Banco Cuscatlán Named Bank of the Year

LATINFINANCE, a magazine coveringfinance, business and investment inLatin America and the Caribbean, hasnamed Banco Cuscatlán as the CostaRican Bank of the Year for 2004.According to a statement from thebank, LatinFinance editors evaluatedbanks’ utilities, growth, expansion, diversificationof products and services, andmarket ranking.The LatinFinance article on BancoCuscatlán, as released by the bank lastweek, says Cuscatlán, one of the top 10banks in Costa Rica, had a 50% increasein assets in 2003, the largest increase forany Costa Rican bank that year. Currentassets total $234.5 million.The bank also cut past-due loans by53% this year, the largest drop among thecountry’s top banks, and has the lowestamount of overdue loans at less than $1.1billion, according to the article.Vanessa López, marketing managerfor Cuscatlán de Costa Rica, says thecompany is highly satisfied with theaward, especially since the bank has onlybeen operating in Costa Rica for fouryears. It bought out BFA International in2000.Cuscatlán de Costa Rica is a whollyowned subsidiary of a Panama-basedcompany, but is ultimately owned by ElSalvador’s Banco Cuscatlán, that country’ssecond-largest bank, which also hassubsidiaries in Guatemala, Panama andHonduras, according to the bank’s Website.