Cibest (Bancolombia) 1Q 2026 Net Income Dips 16% Year-on-Year
Medellin-based multinational banking giant Cibest (Bancolombia) announced May 4 that its first quarter (1Q) 2026 net income fell 16% year-on-year, to COP$1.5 trillion (US$400 million), versus COP$1.73 trillion (US$402 million) in 1Q 2025.
Net interest income was COP$5.2 trillion (US$1.4 billion), up 9.15% compared to 1Q 2025.
“Cibest Group’s gross loan portfolio reached COP$262 trillion [US$ billion], representing an increase of 2.14% compared to the previous quarter and 6.5% compared to |1Q 2025. The quarterly increase is mainly due to the performance of the commercial loan portfolio,” according to the company.
“Deposits closed 1Q 2026 at COP$272 trillion [US$72.8 billion], an increase of 2.76% compared to 4Q 2025 and 10.41% compared to 1Q 2025. The quarterly growth is mainly due to time deposits and savings accounts.
“Net loan loss provisions in 1Q 2026 totaled COP$1.2 trillion [US$321 million], representing a 15.54% decrease compared to 4Q 2025 and an annualized quarterly cost of credit of 1.90%.
“The behavior of loan loss provisions is mainly explained by lower spending in the commercial loan portfolio segment, due to higher loan origination rates for individual clients in the previous quarter,” the company added.
As for its Bancolombia operations in Colombia, Cibest noted that “in 2026, Colombia faces a complex environment marked by external and internal shocks: globally, geopolitical conflicts have increased financial volatility through disruptions in energy supply and heightened risk aversion, while locally, fiscal deterioration and electoral uncertainty have put upward pressure on the sovereign risk premium.
“In this context, the economy has continued in a phase of macroeconomic stabilization, with GDP growth of 2.6% in 2025, primarily driven by household consumption and public spending, although with an unfavorable composition due to slower private investment, which keeps the fixed investment rate at low levels compared to pre-pandemic levels.
“At the same time, inflation has accelerated above 5% in the first months of 2026, driven by the sharp increase in the [Colombian] minimum wage and the risks associated with rising energy costs, increasing the likelihood that it will exceed 6% in the second half of the year.
“In response, the Central Bank has resumed a cycle of interest rate hikes to 11.25%, prioritizing a contractionary and prudent stance aimed at containing inflationary pressures and anchoring expectations, despite divided opinions.
“All of this is occurring within a challenging fiscal framework, following the activation of the Fiscal Rule’s escape clause, which has pushed the deficit to 6.4% of GDP and gross debt to nearly 65% of GDP by the end of 2025,” the company added.
Meanwhile, Bancolombia’s mortgage portfolio in Colombia “continued the positive growth trend observed during the previous two years,” according to Cibest.
As for bank deposits in Colombia, “the total balance increased 3.13% during the latest quarter, mainly due to the greater dynamism of time deposits, especially Treasury Certificates of Deposit (CDTs) and virtual investments.
“This behavior was associated with the increase in interest rates, in a context of expectations of a higher benchmark interest rate from the Central Bank.
Meanwhile, savings accounts registered growth concentrated in the institutional segment, also driven by higher interest rates. In contrast, checking accounts showed a quarterly decrease, mainly explained by the government segment,” Cibest concluded.
