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PANAMA - Finance

Gerardo García Gómez

President, Canal Bank

Bio

Gerardo García Gómez has over 25 years of experience in the international financial sector. García Gómez has been featured on the Latam Insurance Review “Power 50” list, was named Top CEO in 2015 by CEO Insight, and was 2017’s Global Business Awards CEO of the Year. He has also founded several companies in the financial sector such as Barents Re Reinsurance Company Inc., which has become the largest reinsurance company in Latin America. He has founded multiple insurance companies and is founder of Canal Bank S.A and other finance companies. He is also CEO of Arden & Price.

"Panama has always been a crossroads for North and South America because of European investment in the region."
What is your outlook of the financial sector on a global level, and how will that affect Panama’s economy?

Panama has always been a crossroads for North and South America because of European investment in the region. The political environment of nearby countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru have traditionally helped Panama because of the lack of transparency and credibility of leftist governments that have pushed people to search for somewhere safe to save their money, and Panama has traditionally provided that safe environment. Panama still is the fastest growing economy in Latam, and banks like us are key to continue developing our country after the pandemic.

What can Canal Bank offer to a competitive financial market such as Panama’s?

At its highest point, the Panamanian banking system had more than 130 banks; however, bigger is not necessarily better. Specialization is the key to success, which is what Canal Bank has. We acquired a rural bank in Panama’s country side a number of years ago, and most of our clients and loans there are focused on production, food, and agriculture. We have specialty lines focused on these sectors and we provide product and services across the country. Our bank has strong roots in the province of Chiriquí and the Azuero peninsula. These regions provide more than 60% of the national production of crops and livestock. Lately, we have been scouting interesting agricultural projects in Darién province too. We have been building relationships with Panamanian cattle ranchers and farmers for decades, and we plan to grow more than 30% in this market in the next three years. We are conscious about the environment, and we are pushing most of our branches to be environmentally sustainable, and they have solar generation for that. We now want to share that concern with producers as well and plan to finance solar facilities. We want to finance and search for solutions so producers can be more efficient and successful. We are a niche bank focused primarily on small and middle-sized companies, but we have modeled our strategy around knowing our customers as persons, being able to identify needs in the right moment and building relationships around trust and good consulting. This is the reason we can say that we really give our customers tailored made solutions—this is our main strength.

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