+34
Banks are expanding their services into retail stores like D1, Olímpica, and Farmatodo, allowing customers to withdraw cash and pay bills at checkout counters. This trend combines the convenience of digital banking with the necessity of physical cash operations.
The next time a person enters a supermarket to withdraw money, deposit cash, or conduct a banking transaction, they may no longer need to search for a branch or an ATM.
Bancos y comercios amplían sus alianzas
The transaction can be completed at the same checkout counter where they pay for their groceries. Behind this scenario lies a change in the way the financial business operates: banks are bringing part of their services to commercial establishments that already have a presence in neighborhoods and municipalities, while supermarkets are finding in banking operations a new way to attract customers and diversify their income.
Although Olímpica has been a banking correspondent for over 12 years, the second half of 2026 marked an acceleration of this model with agreements that involved D1, Ísimo, OXXO, and Farmatodo. The sequence began in July and, in just three months, added alliances between Grupo Aval and D1, Bancolombia and Ísimo, Nu and D1, Davivienda and Grupo Éxito, Davivienda and Olímpica, along with new agreements between Nu and OXXO and Farmatodo.
For Luis Fernando Ramírez, an economic researcher and professor consulted by EL COLOMBIANO, this transformation responds to two phenomena that ended up converging: the digitalization of banking, accelerated during the pandemic, and the need to maintain physical points for operations that still require cash.
"The first event that occurred is the issue of what happened with the pandemic, where all financial institutions prioritized digitalization. So, we all started conducting operations from that time on through websites or applications," he explained.
La red física mantiene su relevancia
However, digitalization did not eliminate the need to go to a physical location. Users still handle cash and need places to withdraw or deposit it into their accounts. This is where large retail chains come into play. The magnitude of the network was one of the main attractions of the agreement: D1 has a presence in 540 municipalities across 28 departments.
In this first stage, the service was enabled for cash withdrawals with a physical card. Users can withdraw amounts ranging from $10,000 to $600,000 per transaction, provided there is cash available at the register, and the withdrawals must be in multiples of $10,000.
"We are changing the rules of the game. We know that Colombians' time is valuable; that is why we decided to bring the bank to the corner of their homes," said Andrés Vásquez, Vice President of Personal Banking at Banco de Bogotá. On September 14, Bancolombia formalized its alliance with Tiendas Ísimo to allow cash withdrawals at more than 300 establishments of the chain.
Customers can make withdrawals with or without a card, depending on the operations enabled by the entity, with amounts between $10,000 and $500,000 per transaction. The agreement also expanded Bancolombia's physical network, which reports more than 28,000 service points under the correspondent model and presence in 1,094 municipalities. According to data provided by the bank, this network serves more than 13 million people each month.
Retiros en D1 y expansión de Davivienda
Two days later, on September 16, another move within this same trend arrived: Nu Colombia expanded its alliance with D1 so that its clients could withdraw cash without a card. The procedure is done through the Nu application. The user requests the withdrawal, selects Tiendas D1, scans the QR code generated by the point-of-sale terminal with their cell phone, and authorizes the operation from the application. The established limit is $700,000 per transaction, and withdrawals at D1 have no charge.
On September 22, Davivienda structured a macro-network with the cash registers of Éxito, Carulla, Surtimax, and SuperInter as authorized points for withdrawals and payment of obligations. The move increased the number of places where the bank's clients can resolve financial operations by utilizing an already existing infrastructure: the checkout lines at supermarket chains.
The strategy was beginning to show that this was not an isolated alliance between a chain and a bank, but rather a competition to expand correspondent networks through commerce. On September 28, Davivienda and DaviPlata enabled financial services in 403 Olímpica stores, where customers can make deposits and withdrawals, in addition to payments related to the bank's own products.
Banking Supermarkets Cash Withdrawals D1 Olímpica Bancolombia Davivienda Nu