Peru Keeps Its Central Bank Chief of 20 Years, an Anchor Amid Turmoil
Key Facts
Peru has cycled through nine presidents in a decade, yet one man has run its central bank since 2006. This week the new Senate kept Julio Velarde in post until 2031, and regulators cleared a bank deal.
Peru’s Senate voted 40 to 12 on 16 September 2026 to keep Julio Velarde at the central bank until 2031. A day later, Ecuadorian-owned Banco Pichincha said Peru’s banking regulator had cleared it to buy card issuer Diners Club Peru.
Why This Matters Beyond Peru
Keiko Fujimori took office on 28 July 2026 as Peru’s ninth president in a decade, Al Jazeera reported. Velarde has led the Banco Central de Reserva del Peru, known as the BCRP, since September 2006, Gestion reported.
The trade journal Central Banking calls him one of the world’s longest-serving central bank governors. Fujimori asked him to stay on and announced that decision on social media on 7 July, before taking office.
The BCRP’s autonomy is set in Peru’s 1993 constitution, and its main task is preserving monetary stability. It adopted explicit inflation targets in 2002 and has used a band of 1 to 3 percent since March 2014, Infobae reported.
One sign of trust in a currency is how much people keep in dollars instead. Infobae reported that the dollar share of liquidity fell from 72 percent in December 2000 to 29 percent in November 2025.
The dollar share of private-sector credit fell from 81 percent to 24 percent over the same period. Keeping Velarde signals continuity at the one economic institution that has outlasted every recent government.
The Senate Keeps Velarde
The Senate plenary approved the report ratifying Velarde on 16 September 2026. The vote was 40 in favour, 12 against and no abstentions, Congress said in its own release.
The term runs five years, to 2031, matching the constitutional period. The executive had already designated him by Supreme Resolution 258-2026-PCM on 21 August 2026.
He has been ratified under presidents Garcia, Humala, Kuczynski, Castillo and now Fujimori. Senator Patricia Juarez said Peru has had low regional inflation under his conduct of the bank.
Opponents from the Juntos por el Peru party questioned the distributional effect of the bank’s decisions, La Republica reported. The commission report found no legal impediment to the candidacy, though its chair recorded his own opposition.
The BCRP board has seven members, four of them named by the executive, including the president. Congress ratifies the president and elects the other three directors by an absolute majority, Infobae reported.
Those three seats are still empty, so the board is incomplete. La Republica reported evaluations scheduled for 22 to 24 September and a final report by 7 October.
Peru Has a Senate Again
A foreign reader may be surprised that Peru has a Senate at all. The bicameral Congress was installed on 25 July 2026, the official gazette El Peruano reported.
It has 60 senators and 130 deputies, serving the 2026 to 2031 term. The change ended 33 years of continuous single-chamber legislature, El Peruano said.
The reform was approved through Law 31988, which restored the two chambers. Ratifying the central bank president is one of the powers the Senate now exercises.
Where Monetary Policy Stands
The man the Senate kept is running a policy that has not moved in a year. The BCRP held its reference rate at 4.25 percent on 11 September 2026, Forbes Peru reported.
Central bank series confirm the rate at 4.25 percent through August 2026. That is twelve consecutive months without a change, Infobae reported.
Inflation is not where the bank wants it. Lima prices rose 4.44 percent in the year to August 2026, the INEI statistics institute said on 1 September.
The national twelve-month rate was 4.06 percent, Forbes Peru reported from the same release. Inflation has sat above the 1 to 3 percent target band since March.
Inflation expectations stood at 3.01 percent in July, just above the band, Infobae reported. The bank linked the overshoot mainly to fuel prices and their effect on transport costs.
The sol, Peru’s currency, has been steady through the month. The BCRP banking-system selling rate was S/3.372 per US dollar on 16 September 2026, the rate used here.
What the Banking Regulator Approved
The second decision came from the SBS, Peru’s banking, insurance and pensions regulator. Its decision is recorded in Resolution SBS 02290-2026, according to Banco Pichincha.
The bank disclosed it on 17 September 2026 in a material-event notice to the SMV, the securities regulator. That filing, called a Hecho de Importancia, is the standard way a Peruvian issuer reports a material event.
The resolution allows the bank to acquire up to 100 percent of the shares of Diners Club Peru. The stated purpose is that Diners Club Peru becomes a subsidiary of the bank.
RPP, a Lima broadcaster, put the total consideration at S/23,474,937 (about US$7 million), citing the resolution. That conversion uses the BCRP selling rate of S/3.372 per dollar.
How the Deal Got Here
The transaction did not appear this week, and the resolution sets out its history. Pichincha’s board agreed on 20 January 2026 to buy at least 94.77 percent of the shares.
On 26 May 2026 the same board ratified the decision and widened it to as much as 100 percent. The S/23.47 million figure, about US$6.96 million, attaches to that widened agreement.
The two companies were already partners before any of this. They formed a consortium in 2015 to run the credit card business together, Infobae reported.
Moody’s Local Peru put the bank’s share of that Diners consortium portfolio at roughly 27 percent. The rating agency noted the bank books 100 percent of the portfolio on its balance sheet regardless.
Why a Regulator Has to Sign Off
Peru does not let a bank buy a financial company quietly, and this is the mechanism. Law 26702, the General Law of the Financial System, governs what a bank may own.
It lets banks acquire shares in firms providing complementary or auxiliary services. It also requires prior SBS authorisation before a bank sets up a subsidiary.
