Bancóldex Names Mario Suárez Melo as New President to Replace Luis Fernando Castro

The board of directors of Bancóldex S.A. has elected Mario Suárez Melo as its new president to replace Luis Fernando Castro Vergara, who submitted his resignation letter in July for personal reasons, according to the publicly backed entrepreneurial development bank.

Photo: Luis Fernando Castro, the outgoing head of Bancóldex, spoke recently in Bogotá about the development bank’s new green bond initiative. (Credit: Jared Wade)

The switch, which will formally take place on September 4, marks the first leadership change for the Bancóldex in nearly four years. The Bogotá-based bank, in a statement, said that Suárez Melo will look to build on the progress made with Castro at the helm, particularly in regards to the specialty instruments that Bancóldex has begun to introduce in recent years.

This month, for example, the organization introduced a series of “green” bonds that will help fund sustainable development in the country. The initiative was launched with support of the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (the national stock exchange), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland.

Suárez Melo, a lawyer by trade, has previously served in the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and as the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela. He also was the head of Del Rosario University in the Colombian capital.