Context: How Bolsa Boliviana de Valores works, and what it makes issuers disclose · Bolivia on the LatAm Power Map
Founded by a handful of Santa Cruz entrepreneurs in 1990, Banco Económico has grown into a mid-sized Bolivian commercial bank with nearly US$1.5 billion in assets — a quiet but resilient machine in one of Latin America’s most economically stressed countries.
| Full name | Banco Económico S.A. |
|---|---|
| Ticker / Exchange | BEC.BO — Bolsa Boliviana de Valores (BBV); bonds also listed |
| Headquarters | Calle Ayacucho No. 166, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia |
| Sector | Commercial banking (Banca Múltiple), supervised by ASFI |
| Employees | Not disclosed in available sources |
| Total assets | Bs 14.70 bn / ~US$1.49 bn (31 Dec 2024) |
| Net loan book (cartera) | Bs 11.22 bn / ~US$1.14 bn (31 Dec 2024) |
| Net profit (full year 2024) | Bs 151.6 mn / ~US$15.4 mn (our calculation from equity roll) |
| Return on equity (ROE 2024) | ~15.3% (our calculation) |
| Equity (patrimonio) | Bs 1.053 bn / ~US$107 mn (31 Dec 2024) |
| Credit rating | AA.bo (Moody’s Local Bolivia, Sep 2025); outlook negative |
| Dividend (Jan 2025 AGM, on 2024 results) | Bs 42.75 mn / ~US$4.3 mn distributed |
| Website | www.baneco.com.bo |
What it is
Banco Económico is a Bolivian financial institution founded on 7 February 1991, with its headquarters in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It takes deposits from the public, lends them out to individuals, small businesses and larger companies, and charges for payment services — the classic model of a full commercial bank.
The bank started with three core lines: placing loans, gathering deposits, and offering financial services. It now has branches and agencies in Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba and Tarija.
Who owns it
The board elected for 2026 illustrates the concentration of Santa Cruz regional business power: directors include Boris Marinkovic Rivadineira, Ivo Mateo Kuljis Fuchtner, Rodolfo Weidling Kuljis and Katia Kuljis Llado. The Kuljis family name appears on three of the disclosed board seats, pointing to a dominant founding-family bloc; exact ownership percentages are not disclosed in available sources.
The capital structure can be found in filings at the Bolsa Boliviana de Valores and the Servicio Plurinacional de Registro de Comercio (SEPREC). Shareholders in Bolivia’s banks — which include regional families, European funds and offshore holding companies — have converted dividends to dollars at the official rate and remitted them abroad.
Who runs it
The bank’s General Manager (CEO) is **Sergio M. Asbún Saba**, who signed the June 2025 audited financial statements.
The head of finance (CFO equivalent) is **Gunnar Guzmán Sandoval**, Gerente Nacional de Finanzas, also a signatory on those statements. Both names come directly from the bank’s own published accounts.
The independent external auditor for 2024 was Berthin Amengual y Asociados S.R.L., approved by the shareholders’ meeting. Banco Económico is registered as an issuer in the securities market of Bolivia’s financial regulator ASFI under number SPVS-IV-EM-BEC-042/2000.
The money, in plain words
The bank finished 2024 with total assets of Bs 14.70 billion (~US$1.49 bn) and a net profit for the year of Bs 151.6 million (~US$15.4 mn) — our calculation from the change in retained earnings between year-end 2023 and year-end 2024. For every boliviano of shareholders’ money, it earned roughly 15 cents of after-tax profit in 2024 — a return on equity of approximately 15.3% (our calculation), solid for a Bolivian bank operating in a year of dollar scarcity and fuel shortages.
The first half of 2025 showed marked acceleration: net profit for the six months to June 2025 reached Bs 95.5 million, up 83.67% on the same period of 2024, driven by higher financial income — up 27.71% — from a growing loan book and short-term investments. That result lifted the annualised return on equity (ROAE) to 19.03%.
The loan book — the main asset of any bank — stood at Bs 11.22 billion (~US$1.14 bn) at end-2024. By June 2025 the gross loan book had grown a further 2.93%, reaching Bs 11,568 million.
Loan quality remains under pressure but manageable: the overdue-loan ratio was 2.87% at end-2024, below the multi-bank system average of 3.08%.
The liquidity index (a regulator-set measure of short-term cash cushion) stood at 72.06%, above both the multi-bank average of 66.65% and the bank’s own internal limit. In plain terms: the bank keeps more than enough cash on hand to honour withdrawal requests — a comfort in a market where foreign-exchange shortages have tested depositor confidence.
What it is doing now
In the first half of 2025 the bank capitalised 51.6% of its 2024 profits — including the legally required reserve — and expected to convert a further 18.4% of profits into permanent capital during the rest of the year. This strategy of retaining most earnings rather than paying them out as cash is how the bank funds loan-book growth without external borrowing.
At the shareholders’ meeting on 19 January 2026, the bank distributed Bs 89.18 million (~US$9.1 mn) in dividends from 2025 profits — more than double the Bs 42.75 mn distributed from 2024 profits, reflecting the sharp earnings improvement in that year. Moody’s Local Bolivia maintained the bank’s AA.bo local-scale credit rating in September 2025 but assigned a negative outlook, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment for the Bolivian financial system.
What to watch
- Dollar squeeze. Bolivia’s banking system navigated a tighter dollar market and parallel-rate volatility in 2024; the system’s gross loan book nevertheless grew 4.6% and deposits 5.6%. Any tightening of dollar supply hits the bank’s ability to fund foreign-currency loans.
- Loan quality trajectory. Overdue loans rose 31.32% in H1 2025, partly because restructured loans granted during earlier grace periods are now maturing. Watch whether provisions eat into the earnings momentum seen in H1 2025.
- Ownership transparency. The Kuljis and Marinkovic families are well-known in Santa Cruz business circles, but exact shareholding percentages are not publicly consolidated in freely accessible filings — an ESG risk for international portfolio investors.
- Capital adequacy. Ongoing profit capitalisation is the engine of growth; if profits slow, loan-book expansion will slow with it, since the bank relies on retained earnings rather than external equity issuance.
Sources
- Banco Económico S.A. — Audited Financial Statements, 30 June 2025 and 31 December 2024 (primary source; all balance-sheet and income-statement figures)
- Banco Económico S.A. — Transparency / Investor Relations page (ratings, annual reports index)
- Moody’s Local Bolivia — Rating Report, Banco Económico S.A., 19 September 2025 (credit rating, liquidity ratios, H1 2025 earnings)
- ASFI (Bolivia securities regulator) — Prospecto Marco — Programa de Emisiones de Bonos Subordinados Banco Económico S.A. (legal history, governance, board names)
- El País Bolivia — “Los dueños de la banca boliviana y sus ganancias offshore”, 19 February 2026 (board composition, 2026 dividend distribution)
- Bolsa Boliviana de Valores — www2.bbv.com.bo (exchange listing confirmation)
- Market data: EODHD.
This is news, not investment advice.
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