Very attractive for investments
Over the past decade, the Bolivian financial sector has grown in an upbeat context. Foreign investors are taking notice of the 5,8 percent annual economic growth projection for 2016-2020. Mr. Arce Catacora, Minister for Economic Affairs and Public Finances, pointed out that “Bolivia has been receiving a great amount of foreign investment in mining, the oil industry, manufacturing, tourism and other areas. The next big investments regard hospitals, roads and energy”. For the second year in a row, Bolivia has maintained its credit default rate at 1,5 percent, the lowest rate in the country’s history and the lowest in Latin America. The deposits in the banking system reached USD 21.000 million, which is 20,4 percent more than in 2014. Savings are 85% in bolivianos, a sign of trust in the local currency. Foreign investors will find competent local partners to structure their projects in accordance with Bolivian legislation, in particular Banco Económico ,a full service bank that attends to all segments of clientele. Ever since it was founded 25 years ago in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, it has always focused on small and medium sized enterprises, because this segment of clientele was usually not covered by traditional banks. Banco Económico operates in the most populated states of the country, such as La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Tarija, and will soon start operations in Sucre. The bank closed the business year 2015 with a credit portfolio of US$ 831 million, which represents an annual growth rate of about 16%, reaching a market share of 5.4%. Only 1.4% of the whole loan portfolio is in arrears, which is less than the average rate of the banking system and indicates a good management of credit risk. Deposits amount to US$ 997 million with an annual growth rate of 8%. Over the last three years, the Bank maintained an average profitability of 20%. Banco Económico recently ranked third in the CAMEL Ranking of all Bolivian banks, which was prepared by the financial team of El Deber, one of the main newspapers in Bolivia. For 2016, the bank´s goal is to reach a growth rate similar to the average of the banking system in order to defend its market share. In terms of profitability, the bank expects to remain amongst the three most profitable banks in the country, as it has been for the last three years. The insurance sector is currently very dynamic in Bolivia, having grown faster than the national average, in the double digits, with a number of big players leading the way.
One of them is the group formed by parent company Grupo Empresarial
de Inversiones and five companies: Nacional Seguros Vida y Salud, Nacional Seguros Patrimoniales y Fianzas, Tecorp, Conecta and Xperience. This group is currently investing in four big projects, the first one in respect to health policy. At present, public health protection needs to be improved in Bolivia, public hospitals need to offer a wider variety of services, which the private sector could be offering. This is where insurance companies can step in, channeling those services towards the private sector. In this context, the group is developing one of the biggest private hospital complexes in Bolivia, an investment of USD 50 million, completely financed with Bolivian capital, with European and American advice. José Luis Camacho Miserendino, the group’s CEO, explained that “We are building partnerships with Austrian and Spanish companies in order to hand over the keys to the hospital”. This project is managed by Grupo Empresarial de Inversiones Nacional Vida S.A., which is promoting and driving it forward. This will allow a vertical integration into the insurance company. The group is also investing in tall office buildings. It has acquired a piece of land in an excellent location in the city of Santa Cruz, where they will build three towers, investing USD 80 million; The group has decided to invest in the real estate sector because its growth has been remarkable in Santa Cruz. Mr. Camacho was confident that “Our towers will be the tallest in Bolivia and all of Latin America”. Over the coming 6 months, the group will enter into the Paraguayan market with Vida investing between USD 3 and 5 million. They have also contacted several Spanish groups specializing in cemeteries and funeral homes to develop a project amounting to almost USD 1 million. Altogether, over the 5 years the group intends to invest USD 150 million into those four projects. But the group is also interested in the technological sector, in particular in the development of apps. This is another area where they would like to find the right international partner, as well as their existing call center activity. With adequate flexibility in the labor market, Mr. Camacho believes his group could be competing internationally with Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and even the United States and Europe. Mr. Camacho is confident about the potential of Bolivians to be entrepreneurs, and passionate about the need for better insurance cover in his country: “We believe that there should be a public policy regarding tax incentives for certain types of insurance policies, such as health, farming and personal accident coverage, which we consider to be three basic sectors for the protection of life and the development of society”. Patricio Hinojosa, General Manager of a real Bolivian household name in the insurance sector, Seguros Fortaleza, agrees that the country needs a “culture of insurance” with increased awareness for the different types of insurance policies people need: Personal, professional, health and vehicles. He is confident that this will lead to growth in his industry. Seguros Fortaleza is the leader in the bonds market, which is a relatively new niche they have been focusing on for the last 10 years. It also specializes in retained premiums, where they hope to achieve a growth rate above 15%. This former cooperative became a limited company in 1999 after a change in national legislation. It receives excellent marks by Fitch Ratings and closed the year 2015 having invoiced USD 24 million. With central offices in Santa Cruz, it specializes in small and medium enterprises as well as individuals. From the start, it has always worked with the world’s largest reinsurers, which are essential partners they hope to cooperate more with as they keep expanding.
“In our health insurance line, we want to offer a complete high quality service at a reasonable cost. In Bolivia the relationship between the quality and the cost of care in private hospitals needs to be improved”, said Mr. Camacho.