Who owns Banco Popular?
Banco Popular, a financial brand from Colombia, is owned by Grupo Aval (Colombia, NYSE: AVAL).[1]
Grupo Aval owns 93.87% of Banco Popular rather than all of it.
Evidence: Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-04-17, SEC EDGAR, 17 April 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. (93.87% stake) verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇨🇴 Colombia, Bogotá
- Origin
- 🇨🇴 Colombia
- Founded
- 1950
- Category
- Finance & insurance › Banks › Retail & commercial banks
- Parent ticker
- NYSE: AVAL BVC: GRUPOAVAL BVC: PFAVAL
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Banco Popular
Banco Popular is a Colombian bank established on 5 July 1950. Mr. Sarmiento Angulo bought it from the Colombian government in 1996, and Grupo Aval now holds 93.87 per cent. It is the country's eighth-largest bank by gross loans. It lends mainly to consumers through payroll loans to pensioners and public employees, holding 19.1 per cent of that market, and it aims its products at customers over 50. Under a 2023 shareholders' agreement it is the controlling entity of the merchant bank Corficolombiana.
Ownership timeline of Banco Popular
- Current owner Grupo Aval (93.87%) [1] verified
Where Banco Popular sits in Grupo Aval
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
- Banco AV Villas (79.87%)
- Banco de Bogotá (68.93%)
- Banco de Occidente (72.27%)
- Banco Popular (93.87%)
- Porvenir (75.76%)
Open the full Grupo Aval ownership tree →
See the full Grupo Aval brand portfolio (5) →
Other brands owned by Grupo Aval
Grupo Aval controls 5 brands on Brandtree, 5 of them in finance & insurance.
Also in finance & insurance
- Banco AV Villas (1972)
- Banco de Bogotá (1870)
- Banco de Occidente (1965)
- Porvenir (1991)
Other brands in retail & commercial banks, and who owns them
The 37 brands in retail & commercial banks on Brandtree belong to 18 owners. The largest is OTP Bank, with 8; Grupo Aval has 4.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| CKB | OTP Bank | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
| Banco Agrícola | Grupo Cibest | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| Banco de Crédito del Perú | Credicorp | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| Ameriabank | Lion Finance Group | 🇬🇪 Georgia |
| Banco de Chile | Banco de Chile | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| Banco Macro | Banco Macro | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| Freedom Bank | Freedom Holding | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan |
| Banco Galicia | Grupo Galicia | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
About the owner: Grupo Aval
Grupo Aval is a publicly listed company headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia, founded in 1994. Brandtree records 5 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: AVAL, BVC: GRUPOAVAL and BVC: PFAVAL.
Grupo Aval is the Bogotá holding company through which Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo controls four Colombian banks (Banco de Bogotá, Banco de Occidente, Banco Popular and Banco AV Villas), the pension fund manager Porvenir and the merchant bank Corficolombiana. It was incorporated on 7 January 1994 and took its present name in 1998. Mr. Sarmiento Angulo beneficially owned 81.2 per cent of its share capital and 97.9 per cent of its votes in April 2026. Its ADSs have traded on the NYSE since 2014. It describes itself as Colombia's largest banking group by consumer loans. In March 2026 it completed the sale of Panama's Multibank to BAC Holding.
🇨🇴 Banco Popular and other Colombian brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 108 brands that began in Colombia. 10 of them (9%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Banco Popular is not one of them.
- Bancolombia — Grupo Cibest 🇨🇴
- Mibanco Colombia — Credicorp 🇵🇪
- Activade — Quala 🇨🇴
- Agua Cristal — Postobón 🇨🇴
- Aguila — AB InBev 🇧🇪
- Airplan — ASUR 🇲🇽
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Banco Popular?
The parent company of Banco Popular is Grupo Aval, a publicly listed company headquartered in Colombia.
Is Banco Popular Colombian?
Yes. Banco Popular originated in Colombia in 1950 and its owner, Grupo Aval, is also headquartered in Colombia.
Is Banco Popular still owned by Grupo Aval?
Yes. As of 29 October 2026, Banco Popular is still owned by Grupo Aval (93.87% stake). The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-04-17 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 20-F, published 17 April 2026; retrieved 28 October 2026.
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