Following his schooling, Escotet worked as an executive for Sociedad Financiera Latinoamericana, working towards his own financial group. In the 1990s, Escotet gathered enough money to buyout Venezuelan financial institutions going through the banking crisis and set up his own Panama establishment. Escotet founded Banesco and in 2000, merged Banco Union with his company. He owns other branches in Miami, Panama, Colombia, Curacao, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In 2015, he acquired Abanca in Spain.