(Plus: Learn how to get more juice out of your credit card)

Until last August, users of this card in Colombia had used it to make purchases and advances for about 2.6 trillion pesos, that is, 6.6 percent of the total consumption of Colombian cardholders (39.3 trillion pesos ) In the same period.

Facundo Méndez and Lisandro Delfino, directors of American Express for Mexico and Latin America, lead this new strategy of the firm, considered the largest issuer of corporate credit cards in the world, with 163 years of operations, 57 of which have been in the segment Of plastic money. Méndez and Delfino said they have already found another ally in Colombia to develop their new product strategy, and their name will be released in two weeks.

«What we have seen in Colombia is that there is great potential for growth in the card market, especially in the affluent segment (high income people), and good macroeconomic stability, which is fundamental to expand our market share» , Said Lisandro Delfino, vice president of alliances with banks for Latin America of the firm.

The strategy of American Express in Colombia also includes an alliance with the refurbished El Dorado airport in Bogotá, where from tomorrow there will be nine spaces on the national and international docks, where travelers can find free services, for which the firm Signed agreements with the brands Juan Valdez, Sony, Chivas and with the Colombian chef Mila Vargas, among other entrepreneurs.

«Three of these spaces will be reserved for American customers and the other six, open to the general public. They are comfort sites designed to meet the needs of travelers, «said Facundo Méndez, vice president of the company’s global service network.

What has been the experience of the firm after four years in Colombia?

We see a capital market evolving positively, and that not only favors us as a company, but also benefits investors, especially natural people, who are increasingly interested in exploring new ways of investing their resources.

How do they measure that impact on company figures?

The local product we have is Icolcap (one of the referents of the Colombian Stock Exchange), which continues to consolidate as the largest fund of Colombian shares worldwide. Today it is slightly below the 900 million dollars, the total value of the portfolio. Now, what Colombians invest in our products abroad has also grown, to the point that today we handle about 8,000 million dollars, although most are from companies.

What has made that figure reach?

The confidence of institutional investors in the index; They are using it for both long and short term positions. But the important thing is that, little by little, natural people have been using it, although the country lacks much more financial education, so that people know what they are and what these tools are for.

I think much of this goes through financial education, and there is still a lot to go into it here. But I feel that there is a lot of natural person who invests in individual actions. Now, the important thing is to know if that is the best option for a person who is starting their investments. If I am an individual who does not have time to be monitoring stock prices, it is much more efficient to be in alternatives that diversify their risk.

What comes to BlackRock in the Colombian market?

This year we entered into an alliance with Bancolombia and designed a product to invest in international stocks; That is our bet, innovation and incorporation of investment instruments, create options. This Bancolombia alternative is concentrated in few countries. It has been an experiment with good acceptance among the bank’s customers. I feel that at the moment we are breaking that inertia that there are no new products because there is no demand. We remain very committed to the country by bringing investment instruments that help the development of the capital market.