The BBVA Microfinance Foundation was created in 2007 as part of BBVA’s commitment to financial literacy (1). Currently, the Foundation has 620,584 customers in Latin America, with an accumulated social impact of close to 2.5 million people, 3,350 employees and 275 branches that manage a total volume of microcredits worth over €432m, with an average of €696 per microcredit.
In 2010, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation made progress in consolidating and extending its network of microfinance institutions in Latin America to bring its products and services to people in the region with low incomes. Two new institutions were added during the year to Caja Nuestra Gente in Peru, Banco de las Microfinanzas Bancamía in Colombia, Corporación para las Microfinanzas in Puerto Rico, and Servicios Microfinancieros, S.A. in Chile: Servicios Microfinancieros, S.A. in Argentina, created following an agreement with Fundación Grameen and Microserfín, an institution acquired in Panama.
It is also worth highlighting that the Foundation has concluded agreements of intent with a number of financial institutions to start its activity in Brazil, Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, as well as extending its operations in the Chilean, Peruvian and Colombian markets by closing new deals.
With regard to strategic alliances, the second of the World Bank (IFC) investments in the Foundation’s microfinance entities was concluded in 2010, under a strategic agreement between the two institutions. Under this agreement, IFC bought $10m of Bancamía preference shares to boost its growth and extend access to productive microfinance for underprivileged people in Colombian society.