Colombia's largest bank Bancolombia's saw lending to SMEs grow 45% to 1.5tn pesos (US$611m) through October this year compared to the same period 2003, the bank said in a statement.
Bancolombia issued some 25,000 loans to SMEs through October this year, the bank said.
SME financing has fuelled total lending in 2004 for Bancolombia, which grew 24% to 9.3tn pesos as of September 2004 compared to the same time last year.
Corporate lending grew 10% to 5.6tn pesos in the third quarter, while credit card operations rose 21% to 342bn pesos.
Bancolombia has 12.1% market share in terms of deposits, 13.6% in net loans, 10.1% of total savings accounts, 17.8% of total checking accounts and 11.2% of total time deposits, according to figures from banking association Asobancaria.
Source: Business News Americas
