AVAL vs BAP: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of September 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: AVAL is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. AVAL and BAP share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined AVAL and BAP exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Grupo Aval is a Colombian financial holding company that controls four commercial banks (Banco de Bogota, Banco de Occidente, Banco Popular and Banco AV Villas) alongside the pension manager Porvenir, the merchant bank Corficolombiana and a set of trust, brokerage and investment banking units. Together those subsidiaries make it the largest banking group in Colombia by loans and deposits, with a gross loan book of roughly COP 193.6 trillion and deposits of roughly COP 216.8 trillion as of the first quarter of 2026. The reporting currency is the Colombian peso, so every operating number is a peso number, while the ADR itself is quoted in US dollars on the NYSE. That gap matters more than it sounds: a good peso year can still be a flat dollar year for the ADR if the currency moves against holders.

Full AVAL guide

Credicorp is a Bermuda-incorporated holding company headquartered in Lima that owns Peru's largest bank and most of the country's financial plumbing. It runs four lines of business: Universal Banking through Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP) and Banco de Crédito de Bolivia; Microfinance through Mibanco in Peru and Colombia; Insurance and Pensions through Grupo Pacífico and the private pension manager Prima AFP; and Investment Management and Advisory through Credicorp Capital, BCP's wealth management arm and ASB Bank Corp. The group's most interesting asset is not a balance sheet line at all: Yape, BCP's payments wallet, reached roughly 16 million monthly active users and has extended credit to over 4.1 million clients, and now contributes about 8% of group risk-adjusted revenue. In May 2026 Peru's banking regulator (the SBS) cleared BCP to acquire 100% of Helm Bank USA, adding a Miami-based dollar banking footprint for Latin American clients.

Full BAP guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• AVAL drivers: Deposit gathering is outpacing lending; The equity tax is a one-time distortion, not a run rate.
• BAP drivers: Yape turning from a payments app into a lender; Retail loan mix shifting margins upward.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Country risk dominates: Colombian fiscal deterioration, sovereign rating actions, tax changes like the 2026 equity levy, and the political cycle all land directly on this stock, often faster than any operating result. For BAP, peruvian political risk is the dominant variable and it is not hypothetical: two presidents were removed between October 2025 and February 2026, and the April 2026 general election produced a fragmented result with a contested count and calls for annulment.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick AVAL if you believe its drivers more; BAP if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the AVAL and BAP guides.

AVAL. All operating figures are reported in Colombian pesos (shown in filings as Ps), while the ADR trades in US dollars near $4.80 for a market capitalization around $5.8 billion. The sub-book valuation is the whole argument in one number: the market is applying a Colombia discount rather than pricing a broken bank, since the ex-tax return on equity near 12% is respectable for an emerging-market lender. Dividends are declared in pesos and paid monthly in Colombia, so the dollar amount a US holder receives moves with the exchange rate.

BAP. Trailing EPS of ~$25.98 grew roughly 25% year over year, so the ~14.9x multiple is being paid on already-elevated earnings rather than on a depressed base. Q1 2026 net income of ~S/2.06 billion at ~21.1% ROE is the record quarter that multiple discounts, and the next print (2Q26) was scheduled for August 13, 2026. The ~3.8% yield is the part of the return that does not depend on the multiple holding.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): AVAL shows gross loans ~COP 193.6 trillion, up ~6% year over year (1Q 2026), total deposits ~COP 216.8 trillion, up ~11.7% year over year (1Q 2026), attributable net income ~COP 336.6 billion in 1Q 2026, down ~6.9% year over year, return on average equity ~7.4% reported in 1Q 2026, ~12.0% excluding the one-time equity tax; BAP shows share price ~$387, market cap ~$30.7B, revenue (ttm) ~$6.3B, net income (ttm) ~$2.07B.

AVAL and BAP are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined AVAL and BAP exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.