INSTITUTIONS

There are no wholly reliable data regarding the distribution of the share each type of institution has in the supply of financial services to microenterprises. However, considering the usefulness of having an approximate idea, the information published by the IDB has been taken as a reference. This shows that in 2006, almost 55% of this market corresponded to regulated and supervised institutions, with the remaining 45% being non-regulated, considering the number of borrowers. Regulated and non-regulated cooperative institutions account for approximately 10% of the overall supply of credit to

  • Major development of Non-Banking Financial Institutions.
    The most frequent cases of these NBFIs in Latin America are those resulting from the upgrading of microcredit NGOs, and, to a lesser extent, those created by commercial banks as their subsidiary financial institution.
  • Growth of specialised institutions.

The casuistry observed in the region contains cases that arise either through the acquisition of non-banking institutions by a technically qualified investor, as in the case of Procredit in Ecuador involving the purchase of Financiera Ecuatorial; or the incorporation of a new bank, as in the case of Bancamía in Colombia as part of the network of financial institutions that make up the BBVA Microfinance Foundation’s Network of Microfinance Institutions together with the contributions made by the world women’s corporations, Corporaciones de la Mujer, in Medellín and Bogotá; or of specialist institutions created specifically (Greenfield) under the impetus of holdings or mutual funds and associated technical assistance firms, with the region providing such examples as some of the institutions of Procredit and Microcred.

NGOs are seeing a drop in their importance as legal arrangements

These organisations are reducing their presence in the industry overall, either because they are upgrading, or because their traditional area for growth is being occupied by regulated and supervised financial institutions. Only in those countries with a very poorly developed microfinance industry, such as Argentina, or in which it has yet to be organised, such as Mexico, do the organisations grouped under this generic heading have a role to play.