Banking in Colombia Consumption Trends Analysis¶
Behavior Change Signals¶
1 Digital‐First Banking Becomes Mainstream¶
Colombians are rapidly migrating everyday banking activities—from opening and funding accounts to paying bills and applying for loans—to mobile apps and web platforms.
Evidence Davivienda’s wallet Daviplata reached 18.5 million users by end-2024, making it the single largest “digital branch” in the country (Foro Económico Mundial 2024). Fintech activity is booming, with 394 start-ups operating across payments, lending and investments (Finnosummit 2025).
Value-chain impact
• Captación – deposit volumes are increasingly sourced through digital channels, lowering branch costs and raising the importance of user-experience design.
• Colocación – online origination shortens approval cycles and expands reach to new customer segments.
• Gestión de Tesorería – faster, larger daily swings in liquidity require real-time cash-flow forecasting.
• Servicios Financieros Especializados – digital onboarding fuels growth in brokerage, robo-advice, and digital investment products.
2 Real-Time Payments Set New Service Benchmarks¶
The central bank’s interoperable fast-payment system, Bre-B, launches country-wide in May 2025, enabling 24/7, sub-10-second transfers between any institutions (Banco de la República 2025a).
* Value-chain impact
• Captación – customers expect immediate credit of incoming funds.
• Gestión de Tesorería – intraday liquidity buffers must be recalibrated.
• Specialised services – merchants and PSPs redesign cash-management and settlement products around instant clearing.
3 Inclusion via Mobile Is Redrawing the Customer Base¶
Government, industry and NGO programmes use low-cost digital wallets and simplified accounts to bring first-time users—especially women and rural households—into the formal system (Credicorp 2024; Accion 2025).
* Value-chain impact
• Captación – widening base of micro-deposits increases total low-cost funding.
• Colocación – new scoring models (alternative data, psychometrics) emerge to lend profitably to thin-file clients.
• Services – demand rises for basic insurance, remittances and micro-investments delivered in-app.
4 Credit Stress Triggers Risk-Conscious Borrowing¶
Delinquency in consumer and SME portfolios spiked in 2024, forcing banks to bolster provisions and tighten underwriting (Forbes 2024; Banco de la República 2025b).
* Value-chain impact
• Colocación – stricter risk models, higher pricing, and product redesign (e.g., salary-linked loans, insured credit).
• Treasury – larger loan-loss reserves affect capital and funding strategy.
• Services – surge in demand for debt-consolidation advisory and financial-well-being tools.
5 Interest-Rate Expectations Drive “Wait-and-See” Financing Behaviour¶
With policy rates predicted to fall and GDP expected to rebound to ~3 % in 2025 (BBVA Research 2025), corporates delay capex loans and households postpone mortgages in anticipation of cheaper credit.
* Value-chain impact
• Colocación – front-loaded slowdown followed by rebound in fixed-rate lending.
• Treasury – active duration and gap management to protect margins during the down-rate cycle.
6 Hyper-Personalisation Becomes a Competitive Differentiator¶
Consumers now expect Netflix-like relevance in financial offers—right product, right moment, right channel (Ciklum 2024).
* Value-chain impact
• Captación – AI-driven next-best-action engines increase cross-sell of savings and investment products.
• Colocación – dynamic pricing and pre-approved limits based on real-time transactional data.
• Specialised services – robo-advisers and tailored wealth-management portfolios gain traction.
7 Cash Usage Declines, Digital Payments Surge¶
Although cash is still widely used, e-commerce growth and wallet penetration push debit-card, PSE bank-transfer and QR payments to record shares (PYMNTS 2025).
* Value-chain impact
• Captación – float from wallets and merchant acquiring becomes a key funding source.
• Services – banks and fintechs compete for interchange, acquiring fees and data generated by cashless transactions.
8 Cyber-Trust and Financial Literacy Are Prerequisites for Engagement¶
Greater online exposure heightens concern over fraud. New and first-time users also require education to navigate digital finance safely (UNSGSA 2024).
