Microfinanzas BBVA Foundation

The degree of development of products and services in Africa is limited. The range is usually basic and is made up in the main of short-term savings and loan products. Particularly striking is the high rate of deposits as opposed to credit in comparison with other continents, and, by way of reference, it should be mentioned that in Africa, in 2006, this rate was 13.4%, as opposed to 1.3% in Asia or 0% in the rest of the regions. This reveals that savings is the main product for many customers when there are banks offering this possibility.

More consolidated markets are seeing the emergence of other products and services, such as financial leasing and transfers, and the offer of non-banking products, such as insurance. In Senegal, some cooperative institutions have come to agreements with remittance agencies in order to act as their representatives. There have also been instances in Senegal, Mali or Benin of cooperative savings and credit institutions which have created their own insurance cooperatives, with an aim to offering this product to their customers.

The limits set by some governments to the price of credit are a barrier to the sector’s development. In the UEMOA, where the price of a microcredit is limited to 27%, some institutions have withdrawn from isolated regions and the average credit is rising as a way to reduce costs and survive, that is, they are turning to business segments with greater income.