Cooperative Merger Concentrates $3.58 Billion in Assets

On 17 October 2026, delegates from Coopenae and CoopeAnde approved a merger that, if regulators and competition authorities sign off, will put about 1.62 trillion colones, or US$3.58 billion, in assets under Coopenae's control. CoopeAnde would dissolve as a legal entity, and the combined organization would operate under the Coopenae brand.

Who Controls the Combined Assets

Sugef's July 2026 data put Coopenae's assets at 948.2 billion colones, about US$2.09 billion, and CoopeAnde's at 674.2 billion colones, about US$1.49 billion. El Financiero reported that the merged institution would rank as Costa Rica's fourth-largest private financial intermediary, ahead of Banco Promérica, with 1.35 trillion colones in assets, and Grupo Mutual, with 1.06 trillion colones.

These figures show the scale of the institution the merger would create, not a reported profit. The cooperatives said a larger group could pay for technology and corporate-governance investment while meeting tougher regulatory demands. Coopenae general manager Adrián Álvarez estimated that building the same market share alone could take 10 to 15 years.

The combined loan portfolio is 1.09 trillion colones, about US$2.40 billion. Managers said deposits and obligations would move to Coopenae on their agreed terms, including term and interest rate, while loans would keep their existing conditions.

Members and Workers

Audited 2025 accounts show member share capital of 100.2 billion colones, about US$221 million, at Coopenae and 85.6 billion colones, about US$189 million, at CoopeAnde. Álvarez said CoopeAnde members' share capital was meant to pass “intact” to Coopenae, with each member's seniority and assembly rights unchanged.

The cooperatives employ 1,235 people. Coopenae has 798 direct employees, and CoopeAnde has 437. Álvarez said most staff would stay, but headcount “wouldn't stay exactly the same.” The cooperatives haven't released a staffing plan.

Together, they operate 38 branches. Managers will decide the branch plan after approval because some locations sit close together. Álvarez would remain Coopenae's general manager. CoopeAnde general manager Alexandra Márquez Massino was to advise on integration, but her longer-term role wasn't specified.

Both organizations said they would operate normally while approvals remained pending. Members would keep their current products, services and contracts. CRHoy noted that each cooperative had about 60 years of operating history.

Regulatory Gatekeeping

The vote doesn't complete the merger. The cooperatives must formalize a request to Sugef, which reviews the plan and sends it to Conassif, the national council that supervises the financial system. Coprocom, the competition commission, must also clear the transaction. Sugef said the organizations remain under separate supervision until a final decision; no approval or decision date had been published.

Álvarez told El Financiero he expected the cooperatives to meet regulatory requirements by December 2026. The cooperatives said the stages should finish before year-end, after which an internal merger process could take one or two years. That schedule reflects the cooperatives' expectation, not a commitment from regulators.

The approvals came in separate extraordinary assemblies at the Costa Rica Convention Center. Reports said organizers announced the result after 5 p.m., but they didn't publish vote counts or the number of delegates present. The sources identified no single trigger for the merger beyond management's stated aims of scale and competitiveness. Staffing, branch consolidation, the filing date and Márquez Massino's future role remain unsettled.