With three agencies in San Salvador, Banco Industrial will begin operations.
Alicia Maria Mayorga, president of the institution in El Salvador said they already have planned an expansion for next year with the opening of new agencies and more products and services.
"Juan Miguel Torrebiarte, president of the BI corporation, said that the arrival in El Salvador is a major event for the financial group, because through this new bank they will consolidate their presence in the Central American Northern Triangle (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras ) as well as allowing them to offer their present and potential customers greater regional coverage and services to facilitate trade", reported Elperiodico.com.gt
The main shareholder of the new bank, which will open operations on 13 July, is the Panamanian holding company Bicapital Corporation.
As outlined in an article in Elperiodico.com.gt, Banco Industrial El Salvador will absorb the existing operations of the representative office of Banco Industrial Guatemala, which is already operating business loan services in El Salvador.
The Guatemalan bank will invest $20 million in the opening of five agencies in El Salvador.
Luis Lara Groject, Banco Industrial's manager, commented that the opening had been planned for May but the development of information systems took longer than expected.
According to elperiodico.com.gt the new Salvadoran branches will have $20 million worth of capital initially.
Both "Banco Industrial" and G&T Continental are moving forward with their expansion plans in Central America.
Banco Industrial will open an office in El Salvador in May 2010, while G&T Continental plans to enter the Costa Rican market in the medium term. G&T already operates in Panama and El Salvador.
Diego Pulido, director at "Corporación BI", parent company of Banco Industrial, said in a Prensalibre.com article that "...
Despite the slowdown of the economy, banks reported on October 30 that they had an increase of 23% in comparison to October 2007.
The entity with the best results was Banrural, with $90 million (Q616.2 million) or an substantial increase compared tot he $73 million (Q559.3 million) recorded in the first ten months of last year.
Industrial Bank got the "ok" to enter the Salvadoran market, where it will have a big market of customers.
The inauguration of the first agency will occur during the first semester of 2009, the company's general director, Diego Pulido, said to estrategiaynegocios.net.
El Salvador will be the third country outside Guatemala where the bank has set up operations; in 2008 they opened in Honduras, where they acquired the operations of the Banco del Pais bank.
The Industrial Bank of El Salvador is completing the procedures at the Financial System Superintendence to formally become a bank.
According to the Superintendence, shareholders will hold 1% or more of the social capital of said company which is being created and includes: Banco Industrial S.A. (from Guatemala), Construagro S.A. (from El Salvador), y José Luis Zablah Touché (from El Salvador).