Victor Viggiano

Victor Viggiano, Executive President of BiBank, talks to TBY about his plans for the region.

How does BiBank plan to become a bridge for the whole region?

Victor Viggiano: Our mission is to provide connectivity between Central American customers and Panama and vice versa. With our synergies due to our footprint in Central America, we have been able to maximize opportunities with customers in the region this year, offering some of the benefits of the Panamanian financial market. That is the main reason why we grew substantially in fiscal year 2021. We are able to offer the most comprehensive suite of banking services; regional payments, treasury, and credit through full underwriting of important credit transactions for regional customers. With our scale, expertise in the region, and array of products and services, we can continue to maximize opportunities. The Panamanian financial sector offers a dollarized economy, investment-grade country rating, and supporting services such as legal, insurance, connectivity, and international commerce that a foreign investor requires.

What are the benefits of being part of a big corporation like BI?

Victor Viggiano: Scale to underwrite syndicated loan transactions for more than USD450 million, regional treasury and payments, and estate trust services for Central American customers’ net worth diversification. Furthermore, we offer Conexión Regional, which is a digital payment system that enables real-time transactions from any of our customers client’s accounts in our regional banking network, at no cost. This allows an easy and secure transfer of liquidity to a Bi Bank Panamanian account, and investment in money market accounts or CDs. Also, Bi Group works with a wide number of top correspondent banks around the world to offer an array of international commerce products. We can also guarantee or discount receivables from trade transactions between Panamanian and Central American customers.

In what ways do you strive to reinforce your presence and improve your services in the short run?

Victor Viggiano: We want to grow and have a bigger market share in the Panamanian financial sector through our lending capacity, ample correspondent banking network, a wider array of products and improved customer experience with modern processes, fast execution, and an improved digital platform.