El papel de los corresponsales bancarios en el proceso de bancarización: una aproximación al concepto de inclusión financiera en Colombia

Abstract

Since 2006, the year in which the National Government enabled financial institutions to provide their services through the contracting of businesses (drugstores, shops, supermarkets, among others) under the correspondent banking model, the number of correspondents opened in the country has grown rapidly, from 1,658 correspondents in June 2007 to 61,981 correspondents at the end of March 2014. Financial institutions have found in this model the possibility of leveraging their commercial growth, their expansion and massification plan, by contracting different commercial establishments that act as banking correspondents; which allow them to increase the number of transactions and carry them out at a lower cost, close to their customers' workplaces and homes without the need to make large capital investments in the opening of robust banking offices. This possibility has generated that day by day there are more and more businesses interested in becoming part of a financial institution through the provision of Correspondent Banking services, and for these entities to find allies that legitimise financial services in sectors that were not served before.