Banco de BogotáSA CEO Alejandro Figueroa expects the bank's credit portfolio to growat only about 12% in 2016 amid rising interest rates in the country after seeing13.6% credit growth in 2015, La Repúblicareported March 31.

The bank's financial margins, however, should see improvementin 2016, Figueroa noted.

The organization, which has operations in Central America, inaddition to branches in New York and Miami, will continue with its global approach,but for now Figueroa said the bank will be primarily focused on consolidating itsexisting operations.

The bank posted net profits of 1.01 trillion Colombian pesosfor the second half of 2015. For the full year of 2015, the company recorded netprofits of 2.29 trillion pesos, up 18.2% from 2014, Portafolio reported March 30.

Meanwhile, the bank's shareholders also approved a monthly dividendpayment of 230 pesos per share, the report said.

As of March 30, US$1 wasequivalent to 3,059.35 Colombian pesos.