Intercorp Financial Services Inc.

What it is

IFS is a limited-liability holding company incorporated in Panama on 19 September 2006, operating as the parent of Peru’s financial-services businesses. Its three main subsidiaries are Interbank (a full-service retail and commercial bank), Interseguro (an insurance company focused on life annuities), and Inteligo (a fast-growing wealth management and brokerage group).

The group was formed in 2007 when Intercorp created a financial holding — originally called Intergroup Financial Services Corp., now IFS — to consolidate ownership of Interbank, Interseguro, Inteligo and payments subsidiary Izipay. IFS’s legal domicile is at Av.

Carlos Villarán 140, La Victoria, Lima, Peru.

Who owns it

As of 31 December 2024, Intercorp Peru Ltd. holds directly and indirectly 72.47% of the issued capital stock of IFS, equivalent to 71.95% of the outstanding capital stock. The remaining ~28% trades freely on the NYSE and BVL — that publicly traded slice is what gives investors their entry point.

Intercorp Peru Ltd. is itself ultimately controlled by Carlos Rodríguez-Pastor Persivale, the Peruvian-American billionaire who is also chairman of IFS’s board. IFS is incorporated under the laws of Panama and has securities listed on the Lima Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

Who runs it

Luis Felipe Castellanos López-Torres has served as IFS’s Chief Executive Officer since April 2013. Previously he was a director in the investment-banking division at Citigroup Global Markets in New York; he holds a bachelor’s degree from Universidad del Pacífico and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Michela Casassa Ramat has served as Chief Financial Officer since 2012; she holds a bachelor’s degree from Universidad de Lima and an MBA from SDA Bocconi. The subsidiary CEOs presenting alongside them are Carlos Tori (Interbank), Gonzalo Basadre (Interseguro) and Bruno Ferreccio (Inteligo).

The money, in plain words

IFS reported 2024 net profits of S/ 1,307.5 million (US$1.3 bn) — a 21.1% jump over 2023 — mainly because loan losses fell sharply as Peru’s economy recovered. At the prevailing exchange rate of roughly S/ 3.65 (US$4)per dollar, that translates to about US$358 million kept after all costs and taxes.

For every sol of gross operating income the group earned in 2024, it kept about 14.6 cents as net profit — a net margin of ~14.6% (our calculation). The return on equity — how much the group earns for every sol that shareholders have invested — reached 24.4% at the Interseguro subsidiary level, while the consolidated group ROE was 12.6%, up from 11.3% in 2023.

The efficiency ratio — what fraction of every revenue sol goes to running costs — was 38.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024, a lean figure for a bank-led group. At the March 2025 annual shareholders’ meeting, IFS distributed US$1.00 per share in dividends on 2024 profits, totalling US$115.4 million.

What it is doing now

In Q1 2026, IFS reported net profit of S/ 601.9 million (US$602 mn), up S/ 155.8 million (US$156 mn) year-on-year, with an annualised return on equity of 19.4% — the strongest quarterly result in the group’s history and a sharp acceleration from the 12.6% annual ROE it posted in 2024. For the full year 2025, IFS recorded record net income of S/ 1.9 billion (US$1.9 bn), a 49% increase, with a group ROE of 16.8%.

The most significant recent strategic move is a planned acquisition of InFinance XP through a partnership with InRetail, intended to strengthen IFS’s consumer finance and payments ecosystem. InFinance XP brings close to 3 million customers, S/ 1.8 billion (US$1.8 bn) in loans and S/ 1.5 billion (US$1.5 bn) in deposits.

What to watch

• InFinance XP integration. Adding nearly 3 million new customers through InRetail’s 4,000-store retail network is the boldest growth bet IFS has made in years; execution risk is real.
• ROE trajectory. Management targets an ROE above 17% for 2026 with continued investment in technology. Whether falling loan costs hold as consumer lending picks back up will determine if that target is met.
• Peru’s political calendar. Pension-fund withdrawals have temporarily dampened loan growth, and a presidential election cycle adds policy uncertainty — this is a single-country business and that concentration is its main vulnerability.
• Valuation. At roughly 9× earnings and a ~2–3% dividend yield, the stock trades cheaply relative to its recent ROE surge; that gap tends to close — or it signals a risk the market is pricing in.

This is news, not investment advice.