The Colombian banking institution Davivienda, one of the fastest-growing in the world, officially took over services from HSBC this week, making Costa Rica the fourth country to host its operations.

The other countries are Colombia, Panama and the United States. In the near future the private bank is to take over operations in El Salvador and Honduras.

The company announced that it was keeping the same HSBC management team but promised improvements in service, reported the newspaper La Nacion after an interview with the entity’s president, Efrain Forero.

The company received its formal authorization from supervisory bodies in Colombia and Costa Rica on Nov. 23. The takeover comes 10 months after Davivienda announced the $801 million purchase of HSBC in three Central American countries.

Total assets in the six countries of the bank is around $15 billion. The bank paid $300 million for the Costa Rican HSBC alone. This sum included the bank, a seat on the local stock exchange and an insurance agency, La Nacion reported.

As of Monday, the new electronic address of the bank is www.davivienda.cr and the phone is 2287-1111. The 30 branches of the bank will remain open and the company has already started converting checks and cards to its new logo.

Source: Fijatevos.com