Milton Maluhy, CEO of Itaú CorpBanca, said he expects the bank to reach its profitability goals in Colombia in 2018, according to a report by Diario Financiero.
In a conference call with investors, the executive said that Itaú CorpBanca Colombia SA was "making a great effort" to improve its profitability after ending 2017 with a -3.4% return on equity, the Chilean newspaper reported.
Maluhy reportedly identified the results in the upcoming May presidential elections as the "main risk" in Colombia along with the pace of its recovery from the economic woes of recent years.
As of the operations of the bank in Chile, the CEO said Itaú Corpbanca's goal was to reach average industry levels in profitability and results by 2019 and acknowledged the bank had misjudged the economic situation in the South American country, thinking it would be more favorable than it turned out.
Meanwhile, Maluhy said Itaú CorpBanca would not need to bolster its capitalization levels to meet the new requirements of Chile's new banking law, Diario Financiero reported.
The bank recorded a net loss attributable to shareholders of about 17.62 billion Chilean pesos in the fourth quarter of 2017.
As of March 1, US$1 was equivalent to 595.18 Chilean pesos.
