Customers' Unmet Needs and Pains
Banking in Colombia Current Pains Analysis¶
The synthesis of the four analytical blocks (Final Customers Identification, Customer Challenges and Pains Analysis, Social Listening Analysis, and Current Demand Behavior Analysis) reveals five structural pains that dominate the Colombian banking landscape today:
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Deteriorating Credit Quality and Debt Burden
• Rising delinquency rates in retail, mortgage, SME and microcredit portfolios have left many customers “drowning in debt”, limiting access to fresh financing and damaging credit histories (Banco de la República, 2025; Infobae, 2024). -
Persistent Financial-Inclusion Gap
• Close to 40 % of adults remain unbanked or under-banked despite digital progress (WEF, 2024). Rural areas, informal-economy workers, women-led microbusinesses and Venezuelan migrants are disproportionately excluded. -
Sub-optimal Customer Service and Experience
• Fragmented omnichannel journeys, slow turnaround times and limited personalization drive frustration. The sector has publicly declared “service re-engineering” its top challenge for 2025 (Latinpyme, 2025). -
High Interest-Rate Environment
• Elevated policy and market rates have increased borrowing costs and monthly instalments, undermining demand for new credit and adding stress to existing borrowers (Forbes Colombia, 2024; S&P Global, 2025). -
Uneven Digital Access, Literacy and Cyber-Security Concerns
• While Daviplata (18.5 million users) epitomises rapid digital growth, sizeable segments still face poor connectivity, limited digital skills or fear of fraud, hampering full adoption (Davivienda data in reports; Deloitte Colombia, 2024).
Unmet Needs and Pains¶
This section details where current market offerings fall short, matching each pain point with the underlying unmet customer need, the affected customer archetypes, and potential opportunity spaces for banks and fintechs.
1. Debt-Stress Relief & Resilient Credit Solutions¶
Unmet need
• Affordable, flexible mechanisms to restructure or refinance outstanding debt and to access responsible new credit during economic shocks.
Who is affected?
• Over-leveraged salaried workers, gig-economy participants, credit-card revolvers, mortgage holders facing payment shocks, and SMEs with volatile cash flows.
Current gap & pain manifestation
• Limited availability of dynamic instalment relief (grace periods, income-linked repayments).
• Bureaucratic, branch-centric renegotiation processes; borrowers perceive stigma and lack of guidance.
Opportunity space
• AI-driven early-warning and pre-emptive renegotiation engines.
• Modular “payment holiday” or “step-up/step-down” loan designs embedded in mobile apps.
• Holistic debt-management advisory integrated with credit-bureau data.
2. Truly Inclusive, Low-Friction On-Boarding¶
Unmet need
• Regulatory-grade account opening and micro-credit access that work for customers with no formal IDs, thin credit files or fluctuating informal income.
Who is affected?
• Rural populations, women micro-entrepreneurs, agricultural workers, migrants, youths entering the workforce.
Current gap & pain manifestation
• e-KYC solutions still rely on urban-centric databases; physical presence often required.
• Minimum balance fees and complex terms discourage low-income savers.
Opportunity space
• Tiered KYC leveraging alternative data (utility payments, mobile top-ups).
• “Account-in-a-minute” fully remote onboarding with biometric and behavioural analytics.
• Nano-savings and nano-loans with gamified financial-literacy modules.
3. Friction-Free Omnichannel Experience¶
Unmet need
• Seamless, personalized journeys across branch, web, mobile, social and call-centre touchpoints.
Who is affected?
• Mass-affluent and SME customers that combine complex products (loans, cash-management, fiduciary services) with daily digital banking.
Current gap & pain manifestation
• Channel silos: data captured in branches often not visible in apps; customers must re-submit documents.
• Inconsistent service quality—high NPS dispersion across channels.
Opportunity space
• Unified Customer Data Platforms (CDP) feeding real-time dashboards for frontline staff.
• Hyper-personalized in-app offers triggered by life events (salary deposit, e-invoice issuance).
• Human-in-the-loop video-banking for complex advisory.
4. Cost-Accessible Finance for Production & Growth¶
Unmet need
• Lower-cost, longer-tenor funding for SMEs’ working-capital, capex, and green-transition projects.
Who is affected?
