Security Group looks to complement financial offering through fintech

Like other financial institutions, Security Group held its shareholders’ meeting telematically. The company’s general manager, Renato Peñafiel, emphasized that in 2019 they started a digital transformation process that began to be applied in the second half of last year and that implied adjustments in the holding’s staffing, especially in the travel company, Travel.

One of the objectives of Security Group’s transformation program is to increase commercial revenues and “establish a continuous digitalization program in the different phases that occur in the different companies of the Group. We will see the results in the coming years and I believe that in 2022 we will see the first fruits of implementation,” said Peñafiel.

To carry out this plan, he indicated that they made “adjustments to the company’s structure” which were focused on administration expenses and management infrastructure. This led the holding company to have close to $15 billion in severance expenses in 2020.

Peñafiel said that “in addition to generating savings due to the lower commercial activity, the expenses of all the companies were reviewed with a critical eye. Along these lines, a three-year zero-based budget was drawn up, rethinking the expenses necessary for the operation. These adjustments will allow us to generate future savings of around $18 billion in total expenses. All this leaves us prepared to achieve earnings growth of around 12% over the next three years,” he explained.

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The plan to invest in fintech companies

Peñafiel explained that they have also started a three-year digital plan whose goals include improving the competitiveness and profitability of the businesses of the companies that make up the group.

In line with that roadmap, they stated that they are “actively looking at the FinTech sector to complement our financial offering.”

Among Grupo Security’s main competitors are Bicecorp and Consorcio Financiero. The company linked to the Matte family put together an arm to create FinTech to help complement and strengthen its companies, while Consorcio created in 2018 a $10 million corporate fund to invest in FinTech companies.

Facing the challenges of implementing telework to a large part of the workforce to ensure Grupo Security’s operational continuity with the arrival of the pandemic, the firm invested more than $4 billion in cybersecurity.

2021 Scenario

Peñafiel commented that they project higher levels of economic activity in the country during the second half of this year.

With this outlook, they expect the bank’s growth to be above 10%, supported by an estimated increase of 5% in loans and 6% in assets under management in the investment business.

Regarding the preparations to adapt to the new Basel III capital requirements, Peñafiel assured that with the materialization of the bank’s capital increase for $23 billion with the resources raised by the Group in last year’s capital increase, will enable the entity to comply with the new standards in the next three years.

For Vida Security, a life insurance company, profits are projected to grow by around 10%. For the Peruvian operation through Protecta, they expect to soon approve a new three-year growth plan aimed at growing in premiums and assets.

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(Featured image by Edar via Pixabay)

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First published in DIARIO FINANCIERO, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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