Chile's Grupo Security builds digital muscles

Chile's Grupo Security has created a digital business development division - and hired a BBVA Chile executive to head it.

Eduardo Olivares Veloso joins the local financial services group after serving as manager of BBVA Chile's business development and digital banking sections since 2013, a Grupo Security statement said.

"The appointment seeks to spur the implementation of comprehensive digital strategies across all companies in the group," it added.

Financial services sector players across the region are transforming digitally as consumer demands and habits change, fintechs develop and tech/internet giants such as Amazon circle. At a digital transformation conference in Chile last year, Olivares said: "If we don't change, someone's going to change us."

A study jointly conducted by digital banking technology company Technisys and Stanford University in the US found that banks in Latin America still have some way to go in terms of evolving.

An associated report says: "According to our sample [the authors collected data from 63 decision makers from 59 financial services institutions], Latin American banks have boosted their investments in the past 2 years to face threats posed by fintech, big technology companies and other banks, following the global trend. Despite these improvements, there's room for growth: only 22% of the banks in the sample are fully prepared for a truly digital offering. For the rest of the banks, a variety of challenges persist, including internal reluctance, lack of investments, and restrictive local regulations, among others."

BBVA Chile is due to become part of Scotiabank Chile this year after the former accepted an offer of US$2.2bn.

GRUPO SECURITY AT A GLANCE

Grupo Security comprises 13 companies that operate in the banking, investment management, life insurance, factoring, insurance broking, real estate and travel segments.

For the first quarter of the year the group reported net income of 23.568bn pesos (US$37.3mn).

Loans

Banking unit Banco Security's loan portfolio stood at 4.923tn pesos at end-March, up 8.6% from 12 months earlier.

In terms of income, it reported 20.891bn pesos, according to data from banking watchdog Sbif. The bank held 6.476tn pesos in assets at end-March, compared with 37.080tn held by the market leader, state lender BancoEstado.

Insurance

Insurance business Vida Security operates in the life, voluntary pension savings, life with savings and health segments. The company reported income of 6.406bn pesos for the first quarter. Security's Peruvian subsidiary, Protecta Security, posted 40.0mn soles (US$12.2mn) in annuity sales in Q1, up 51.7% year-on-year. The Peru business was launched in 2015.

Investment

Security's investment management business generated income of 1.909bn pesos, up 24.4% year-on-year. In Q1 it was managing 5.247tn pesos in assets, up 21.7%.