Banco de Credito del Peru: Agente BCP - strategy channeling or channel segmentation?

The case describes how a 120-year-old, domestic bank in Peru, focusing on A, B and C socio-economic segments and corporate banking, as well as boasting the country's largest channel customer service network and leading the industry in the number of monetary transactions, spotted a business opportunity in a segment that strays from its core business -the low-income sector (D). To seize it, the bank developed in 2005 Agente BCP, a new channel to cater to this segment with banking agents. After launching Agente BCP, it recorded unexpected growth rates, and did the largest number of transactions as compared to other BCP channels, taking the brand name to remote locations, and receiving numerous awards. However, some executives still wondered whether this channel should continue to be part of the bank's operations or whether the time had come to spin it off.