秘鲁新总统藤森推动取消114%贷款利率上限，Credicorp为主要受益方但面临治理争议

Peru’s new conservative leader is pushing lawmakers to remove a hard ceiling on how much lenders can charge, a regulation criticized by a bank tied to a billionaire family that has contributed millions to President Keiko Fujimori.

Executives at Peru’s largest financial services holding company — Credicorp Ltd., owner of BCP bank — have repeatedly called for the removal of interest rate caps, currently set at an annual rate of 114%, which is much higher than neighboring countries. The bank argues the limits may seem well-intentioned but keep the poorest borrowers out of the financial system, pushing them onto illegal loan sharks.

Credicorp, however, has also faced scrutiny for its longstanding ties to Fujimori, 51, a perennial presidential candidate who was runner-up three times before winning this year on her fourth attempt. Between 2010 and 2011, Credicorp’s then-chairman, Dionisio Romero, gifted Fujimori’s inaugural presidential campaign $3.65 million from the bank’s vaults without officially disclosing it to the elections regulator.

Having taken over the presidency in late July, Fujimori’s move to eliminate interest rate caps represents one of her administration’s first concrete initiatives, underscoring its importance. The proposal is part of a package of bills submitted last week that still needs to be approved by congress, where Fujimori’s party controls the largest bloc but falls short of a majority.

“Credicorp has not asked the president to submit that proposal and there is also no relationship between the donation and the proposal,” Credicorp said in a statement, noting that more than 15 years have passed between one event and the other.

A representiatve for Fujimori had no comment.

Interest rate caps are a thorny banking issue in Latin America. While Colombia, Chile and Peru have caps, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina generally do not, although judges can sometimes review claims of usury. Peru’s central bank has criticized the cap and called for its removal, echoing Credicorp’s concerns that it has kept vulnerable people away from the banking system.

Peru approved a ceiling on interest rate caps in 2021 and last year some lawmakers pushed to remove them, falling short by just a few votes. While the 114% ceiling is much higher than the typical loans seen in developed nations, banking executives say that it reflects the cost of risk in Peru. Last year, Peru’s banking sector achieved record profits.

Credicorp’s BCP accounts for a third of all loans issued in Peru, making it the biggest player in a highly concentrated sector. Overall, four banks hold 80% of all lending agreements. Credicorp’s top shareholder is the billionaire Romero family, which built a fortune through diverse interests in banking, fishing, ports and packaged foods.

Other Families

Other Peruvian billionaire families also stand to win if interest rate caps are removed, allowing for pricier loans. That includes the Brescia family that partly owns the Peruvian subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA and the Rodriguez-Pastor family that controls Intercorp Financial Services.

Dionisio Romero, 61, resigned as Credicorp’s chairman in 2020 soon after the secret political gift he spearheaded was uncovered by prosecutors, who unsuccessfully sought to charge Fujimori with money laundering. He was replaced by another family member, Luis Enrique Romero, who remains the company’s chairman.

Credicorp has said it tightened its political contributions rules since then to avoid similar scandals.

“I profoundly regret the impact that these actions had on our organization,” Dionisio said in a letter to shareholders in 2020. He added that they were done amid “a political context that represented grave danger for the future of Peru.” At the time, Fujimori was competing against a leftist candidate in a runoff vote she ultimately lost.

Jose Ugaz, a lawyer for Dionisio Romero, said the donations had been made in cash but that they complied with all internal rules at Credicorp at the time.

“What’s clear is that Dionisio Romero did not commit a crime,” he said. “In the worst-case scenario it was an administrative violation.”

Informal Economy

Peru’s economy is largely informal, with about 70% of workers remaining off-the-books. Credicorp has won significant insight into that economy through its mobile payment app Yape, which now dominates digital payments throughout the country. That has sent a trove of previously unbanked customers to Credicorp, reducing cash transactions.

Yape now has 16 million users, equivalent to half of Peru’s population, and has become an omnipresent payment system for all sorts of small businesses.

“It’s a win-win, you have financial inclusion and you also grow out your client base,” Credicorp Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Perez-Reyes said in an industry presentation in 2025.

When asked about policy reforms for Peru’s banking sector, Perez-Reyes mentioned the 114% interest rate cap, which he said had prevented Credicorp from offering loans to some Yape users. Yape can issue microloans worth as little as 50 soles ($15), to be repaid in just one month at a monthly interest rate of about 10%, he said.

“So I loan you 50 soles and you repay me 55 soles, but if I annualize that interest rate I go way past the cap,” he said. “But the person who asks for the 50 soles still needs the money and will go looking for it in the informal sector, with loan sharks, so I think it’s better to offer a regulated, formal system.”