commercial bank for individuals, businesses and micro-entrepreneurs. Its mobile wallet Yape reached more than 2.6 million registered users by end-2024, having grown user sign-ups 91% across 2023–2024, and brought 70% of new clients into the bank digitally.

The bank employs more than 1,800 people and operates Credibolsa S.A., its own brokerage arm on the Bolivian stock exchange.

—

Who owns it

BCP Bolivia is ultimately backed — financially and technically — by Grupo Credicorp, the Peruvian financial holding company with a significant presence across Latin America. Its shareholders met on 27 February 2025 with 100% of the share capital represented, confirming the bank’s wholly owned status within the group.

The immediate parent is Banco de Crédito del Perú, Peru’s largest bank; Credicorp is the Lima-listed group that controls BCP Peru.

Not published: the exact percentage breakdown of shares held directly by Banco de Crédito del Perú versus any intermediate holding vehicle (such as Inversiones Credicorp Bolivia S.A.) is not broken out in the 2024 annual report or in ASFI’s public registry at the level of detail that would show a precise split. The 2024 Memoria Anual confirms 100% of voting capital was present and voted at the AGM, consistent with sole ownership, but does not publish individual shareholder percentages in the excerpt available.

—

Who runs it

Christian Hausherr Ariñez became General Manager (CEO) of BCP Bolivia on 1 October 2024. He brings fifteen years of experience inside the Credicorp group and previously served as the bank’s own Head of Finance and Capital Markets.

Sergio Martín Tapia Bernal was appointed to lead the Finance and Capital Markets division from the same date, 1 October 2024. The letter opening the 2024 annual report is signed by Gianfranco Ferrari de las Casas as President of the Board — though the February 2025 AGM approved the departure of directors Gianfranco Ferrari, Rubén Loaiza and César Ríos, and named Michelle Labarthe and Alejandro Perez-Reyes as new directors.

—

The money, in plain words

The bank earned a net profit of USD 20.0 million in 2024, with a return on equity of 7.9% — the share of owners’ capital it converted to profit — up from 4.7% in 2023. In boliviano terms that is BOB 197 million (US$20 mn) at the given rate of 9.85.

The profit nearly doubled year-on-year, driven by a better interest margin and more fee income.

The improvement came mainly from a 7.5% rise in the gross financial margin — the spread between what the bank earns on loans and what it pays on deposits — equal to USD 14.0 million more income; and a 13.6% jump in non-interest income, led by fees on wire transfers and remittances.

Equity stood at USD 261.6 million (BOB 2,576 million (US$262 mn)) and the capital adequacy ratio — the regulatory buffer banks must hold against losses — was 12.4%, one of the highest in the Bolivian banking system.

The loan-default rate (cartera en mora) closed 2024 at 2.75%, slightly above the 2.64% recorded in 2023, but comfortably below the system average of 3.15%. The bank’s bad-loan coverage — the reserves it holds against every boliviano of overdue credit — rose from 146.9% to 148.2%, meaning it keeps nearly 1.5 bolivianos in reserve for every 1 in arrears.

Deposits from customers grew 8.8%, adding USD 251.3 million; the ratio of loans to deposits held steady at 86.5%.

The AGM in February 2025 allocated 32.9% of 2024 net profit as dividends to shareholders, with 40.9% transferred to voluntary reserves and 10.2% earmarked for future capitalisation.

—

What it is doing now

The most significant recent move is the leadership reset: in November 2024 an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders approved the early partial redemption of BCP Bolivia’s Subordinated Bond Emission I — a financial restructuring of the bank’s own debt that signals active management of its capital structure.

At 30 June 2025 the bank recorded net profit of BOB 82.7 million (US$8 mn) for the first half, a 5.82% annual increase, suggesting the improved trajectory is holding into 2025. Its operational efficiency ratio — the share of gross income consumed by running costs — stood at 73.07% at that date, above the Bolivian multiple-bank average of 61.77%, a gap that management must close.

—

What to watch

• Dollar scarcity. Bolivia’s foreign-exchange squeeze — the central driver of banking stress in 2024 — has not fully resolved. Any tightening hits cross-border fees and deposit behaviour directly.
• Efficiency gap. The 73% operational efficiency ratio sits well above the sector average of 61.77%; closing that gap, or explaining why higher costs are earning higher returns, is the central question for 2025.
• New management execution. Both the CEO and the finance chief are newly appointed as of October 2024; their first full-year results will be the 2025 annual report, due early 2026.
• Yape growth. With 2.6 million Yape users already and 91% growth in two years, digital banking is the bank’s clearest competitive weapon — and its clearest revenue opportunity — in a country where the formal banking network is thin.
• Bolivian macro. The public-sector deficit for 2024 was projected at 12.4% of GDP; sustained fiscal pressure and limited hard-currency reserves remain the dominant risk for every Bolivian bank.

—

This is news, not investment advice.