Corficolombiana is a Colombian company dealing in

financial Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

products, with its customers being some of the largest corporations in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

History of Corficolombiana

Headquartered in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Corficolombiana was the first

n financial institution. Founded in 1959, it has continued to grow and now offers a wide range of financial services. It has nine offices in Bogotá, and five regional offices located in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

and

Santa Fe de Bogotá Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christma ...

. Corficolombiana offers three specialized services:

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

, investments and financial intermediation, offering its clients a consultant's office, financing, investment, security and yield optimization. In 1999, Corficolombiana merged with three other financial

corporations A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

, La Corporación Financiera de los Andes (Financial Corporation of the Andes), La Corporación Financiera Santander (Santander Financial Corporation) and Indufinanciera. The purpose of the merger was to pool resources and to create an efficient financial infrastructure. Between 1999 and 2000, Corficolombiana received

capitalization Capitalization ( North American spelling; also British spelling in Oxford) or capitalisation (Commonwealth English; all other meanings) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in ...

of more than 130 billion

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol commonly known a ...

, allowing the company to continue in its financial endeavours. Corficolombiana S.A. belongs to

Grupo Aval Grupo Aval is a Colombian holding company engaged in a wide variety of financial activities, including banking, telecommunications and real estate; in Colombia and Central America. Grupo Aval is controlled by Luis Carlos Sarmiento (estimated ne ...

, one of the largest economic organizations in

, with

investments Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

in diverse sectors of the

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

. By late 2005 Corficolombiana S.A. initiated a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

with La Corporacion Financiera del Valle (Corfivalle).

History of Corfivalle

Corfivalle (La Corporación Financiera del Valle) began on April 27, 1961, when more than one hundred investors met at the Cali

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

and signed

Articles of Incorporation Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article(s) may also refer to: ...

. The articles were approved October 2, 1961, by the Office of Banking Supervision. On November 27, the Articles of Incorporation were released to the public and the corporation opened to business that same day, having a supervisor and nine employees on the payroll, with offices in Cali and Bogotá. Also in 1961, Corfivalle opened its International Department, and received its first

Letter of Credit A letter of credit (LC), also known as a documentary credit or bankers commercial credit, or letter of undertaking (LoU), is a payment mechanism used in international trade to provide an economic guarantee from a creditworthy bank to an exp ...

from a foreign bank in order to finance the purchase of new equipment. In 1980, the Colombian government released its control on

interest rates An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...

, leading to a significant business boom. 1981, Corfivalle looked to create within the financial system a new type of financial interest involved in the robust capital market, as well as the acquisition of resources necessary to assure the development of the most productive sectors of the economy. By 1982, Corfivalle specialized in offering credits for the repayment of a

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

at a discount and in promoting projects financed within the guidelines of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. In 1984, Corfivalle opened an office in

, and a second office in Bogotá. In 1985, the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and a member of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private ...

extended credit, underwritten by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, of $6 million to Corfivalle, having a term of 8 years with a 5-year

grace period A grace period is a period immediately after the deadline for an obligation during which a late fee, or other action that would have been taken as a result of failing to meet the deadline, is waived provided that the obligation is satisfied duri ...

. In 1992, the Apex Holding Company was created to for participation in the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

. This company included the IFC of the World Bank, and the Mexican Stock Market, each with 20% of the shares, while Corfivalle maintained 60%. In 1994, Cofivalle Finance

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Limited was established. This allowed Corfaville to expand its business and to remain one of Colombia's key financial institutions. In 2005 Corfivalle purchased Corficolombiana, but was not the nominal successor. Since 2006, Corfivalle is a trademark of Corficolombiana S.A.

Gallery

Image:Bogotaview.jpg, Corficolombiana building in Bogotá downtown Image:Corp2.gif, Current Corficolombiana headquarters building

References

{{IGBC Colombia companies Companies listed on the Colombia Stock Exchange Financial services companies of Colombia Financial services companies established in 1959 Companies based in Bogotá 1959 establishments in Colombia