Bank BBVA Peru

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What it is

BBVA Perú is a publicly listed commercial bank, incorporated in 1951 and authorised to operate by Peru’s banking and insurance supervisor, the SBS (Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP). Its core business is general banking — lending, deposit-taking, trade finance and treasury — governed by Peru’s General Financial System Law, Ley N° 26702.

The bank offers savings, current, digital and payroll accounts, term deposits, credit and debit cards, personal and mortgage loans, vehicle credit and mutual funds. Its strategy is shifting progressively toward retail lending — personal loans, credit cards and SME credit — a segment growing at roughly 10.8% annually on average over the last four years and carrying higher interest margins than its traditional wholesale and mortgage book.

At June 2025, the stock traded at S/1.49 (US$0.44)on the Lima exchange, giving a market capitalisation of S/13,702 million (US$4.0 bn) (about $4.04 billion) — roughly equal to the bank’s book equity, a price-to-book ratio of 1.0x. Over the prior year, the share had risen 53.7%.

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Who owns it

BBVA Perú Holding S.A.C. — a vehicle 100% owned by Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. — holds 47.13% of the bank’s capital.

A mirror 47.13% is held by Holding Continental S.A. (HCSA), the vehicle of Peru’s Grupo Breca — one of the country’s largest private conglomerates — making the two blocs exactly equal. The remaining roughly 5.7% is publicly traded on the BVL.

Apoyo & Asociados (affiliated with Fitch Ratings) rates the bank at the equivalent of “A+” — “very good financial strength,” with obligations expected to withstand adverse economic environments. Despite holding less than a majority, the Spanish parent is considered the controlling influence: Apoyo states that BBVA S.A. would support the Peruvian subsidiary in a stress scenario because it is a strategic asset for the group’s Latin American operations.

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Who runs it

Fernando Eguiluz Lozano — an industrial and systems engineer — has led the bank as Director Gerente General (CEO) since 2019, bringing 27 years of BBVA-group experience. He also chairs the board of BBVA Consumer Finance Edpyme and previously held director-level roles in talent, insurance, payments and corporate banking at BBVA Bancomer in Mexico.

The board chair is Alex Paul Gastón Fort Brescia, a Grupo Breca representative who also serves on the boards of Rímac, Intursa and Corporación Peruana de Productos Químicos. The 11-member board contains five BBVA-group nominees (including the CEO), four Breca nominees and two independents — a structure that formally balances the two equal shareholders.

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The money, in plain words

In FY 2024, the bank took in S/5.62 billion (US$1.7 bn) (~$1.66 billion) in revenue and kept S/1.88 billion (US$554 mn) (~$554 million) as net profit. That means it held onto about 33.6 cents of every sol earned — a net profit margin of 33.6% (our calculation) — exceptional even by Latin American banking standards.

For every sol of shareholders’ equity, the bank earned about 14.7 cents in 2024 — a return on equity of 14.7% — rising sharply to 16.5% by mid-2025 as provisioning costs fell. The improvement was driven by a 39.1% drop in loan-loss provisions, reflecting better borrower behaviour, combined with an efficient cost base and lower funding costs as Peruvian interest rates eased.

The bank distributes roughly half its annual profits as dividends; at the March 2025 AGM shareholders approved a dividend payout of S/943 million (US$278 mn) and capitalised a further S/755 million (US$222 mn) of retained earnings into equity. The dividend yield reached 6.8% on the April 2025 payment, above the industry average of 4.8%.

Total assets stood at S/111,229 million (US$32.8 bn) (~$32.8 billion) at end-2024 — funded mostly by customer deposits. The bank’s core capital ratio (CET1) reached 12.7% at June 2025, above its own risk-adjusted minimum of 12.1%, providing a comfortable buffer well in excess of the Peruvian regulatory floor.

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What it is doing now

In the second quarter of 2025, revenue surged 21% year-on-year to S/1.60 billion (US$471 mn) and net profit rose 26% to S/572 million (US$169 mn) — the fastest quarterly growth in recent years. The return on equity has climbed to 16.5% in the first half of 2025, as falling provision costs flow straight through to earnings.

At the group level, the Peruvian subsidiary’s outlook has brightened further: in May 2025, Fitch Ratings placed BBVA Perú’s long-term international rating on Rating Watch Positive, directly following the same action on parent BBVA S.A., which is pursuing the acquisition of Spain’s Banco Sabadell. A successful Sabadell deal could lift the parent’s credit profile, pulling the Peruvian unit’s rating up with it.

Digitally, the bank’s mobile app had 3.0 million active monthly users as of June 2025, processing 253 million transactions — up 46% year-on-year — with the instant-payment feature Plin the most-used function.

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What to watch

• Retail shift: The personal-lending book is growing at roughly 10.8% a year; as that share of the portfolio rises, margins should widen further — but so does credit risk if Peru’s labour market turns.
• Sabadell deal at the parent: If Spain’s banking regulator approves BBVA’s Sabadell bid, the ripple could lift BBVA Perú’s credit rating and lower its funding costs.
• Ownership arithmetic: With two shareholders each holding exactly 47.13% and only ~5.7% in public hands, any shift in the Breca-BBVA relationship would matter enormously — dividends and capital decisions are settled jointly at the AGM under a framework that has held firm since privatisation in 1995.
• Peruvian macro: Loan quality is still healing — the high-risk loan ratio fell from 7.0% in June 2024 to 5.6% a year later — but Peru’s economy is sensitive to commodity cycles and political noise; a reversal would hit provisioning costs hard.

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This is news, not investment advice.