* Value-chain impact
• All steps – sizeable investments in biometric authentication, behaviour-based fraud detection and customer education programmes are now table-stakes.
Summary Table of Key Findings¶
| # | Behaviour Change Signal | Primary Drivers | Most-Affected Value-Chain Steps | Strategic Implications for Banks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Digital-first banking adoption | Convenience, smartphone penetration | Captación, Colocación, Servicios, Tesorería | Accelerate UX design, reduce branch footprint, scale cloud infrastructure |
| 2 | Real-time payments expectation | Bre-B launch, fintech competition | Captación, Tesorería, Servicios | Real-time liquidity management, develop instant-settlement products |
| 3 | Inclusion via mobile channels | Gov. & NGO programmes, low-cost wallets | Captación, Colocación, Servicios | Design ultra-low-fee accounts, alternative credit scoring |
| 4 | Rising credit stress | Inflation shock, high rates 2024 | Colocación, Tesorería | Tighten underwriting, boost collections, embed credit insurance |
| 5 | Rate-cycle driven borrowing timing | Projected policy-rate cuts, GDP rebound | Colocación, Tesorería | Flexible-rate products, tactical balance-sheet positioning |
| 6 | Demand for hyper-personalisation | Data economy, AI availability | All customer-facing steps | Invest in analytics, real-time offer engines, consent-based data sharing |
| 7 | Shift to cashless payments | E-commerce growth, QR acceptance | Captación, Servicios | Scale acquiring, monetise payments data, partner with wallets |
| 8 | Need for cyber-trust & literacy | Fraud incidents, new users | Whole value chain | Strengthen cybersecurity, launch financial-education modules |
References¶
- Accion. Strengthening communities in rural Colombia through digital transformation (2025, Apr 15). https://accion.org/latest/strengthening-communities-in-rural-colombia-through-digital-transformation
- Banco de la República. Bre-B will promote financial inclusion and the development of the fintech sector in Colombia (2025). https://www.banrep.gov.co/en/bre-b-promote-financial-inclusion-development-fintech-sector-colombia
- Banco de la República. Reporte de Estabilidad Financiera – Segundo semestre 2024 (2024). https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/reporte-estabilidad-financiera-segundo-semestre-2024
- Banco de la República. Riesgo de crédito – Informe especial de Estabilidad Financiera – Abril 2025 (2025). https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/riesgo-credito-informe-especial-estabilidad-financiera-abril-2025
- BBVA Research. Colombia Economic Outlook – March 2025 (2025, Mar 13). https://bbvaresearch.com/en/publicaciones/colombia-economic-outlook-march-2025/
- Ciklum. Banking Experience 2025: Trends Shaping Customer Expectations (2024, Dec 10). https://www.ciklum.com/blog/banking-experience-2025-trends-shaping-customer-expectations/
- Credicorp. For four consecutive years, Latin America has improved its level of financial inclusion (2024, Aug 19). https://www.credicorp.com/en/press-releases/four-consecutive-years-latin-america-improved-level-financial-inclusion
- Finnosummit. Discover Colombia's Fintech Leaders of 2025 (2025, Apr 10). https://www.finnosummit.com/en/resources/discover-colombias-fintech-leaders-of-2025/
- Forbes Colombia. En 2024 la banca sufre por morosos y menor solicitud de préstamos (2024, Jun 11). 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 (2024, Aug 13). https://es.weforum.org/agenda/2024/08/estrategia-digital-colombia-inclusion-financiera/
- PYMNTS.com. Cashless wave sweeps Latin America amid mobile, FinTech boom (2025, May 06). https://www.pymnts.com/cashless-payments/2025/cashless-wave-sweeps-latin-america-amid-mobile-fintech-boom/
- UNSGSA. Queen Máxima visit supports a financially healthy future for Colombians (2024, Mar 20). https://www.unsgsa.org/news/unsgsa-queen-maxima-visit-supports-financially-healthy-future-colombians