The private record of Central American capital.

Grupo Cibest, parent of Bancolombia, completed the sale of 100% of Banistmo to Banco La Hipotecaria, a subsidiary of Inversiones Cuscatlán Centroamérica, on 30 June 2026 at US$1.418 billion, per Cibest's 6-K filings with the SEC. The deal was announced on 18 December 2025. In August 2026 Banistmo reported US$10.4 billion in assets and US$7.0 billion in loans, per the Superintendencia de Bancos' individual bank balances.

It follows Cuscatlán's purchases of Banco Inmobiliario in Guatemala (December 2024) and La Hipotecaria (September 2025), and runs alongside BAC's purchase of Multibank from Banco de Bogotá for US$464 million, per Grupo Aval's 20-F, authorised as a merger by the SBP on 14 May and a single brand from 9 June. Watch the integration, the leverage behind the purchase, and Cibest's redeployment: an extraordinary dividend of COP 1.2 trillion was paid on 1 September.

On 17 July 2026 Mohari Hospitality announced it had bought Gencom's 30% of the 2,200-acre Peninsula Papagayo (Four Seasons, Andaz, Nekajui, Marina Papagayo) and become sole owner; the price was not disclosed, and asset management passes from Gencom over twelve months. Solana broke ground on St. Regis Papagayo in September 2025: 120 keys and 143 residences from US$3 million, opening early 2027. Waldorf Astoria Punta Cacique opened in April 2025 with 188 rooms. Guanacaste airport handled 1.97 million passengers in 2025 (+3.3%) and 1.70 million in January–September 2026 (+9.9%), taking twelve-month traffic above 2.1 million, though third-quarter growth slowed to 5.6%. Coriport's 20-year concession ends in October 2030.

The constraints are water and title. AyA's executive president, Lourdes Suárez, said in June 2026 that in some zones the systems can no longer issue new water availabilities. PAACUME, the Bajura water project financed by a US$425 million CABEI loan, was 22.1% complete in August; the only bid for its dam came in 40.7% over budget, and Senara targets 2030. Two maritime-zone bills face academic and NGO opposition: 22.553, a full rewrite of Law 6043 still in committee, and 25.157, which would create a special municipal concession for owners whose titles in the restricted zone were annulled, and won a majority committee report on 17 March. Watch the plenary votes and the dam award.

Remittances reached US$7,620 million in January–September 2026, up 3.5% from US$7,359 million, after 18.5% growth in the same months of 2025; full-year 2025 was US$9,988 million, up 17.8% (BCR). June brought the first monthly decline (−1.7%, US$851 million) and July a second (−1.0%, US$864 million) before August and September recovered. Through September, remittance houses moved US$4,137 million (+0.9%) and banks US$3,125 million (+7.0%); crypto wallets carried US$52 million, 0.7% of the total.

On 1 October the IMF Board completed the second and third reviews of the US$1.4 billion programme, disbursing about US$138 million with waivers for unmet Bitcoin-accumulation criteria; majority ownership and control of Chivo has passed to a private operator, and the Fund wants the Digital Asset Issuance Law amended. Bitfinex entities hold four registrations as digital-asset service providers with the CNAD, and on 29 September the SSF approved Monetae's purchase of the e-money provider Transferencias de El Salvador from the AirPak group. Watch the US 1% excise on cash-funded remittances, in force since January with Treasury's rules still in draft; temporary protected status for about 232,000 Salvadorans, whose 9 September end date passed without a published decision; and the digital-asset amendments.