Banco Ecofuturo celebrates its first 25 years of operations with positive figures. The key to its success – according to the general manager, Alejandro Bustillos – has been growing at the same time as its clients and anticipating their needs. He was on the program Qué Semana on EL DBER Radio. That is why today, they have micro-savings, micro-insurance and micro-assistance.
It is a difficult time for everyone, also for the financial sector in general. What creative solutions are being given for people’s needs at this time when there are no dollars?
The Bolivian financial system and particularly Ecofuturo have always been very resilient actors. Banking in Bolivia has more than 100 years of history, that is why I say that we are a young bank and we have known how to adapt to the needs, to the challenges that each of our clients have had.
Today, in a slightly more complex situation, with an economic recovery that is still raising its head, as we say, we are working hard so that our clients can have support with us and not pressure, but rather a source of solutions and products. innovators that can help satisfy the needs they have today.
There are many stories for a bank that has dedicated itself, above all, to working with small businesses, with small producers, to generating financial inclusion. What have these 25 years been like?
Ecofuturo, as I always say, is a young bank, but very mature. In 25 years we have managed to serve more than a million clients through our different products, both credit, deposits, and today, insurance.
We have been evolving, from working in the microcredit part to microfinance. Not only do we already grant loans today, we have micro-savings, micro-insurance, and micro-assistance products, always seeking a bit of financial inclusion and today the challenge is to have more and more clients.
What does this financial inclusion mean? Who previously could not access bank loans can now do so and how are they achieving it through Ecofuturo?
Financial inclusion -basically- is not only ensuring that people who previously were not subject to credit, who did not have the possibility of approaching a bank and today can do so through us, but also understood as people who They have already had a loan at some point, today they can have permanent usability.
It is not only about having a savings account where I deposit and withdraw all my money and continue paying in cash, but rather the idea is that we can promote the use of different digital platforms such as transactionability through mobile banking applications. , from our website, from face-to-face channels, but that everything goes through a formal channel such as a banking institution.
The growth of Banco Ecofuturo began in La Paz, in just 4 or 5 municipalities and has come to have a presence throughout the country…
For us it is truly a satisfaction in these 25 years to have more than 130 points of financial attention. We have started with 4 fixed agencies in La Paz. Today here in Santa Cruz we have 16 financial attention points, 16 agencies, both in urban and rural areas and we have a national presence.
There is also growth as a company, how much capital did you start with, how can you measure the expansion of the service?
We have started with a loan portfolio of 4 million dollars and today we have more than 555 million dollars. There are 555 million dollars in credits, there are more than 700 million that we have in deposits from people who trust their savings in the different products we have.
A job that is also seen in the national economy because all its credits go to producers…
Yes, well, we are part of what is supporting the small producer, the micro-entrepreneur, the ordinary merchant, who in a certain way is not subject to credit for a traditional entity, for a corporate bank, but is a client. for us to which we try to do what our objective says, that can build opportunities.
What is your main financial services market?
Our customer base is distributed in the main axis of the country: La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, but Santa Cruz is one of our biggest bets because, well, the economic development that the department of Santa Cruz has is very important, so We as Banco Ecofuturo want to accompany this development and build opportunities together.