The SBS reviewed the file and found the paperwork met the established procedure. The same law lists card issuance and administration among permitted banking activities.
That is the legal hook the regulator used, according to RPP’s account of the resolution. The SBS opened a separate public consultation on 15 September on procedures for buying more than 10 percent of a bank.
Who Banco Pichincha Is in Peru
The bank is older than its current name suggests, and the history explains its scale. It was constituted in 1964 as Financiera y Promotora de la Construccion, known as Finanpro.
It was authorised to operate as a bank in 1986 under the name Banco Financiero del Peru. Ecuador’s Banco Pichincha group entered the shareholder register in 1994 and built up control.
It bought NBK Bank in 2001 and America Financiera in 2011, Infobae reported. The SBS approved the change of name to Banco Pichincha in 2018.
Moody’s Local Peru reported gross loans of S/8,063 million at 30 June 2025, about US$2.39 billion. The agency affirmed the bank at A- with a stable outlook on 26 March 2026.
Mas Finanzas reported net profit of S/19.46 million in the first five months of 2026, about US$5.8 million. That was 8.16 percent below the S/21.19 million, about US$6.3 million, booked a year earlier.
The parent, Banco Pichincha C.A., is Ecuador’s largest private bank, Moody’s Local said. Grupo Pichincha held about US$31 billion in assets across eleven financial firms in six countries, Gestion reported in 2024.
What Diners Club Peru Brings
Diners Club Peru is a card issuer rather than a bank, and it sits in a narrow segment. It is supervised by the SBS and trades on the strength of the Diners Club brand.
Its card base and its latest profit figures were not disclosed in the filings reviewed for this article. The consideration of about US$6.96 million is small against a bank of Pichincha’s size.
Infobae reported that the resolution sets out no changes to the Diners Club brand. It also sets out no changes to current products or to the conditions on existing cards.
Consolidation and Concentration
Peruvian banking is already concentrated, and this deal does little to change that. Nineteen private banks operate in the country, La Republica reported from SBS data.
The four largest hold more than 80 percent of loans, deposits and equity, PeruCheck found using SBS figures. Those four are BCP, BBVA, Scotiabank and Interbank.
System profits reached S/14,147 million in 2025, about US$4.2 billion at the 16 September rate. That was 37 percent above the S/10,325 million, about US$3.06 billion, earned in 2024.
The same four banks took S/11,800 million of it, about US$3.5 billion, or 83 percent. BCP alone earned S/6,478 million, about US$1.92 billion.
Arturo Garcia, an economist at ESAN business school, told La Republica in February what high concentration does. He said entities with greater participation have greater influence in determining market rates.
He argued the SBS must be active in promoting the entry of more financial entities. The SBS has separately signalled more structural change, flagging possible fully digital banks and pension-arm absorptions.
What It Means If You Hold Soles or a Peruvian Card
If you hold soles, Velarde’s continuation is the more consequential of the two decisions. It signals policy continuity at an institution that has held its rate for twelve months.
If you are an investor, the Senate’s remaining three board picks are the open variable. A central bank president sets direction, but the board votes on the rate each month.
If you carry a Diners Club card in Peru, nothing in the resolution changes your terms. Infobae reported that the brand, the products and the card conditions are untouched by the document.
That is the position today, not a permanent commitment by the buyer. Watch the tarifario, the published fee schedule, which any issuer can revise with notice.
If you are a depositor at Banco Pichincha, the deal is small relative to the bank. About US$6.96 million is a modest outlay for a lender with roughly US$2.39 billion in gross loans.
If you borrow on cards in Peru, the concentration numbers matter more than this transaction. The average credit card rate was 74.8 percent a year, La Republica reported from SBS data.
What Is Not Yet Known
The three outstanding BCRP directorships are unresolved, with the process running into October. Whether the Senate fills them with continuity candidates or critics of the bank is not yet clear.
The exact date the SBS signed Resolution 02290-2026 was not stated in the filings reviewed here. Peru Retail reported the authorisation as dated 16 September and published the following day.
Diners Club Peru’s card base, its portfolio size and its latest results were not disclosed. Nor was any timetable given for closing the share purchase itself.
Whether the Diners Club brand survives in the medium term is not addressed anywhere in the resolution. Banco Pichincha disclosed the authorisation on 17 September, and that date is firm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Julio Velarde’s reappointment matter?
Peru has had nine presidents in a decade, and Velarde has run its central bank throughout, since 2006. Keeping him until 2031 signals continuity in interest-rate and currency policy despite political turnover.
Has Banco Pichincha already bought Diners Club Peru?
Not yet. The SBS authorised the purchase, and the bank still has to complete it.
Will my Diners Club card change?
The resolution sets out no changes to the brand, the products or the card conditions. Gestion and Infobae both reported that position.
Why does a Senate vote on the central bank?
Peru restored its bicameral Congress on 25 July 2026. Ratifying the BCRP president is one of the Senate’s powers.
Sources: RPP, SBS authorisation and Resolution SBS 02290-2026, Infobae, terms of the deal and Pichincha’s history in Peru, Congreso del Peru, Senate plenary ratifies Velarde, La Republica, what follows the Velarde vote, BCRP statistics, daily exchange rate series, Forbes Peru, BCRP holds the reference rate at 4.25 percent, La Republica, 2025 banking profits and concentration, El Peruano, installation of the bicameral Congress, Al Jazeera, Keiko Fujimori sworn in as Peru’s ninth president in a decade, Central Banking, Peru’s president-elect asks Velarde to stay on, Infobae, how the BCRP works, its board and dollarisation data
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