BanBajío wants the metropolitan area of Mexico City to eventually account for half of its assets and liabilities. This objective will shape the growth strategy of Iván Lomelí, who took over as the bank’s chief executive officer in May 2026. In his first interview since taking office, exclusively with Expansión, the executive explained that the capital will be the bank’s main expansion market.
The banker, who has more than 30 years of experience, estimates that this area accounts for approximately 48% of Mexico’s financial system, while BanBajío still has a smaller presence compared with the market share it has built in the country’s central region.
“The future of the bank is that eventually half of its assets and liabilities will physically be in this geography,” Lomelí told Expansión. “Subsequently, in Monterrey and then in the West. That is where the focus and the size of the opportunity will come from.”
BanBajío’s share of the business banking market in the Mexico City metropolitan area increased from 1.4% to 3.2% over the past four and a half years, according to the director. The goal is to raise it to 6% by 2030, a level similar to the bank’s share of the national business banking segment.
Data from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) support the weight BanBajío already has in this business. Its corporate loan portfolio reached 255.16 billion pesos in June, equivalent to 6.3% of the 4.02 trillion pesos placed by commercial banks in this segment.
Currently, Lomelí estimates the bank’s market share at 36% in Guanajuato, 28% in Querétaro, and 26% in San Luis Potosí. In these states, the room for growth through acquiring new customers is smaller and, consequently, the bank is looking for opportunities in the country’s three largest metropolitan areas.
“Our position there is defensive. Our position in these large markets, with this enormous opportunity, is clearly offensive,” he said.
The plan will focus on 18 municipalities, many of them located within the country’s three largest metropolitan areas. To achieve this, the bank will invest in experienced bankers, business centers, and faster credit processes to compete with institutions that already have an established presence.
As part of this effort, BanBajío also increased the frequency of its credit committee meetings from two to three times a week. The goal is for the committee to meet daily as commercial activity increases.
“The way we are going to distinguish ourselves is by being extremely efficient in response times and being closer to our customers than the competition,” Lomelí said.
The arrival of Lomelí immediately brought a new organizational structure consisting of four deputy general management positions. These executives will seek to free the new leader from many administrative tasks so that he can accompany sales teams and participate directly in customer acquisition.
In fact, during a recent visit to Mexicali, the executive met with five companies. Four were prospects, and all agreed to explore a relationship with the bank, illustrating the extent to which Lomelí is becoming directly involved in commercial efforts.
Lomelí assumed the position of chief executive officer in May 2026, following the departure of Edgardo del Rincón to Banamex, after previously leading BanBajío’s corporate banking expansion in the Valley of Mexico and other regions of the country.
“The mark I am going to leave on my period as director will be bringing the bank closer to the customer,” he said. “Size should not lead you to bureaucracy or less efficient processes. Size should help you give the customer more tools so they can continue to grow.”
They will make greater use of their corporate portfolio
In 2025, BanBajío’s portfolio grew 4.6%, while net income fell 15.1%, partly pressured by declining interest rates and their effect on the financial margin. In 2026, lending regained momentum: by the end of June, the portfolio had grown 11.8% year over year, above the rate for commercial banks.
Corporate financing—the bank’s historical specialty—increased 11.4%, while consumer lending grew 12.1%. Despite a high-interest-rate environment in previous years, the delinquency rate remained at 1.8%, compared with 2.3% for the overall system.
“We are more concerned about the long term than the current situation. We want to be a bank for the next 100 years,” Lomelí said.
The acquisition of new corporate customers is already playing an important role. During the first quarter, 80% of portfolio growth came from newly acquired customers. This expansion will now focus on Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, while the bank says it will maintain its origination filters.
“We want to achieve all this growth without increasing the bank’s risk-acceptance criteria,” the executive said.
Another source of growth lies within the bank’s existing portfolio. Of its nearly 1.5 million customers, approximately 160,000 are small and medium-sized businesses, and only 20% use credit. This leaves approximately 128,000 companies that already have a relationship with the institution but do not yet receive financing.
These SMEs have been with the bank for an average of more than seven years, and the institution knows their deposits, income, and cash flows, allowing it to estimate their ability to repay based on their financial behavior.
“We know them very well transactionally, and that gives us enormous capacity to offer short-, medium-, and long-term credit,” Lomelí explained. The SME portfolio exceeds 50 billion pesos, and the bank intends to expand it through working capital, machinery financing, and resources for investment projects.
The institution also has the resources to finance the plan. It closed June with a capitalization ratio of 14.76% and traditional deposits of 288.733 billion pesos.
“We are going to use the excess capital for the bank’s growth. We have no problem with either capital or funding,” Lomelí said.
There is interest in financing capital investment and AI
BanBajío is seeing greater willingness among companies to finance productive projects. One of the signs is leasing, whose growth is twice that of factoring. Both products address different needs. Factoring provides liquidity against accounts receivable and is generally used to finance immediate operations, while leasing is associated with the acquisition of machinery, equipment, and other capital goods.
“That gives you a clear view that all this investment in capital goods is being triggered,” Lomelí said. “What we see in the portfolio is that SMEs are preparing for the growth cycle.”
The executive explained this in a context where the Plan México seeks to increase investment, strengthen domestic suppliers, and improve SMEs’ access to financing. Lomelí believes the program’s impact is still at an early stage, although BanBajío is preparing to participate when the projects materialize.
Specifically, the bank identifies potential demand in export-oriented agribusiness, solar energy, electrical substations, and infrastructure required for data centers. It also sees opportunities in tourism, manufacturing linked to artificial intelligence, and last-mile urban logistics.
The bank aligns itself with U.S. requirements
In response to increased scrutiny from the U.S. Treasury Department, BanBajío strengthened its anti-money-laundering controls through artificial intelligence, independent address verification, and more detailed monitoring of transactions involving cash, currencies, customers, and suppliers.
“Today we ask more questions,” Lomelí said. When a company deviates from its declared profile, the bank generates alerts, conducts a deeper review, and increases visits to its facilities, without these controls extending the onboarding process.
The institution is also analyzing differences between Mexican and U.S. regulations to comply with both sets of standards. The review comes after U.S. allegations against CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector, which increased risks for Mexico’s financial system.
BanBajío also applies more conservative credit criteria in areas with a greater presence of organized crime, where insecurity affects companies’ operations, logistics, and ability to repay. “We are being more cautious in geographies that currently represent greater risk,” Lomelí said.
Source: expansion
