Costa Rica Co-op Merger Awaits State Clearance

Delegates from Coopenae and CoopeAnde approved a merger by absorption on 17 October 2026. If regulators and competition authorities approve the plan, Coopenae would control both cooperatives’ combined assets under its brand, and CoopeAnde would dissolve as a legal entity. The merged organization would hold about 1.62 trillion colones, or about US$3.58 billion, based on Sugef’s July 2026 figures.

The decision and the regulators

The cooperatives held separate extraordinary assemblies at the Costa Rica Convention Center. Reports said organizers announced the result after 5 p.m. They didn't publish vote counts or the number of delegates present. Regulatory and competition approvals are still required, and no approval or decision date has been published.

The cooperatives must formalize their request to Sugef. It reviews the plan and sends it to Conassif, the national council that supervises the financial system. Coprocom, the competition commission, must also clear the merger. Sugef has said it will keep the cooperatives under separate supervision until a final decision.

Adrián Álvarez, Coopenae’s general manager, called the vote “a concrete step toward consolidation.” He said the cooperatives would move through regulatory stages responsibly. Alexandra Márquez Massino, CoopeAnde’s general manager, said the decision answered a long-term vision in the face of technological change.

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, but regulators haven't committed to that timetable. After approval, the internal merger process could take one or two years.

Assets, members and staff

Sugef’s July 2026 figures 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 said the combined group 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.

La Nación reported a different set of figures dated 1 August: 952.5 billion colones for Coopenae and 664.0 billion colones for CoopeAnde. It rounded their combined assets to about 1.6 trillion colones. This article uses Sugef’s July figures as its main set. Dollar conversions use the central bank’s reference selling rate of 453.48 colones per U.S. dollar on 18 October 2026; rounded dollar values change with the exchange rate.

Both cooperatives said they’d keep operating normally while approvals are pending. Members would retain their current products, services and contracts. Managers said deposits and obligations would transfer to Coopenae on the originally agreed terms, including term and interest rate, while loans would keep their agreed conditions. The combined loan portfolio totals 1.09 trillion colones, about US$2.40 billion.

Álvarez said CoopeAnde members’ share capital was intended to pass “intact” to Coopenae, with members’ seniority and assembly rights unchanged. Audited 2025 accounts show member share capital of 100.2 billion colones at Coopenae and 85.6 billion colones at CoopeAnde.

Workforce and unresolved plans

Coopenae has 798 direct employees; CoopeAnde has 437. Together, they operate 38 branches. Álvarez said most staff would remain, but headcount wouldn’t stay exactly the same. Managers will decide the branch plan after approval because some locations are close together.

Álvarez would remain Coopenae’s general manager. Márquez Massino was expected to advise on integration, but the cooperatives haven't specified her longer-term role. The managers said the larger organization could fund technology and corporate-governance investment and meet tougher regulatory demands. Coopenae’s manager estimated that reaching the same market share on its own could take 10 to 15 years. CRHoy noted that each cooperative had about 60 years of operating history. The sources didn't identify a single trigger for the merger beyond the managers’ stated aims of scale and competitiveness.