• Formal SMEs (46 % of credit stock) and 1.7 million microenterprises.
Current gap & pain manifestation
• High spreads (risk-weighted) plus fees; collateral requirements exclude asset-light businesses.
• Slow appraisal times (2-6 weeks).
Opportunity space
• Supply-chain financing platforms leveraging anchor-corporate data.
• Warehouse-receipt, movable-asset and invoice-discounting products with digital collateral registries.
• Blended-finance schemes (state guarantees + private capital) to de-risk green loans.
5. Secure & Empowering Digital Ecosystem¶
Unmet need
• User-friendly, low-data, cyber-secure applications with clear recourse and education on fraud prevention.
Who is affected?
• New digital adopters (senior citizens, rural youth), Daviplata-type wallet users, and SMEs adopting online banking.
Current gap & pain manifestation
• Rising social-engineering attacks; customers feel unsupported post-fraud.
• High data consumption and occasional downtime deter rural users.
Opportunity space
• Low-bandwidth app modes, USSD interfaces, and biometric login defaults.
• 24/7 in-app dispute resolution, push alerts with contextual anti-fraud tips.
• Partnerships with telcos for zero-rating critical banking traffic.
Key Findings¶
| # | Pain Point | Observable Evidence | Unmet Need | High-Impact Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Debt burden & delinquency surge | +27 % YoY overdue consumer loans (Banrep, 2025) | Flexible, proactive debt-management tools | AI-driven restructuring, income-linked repayment plans |
| 2 | Financial inclusion gap | ~40 % adults un/underbanked (WEF, 2024) | Low-friction onboarding for thin-file clients | Alternative-data e-KYC, nano-savings/loans |
| 3 | Poor omnichannel experience | “Service re-engineering” declared top 2025 priority (Latinpyme) | Seamless, personalized multichannel journeys | Unified CDP, video-banking, in-app life-event offers |
| 4 | High borrowing cost for SMEs | Avg. commercial loan rate > 20 % E.A. (SFC, 2025) | Affordable, longer-tenor productive credit | Digital supply-chain finance, blended guarantees |
| 5 | Digital access & cyber-security concerns | Social-engineering complaints rising; rural connectivity gaps | Secure, low-data digital banking with fraud recourse | Low-bandwidth modes, biometric auth, 24/7 dispute desks |
References¶
Asofiduciarias. Negocios Fiduciarios | Asociación de fiduciarias de Colombia. https://asofiduciarias.org.co/negocios-fiduciarios/
Banco de la República. Riesgo de crédito - Informe especial de Estabilidad Financiera - Abril 2025. https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/riesgo-credito-informe-especial-estabilidad-financiera-abril-2025
Deloitte Colombia. Tendencias sector bancario experiencia del usuario completamente digital. https://www2.deloitte.com/co/es/pages/financial-services/articles/tendencias-sector-bancario-experiencia-usuario-completamente-digital.html
Forbes Colombia. En 2024 la banca sufre por morosos y menor solicitud de préstamos. https://forbes.co/2024/06/11/negocios/en-2024-la-banca-sufre-por-morosos-y-menor-solicitud-de-prestamos
Foro Económico Mundial. La estrategia digital de Colombia contribuye a la inclusión financiera. https://es.weforum.org/agenda/2024/08/estrategia-digital-colombia-inclusion-financiera/
Infobae. Los colombianos están ahogados en deudas, un informe indicó que aumentaron los morosos. https://www.infobae.com/colombia/2024/05/21/los-colombianos-estan-ahogados-en-deudas-un-informe-indico-que-aumentaron-los-morosos/
Latinpyme. Reingeniería del Servicio al Cliente: El Reto Top para el Sector Bancario en 2025. https://latipyme.com/reingenieria-del-servicio-al-cliente-el-reto-top-para-el-sector-bancario-en-2025/
S&P Global. Análisis de Riesgos de la Industria Bancaria por País: Colombia. https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/es/research/articles/250131-bank-industry-risk-analysis-colombia-12868310
Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia. Informe Establecimientos de Crédito corte enero 2025. https://www.superfinanciera.gov.co/inicio/analisis-y-estudios/sector-financiero/informe-establecimientos-de-credito-corte-enero-2025-10208323