Proud of its sustained success after 130 years in business, Banco de Chile remains committed to serving the nation, says CEO Eduardo Ebensperger Orrego
In a year of particular importance and significance for Banco de Chile – we are celebrating 130 years in business – it is truly an honour to be recognised once again by the The European through various awards, ‘Bank of the Year Chile’, ‘Innovative Digital Bank of the Year Chile’ and ‘Best Bank for Financial Inclusion Chile’, in addition to a new distinction in 2024 as ‘Best Bank for Sustainability Futures Chile’. This new accolade allows us to recap here the main milestones of the year and, more importantly, to carry our business into the future.
Well over a century since our foundation on October 28, 1893, the bank’s commitment to promote the development of the country and the progress of individuals and companies, remains as steadfast as ever. As we proudly say, carrying “Chile” in our name is a tremendous responsibility that has required us to adapt to the country’s needs in an increasingly demanding environment, always placing our customers and employees at the centre of all decisions.
To begin, I would like to thank the more than 12,000 employees of Banco de Chile and our subsidiaries for their commitment. Their effort and perseverance reaffirm our purpose, to deliver excellent service to our customers and the community. Another factor contributing to our success is our prudent business and risk management, consistent with a long-term strategic vision that seeks to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders on an ongoing basis.
A leader in Latin America
Financial results for fiscal year 2023 included net income of $1.42bn and a return on equity of 25.1%, outperforming our main competitors and the industry average. This did not happen by chance: thanks to the sustained building of our robust equity base, we were able to maintain the highest solvency indicators in the local financial industry and repay the confidence placed in us by our shareholders and investors. We took on this challenge with the utmost responsibility, which has made us one of the soundest private banks in Chile and Latin America, as confirmed by leading international risk rating agencies, including Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s (A and A2, respectively).
We posted a 16.2% market share in commercial loans as of December 2023, in a context where companies were negatively impacted by a sluggish economy. Despite this backdrop, we played an active role in the state-guaranteed financing programme Fogape Chile Apoya, ranking first among private banks with more than $1.18bn lent to small- and medium-sized companies.
In consumer loans, we achieved significant growth of 6.3%, boosting our market share from 18% in 2022 to 18.7% based on attractive offerings enhanced by a distinctive digital experience and the highest standards of service quality. Finally, our housing loan portfolio expanded by 7.8% in line with limited but sustained market growth despite the high interest rates prevailing during the year.
In terms of strategy, we made significant progress on each of our targets: customer-centricity, efficiency and productivity, and sustainability and commitment to Chile. In the first area, we advanced on digital solutions, expanding the capabilities of our remote service channels, implementing technology and advanced analytics to enhance the value offering, enabling new payment functionalities and expanding the scope of digital onboarding tools for individuals and companies alike. We also promoted financial inclusion through our FAN, FAN Emprende, FAN Clan and digital checking account products.
In efficiency and productivity, we reengineered branch processes, significantly reduced wait and service times, increased the use of self-service tellers, consolidated digital insurance sales, promoted a new corporate purchasing model and implemented 100% digital loan applications for SME customers. These and many other initiatives allow us to continue to enhance our strategic focus on efficiency and productivity while making room for growing investment needs in technology and our main strategic initiatives.
ESG initiatives to the fore
Our commitment to Chile is also a core part of our management and our Sustainability Policy and Strategy. We issued bonds abroad for around $80m under our financing framework (ESG framework). These resources will be fully allocated to initiatives that are focused on promoting the country’s sustainable development and inclusive economic growth in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Global Compact Chile, of which Banco de Chile and its subsidiaries are signatories.
We are also proud of our Women Who Inspire programme, promoting it organisation-wide to spotlight and develop projects created by women microentrepreneurs with positive economic, social and environmental impacts that ultimately shape future generations.
Timely and supportive emergency response is another pillar of our commitment to the country. For example, after the devastating forest fires that impacted south-central Chile in February 2023, we immediately committed resources and worked hard to build the new Colico Alto School in the municipality of Santa Juana located in the Biobío Region. The facility was ready in record time and inaugurated in March of the present year, with high construction, accessibility and thermal insulation standards.
I would also like to highlight our ongoing commitment to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises through our SMEs for Chile programme. We have launched a series of initiatives and contests to promote a comprehensive entrepreneurial ecosystem and help hundreds of entrepreneurs prosper. Likewise, I would like to mention the Education for Chile programme, which fosters continuing education and training, especially for young people and women, as well as the VT Commitment initiative, which strives to improve the education and employability of students from Chile’s technical and vocational schools. Attracting and retaining the best talent is – and will always be – one of our main hallmarks.
With the same commitment to inclusion as always, we once again took on the challenge of supporting the Teletón, which is in its 45th year. This work identifies and mobilises us as an organisation, and we reached our goals again thanks to the efforts and volunteer work of thousands of Banco de Chile employees and generous donations from individuals, families, companies, institutions and civic organisations.
As part of our sponsorship programme for outstanding national athletes, we are proud to be the main sponsor of Los Cóndores, the Chilean national rugby team. We accompanied them in their historic debut in the Rugby World Cup in France 2023, a milestone that highlighted the team work, passion and courage of this group of young people to wear the Chilean jersey and raise our flag in the sport’s most important event.
Like the awards we receive today from this magazine, for which we are grateful, these initiatives have been rewarded with several other accolades from the financial community and our customers. We were named the best bank and one of the best companies in the country at attracting and retaining talent in Chile (Merco Talento and Merco Talento Universitario); ‘Best of the Best’ in the contractual category and first place in the large financial institutions sector in the ‘PROCALIDAD 2023 National Customer Satisfaction Award’; and first in the ‘Praxis Xperience Index 2023’ customer experience ranking. Banco de Chile was the only private bank on the ranking of the ‘Best Paying Banks’ for timely payment to our SME suppliers and was also awarded the ‘Market Voice 2023’ award as one of the top three companies in Chile in terms of corporate governance.
These and many other achievements were part of our bank’s outstanding performance this year. This is why I want to reiterate my thanks to the employees of Banco de Chile and our subsidiaries and invite them to continue honouring our historical commitment to the country, our customers and shareholders.
The last few years, this fiscal year and the years to come have been and will be marked – locally and globally – by a series of complexities in various economic, social and political spheres. This represents a great challenge for all stakeholders, particularly authorities and leaders, who must inspire us through their example and leadership regarding the shared purpose of building a better country for this and future generations.
Banco de Chile will continue working to advance in this challenge, as it has done for more than 130 years with the country, its people, its companies and its entrepreneurs. That is our commitment.
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