EscucharSAN JOSE - The Corporación Banco del Comercio (Bancomer) and the Corporación Fincomer announced yesterday the merger of their banks and subsidiary companies.
Representatives of the two firms agreed that this is a means to challenge the tough competition present in the financial market and to follow the world trend of consolidating financial institutions within the context of globalization.
The announcement was made by the chairman of the board of directors of Corporación Bancomer, Luis Eduardo Uribe; the chairman of Corporación Fincomer, Javier Quirós; the general manager of Bancomer, Marco Alfaro; and the general manager of Fincomer, Rafael Mora.
The officials told La Nación that the merger will imply, initially, the union at the corporate level. That is, the purchase of Fincomer's assets by Bancomer. Secondly, it will involve the union of the banks' operations.
They expect the overall process to be completed within six months, according to their estimates.
As a result of this union, Bancomer's assets will increase to ¢55 billion ($231.2 million), while the credit portfolio would increase to ¢42 billion ($176.6 million). This would make the corporation, whose patrimony would be ¢3 billion ($12.6 million), the second largest in Costa Rica.
The shares to be transferred to Bancomer are currently valued at ¢2.4 billion ($10.1 million).
When operating together, the two banks will have 13 branches throughout the country and their joint average customer base will be over 5,000.
Rafael Mora explained that the 10 shareholders of Fincomer agreed on exchanging their papers for those of Bancomer. The latter will issue 30 percent of its shares in exchange for 100 percent of Fincomer's, the official explained.
Meanwhile, Marco Alfaro explained that the 390 Bancomer shareholders will hold their General Assembly in one month.
They will discuss the agreement on the merger, although the major shareholders have already agreed on the consolidation, the general manager said.
Regarding the customers of Fincomer, Javier Quirós explained that Bancomer will honor their accounts and credits until they reach their full terms.
Regarding the background of the merger, Quirós explained that the boards of directors of the two firms began jointly discussing it three months ago. The final agreement was reached a few days ago, when representatives of the two companies signed a charter of intentions.
Luis Eduardo Uribe further explained that only details of formality remained to be finalized. However, he also admitted that the proper consultation regarding the merger still remains to be submitted to the General Superintendent of Financial Institutions (SUGEF in Spanish).
On the other hand, Uribe asserted that the customers will benefit from the consolidation, because they will have the support of a stronger firm and will enjoy a larger number of branches, as well as a lower cost of intermediation.
This is the second merger of financial institutions the last few weeks. The past August 28, the gradual merger of Banco de Fomento Agrícola (BFA) and Corporación Financiera e Industrial (COFISA) was confirmed.
However, Bancomer and Fincomer executives denied that their merger be linked in anyway to the BFA-COFISA one; moreover, they pointed out that they are of a different nature.
The executives further added that this is a good time for the merger, because the two companies are supplying the same services.
Uribe also said that the merger will allow the consolidation of the capital from the Commerce Overseas Bank, which belongs to Corporación Bancomer and operates in Panama. He explained that this will be so because Central Bank of Costa Rica regulations stipulate that, in order to have a bank overseas, one must have a capitalization of over $10 million.
