Banana Industry Is the Principal Debtor of the Former Anglo Bank
First reported October 3, 2012 · Updated October 28, 2026
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica, October 3, 2012. Five companies connected to Costa Rica’s banana industry account for a substantial majority of the unpaid loan principal still being pursued from the former Banco Anglo Costarricense, according to figures reported in Costa Rica’s press this week. The unresolved loans remain a legacy of the state bank’s closure in 1994 and of agricultural development projects that failed to deliver the expected returns.
La Nación reported on October 1, 2012 that the bank’s remaining portfolio included approximately 1,390 debtors and about 15 billion Costa Rican colones in loan principal. Five banana-related companies accounted for an estimated 9 billion colones of that principal. Because the figures were rounded, it is safest to describe their share as more than half rather than to give an exact percentage.
The loans formed part of a residual portfolio, meaning claims that had remained difficult to recover years after the bank ceased operations. Several were associated with efforts to establish or rescue banana production in southern Costa Rica, where agriculture, employment and infrastructure had long been significant development concerns.
Failed agricultural projects and unpaid loans
Costa Rica’s southern banana industry had faced serious economic challenges. Attempts to revive agricultural production involved both private businesses and cooperatives, with financing from different financial institutions. Some projects failed, while others encountered disputes over land, financing or the viability of commercial operations.
The 2012 report identified businesses associated with these ventures, including Serbasur and Bananera Chánguina, among the cases involving unresolved Banco Anglo loans. It described land auctions whose proceeds did not necessarily extinguish the amounts recorded as outstanding. An auction recovery can reduce a lender’s claim without paying the entire contractual balance.
The situation was made more complicated by disagreement about the status of particular debts. Former company representatives challenged the accounting of some claims and described circumstances that they argued had prevented normal operations. Those positions were reported as part of a dispute, not established as final court determinations.
Dispute involving the National Banana Corporation
Some project representatives also alleged that funds intended to support banana-farm recovery had been diverted or distributed improperly by the National Banana Corporation, known as CORBANA. CORBANA denied the allegation. In the contemporaneous reporting, the corporation said resources were allocated to eligible producers and that the fund had undergone external audits and review by the Comptroller General of the Republic.
Those opposing accounts should remain clearly separate. The available source establishes that there was a dispute and records the participants’ statements; it does not, by itself, establish that CORBANA misappropriated funds or that every disputed debt was legally payable in the amount listed.
Why Banco Anglo’s closure still mattered
Banco Anglo Costarricense was closed on September 14, 1994, after serious financial and governance problems. The event became a major episode in Costa Rica’s banking history, involving the winding down of a state institution and the transfer or collection of outstanding assets and liabilities. La Nación’s later investigation describes the breakdown of lending controls and other problems that preceded the closure.
By 2012, the continuing banana-related claims illustrated how difficult it can be to recover loans secured on troubled agricultural businesses or contested land. More than a decade after the bank disappeared, its remaining assets still raised questions about accounting, recovery and the responsibilities of borrowers and public authorities.
What happened next
Subsequent historical assessments continued to treat the 1994 Banco Anglo closure as a significant event in Costa Rican financial supervision. The 2019 La Nación retrospective discusses reforms and problems revealed by the bank’s failure. The reviewed sources do not establish the eventual recovery outcome of each banana-industry loan identified in 2012.
Questions and answers
How much principal did five banana firms reportedly owe? Approximately 9 billion Costa Rican colones, according to October 2012 reporting.
When did Banco Anglo close? September 14, 1994.
Did CORBANA accept allegations that recovery funds were improperly diverted? No. The corporation rejected those allegations in the contemporaneous reporting.