COVID-19 impacts every one of us, transforming economies, healthcare and education. Our communities are forever changed, and it’s up to world leaders, organizations, governments and businesses to act quickly to help mitigate the negative impacts of this crisis and urgently attend to the needs of the most marginalized and affected communities.

As an organization that provides financial, health and education services to underserved women in Latin America, Pro Mujer is adapting. Our health and financial teams across the region are quickly developing new ways to meet the needs of our beneficiaries, while building short- and long-term strategies to ensure women continue to receive support, so they can stay healthy and address the economic impact of stay-at-home policies.

We are already seeing how inequalities become exacerbated as health and economic resources become strained. Projections are showing that poverty and unemployment will continue to increase as many businesses shut down. In Latin America, <a href="https://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/covid-19-will-have-grave-effects-global-economy-and-will-impact-countries-latin">unemployment could rise by 10 percentage points</a>, and we could see <a href="https://dialogochino.net/en/trade-investment/34547-coronavirus-takes-toll-on-latin-american-economies/">poverty expand</a> from 35 million to 220 million people.
<h2>Marcela’s Story</h2>
Marcela Castrillo is one of millions of women in the region who are being significantly impacted by this pandemic. As an owner of a small handicrafts manufacturer in Argentina, Marcela depends largely on sales to tourists who pass by public markets, fairs, and train stations. With the suspension of travel and a nationwide stay-at-home order in Argentina, she has lost her income.

Marcela, like so many other Pro Mujer women, are concerned as they struggle to find financial support from the government or elsewhere. Since 2008, Pro Mujer has provided Marcela with microloans to help her keep and grow her business. She and her family have also had access to basic health care at Pro Mujer’s clinics, including pediatric care for her children and gynecological care for her teen daughters.

“We understand that our health comes first. Without health, you can’t do anything. But it is really hard when you have to tell yourself that if you do not go out to work, you will not have food to put on the table. And if you go out, you could get really sick,” Marcela said. This is a recurring concern among low-income individuals across the region.

In cases like Marcela’s, our financial team is building short and long-term strategies to make sure our beneficiaries can provide for their families and do not lose their businesses. We are delaying as many loan payments as possible and reassessing our clients’ financial needs individually, a labor intensive but worthwhile process. Once mandatory lockdowns are over, our beneficiaries will also need capital to restart their businesses. Pro Mujer will be there to support them.
<h2>Accelerating a Digital Transformation</h2>
COVID-19 has had a direct impact on how we engage with our clients and patients. While Pro Mujer has been undergoing a process of digital transformation, the crisis has accelerated projects that allow us to serve our beneficiaries digitally. In Nicaragua, for example, we have ramped up our efforts to promote our digital wallet to facilitate payments among our financial services clients and to strengthen our financial support during the crisis.
<blockquote>We have ramped up our efforts to promote our digital wallet to facilitate payments.</blockquote>
Our health workers are using WhatsApp to connect with patients and provide virtual counseling sessions to answer any questions women might have about the virus or their overall health. We have already seen the spread of false information that preys on people’s levels of stress and anxiety, and we are seeing a disturbing upward trend in domestic violence and femicides during this time. This is why we have prepared our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8YGfXk10SU">health staff</a> on how to provide relevant information to help our beneficiaries and their families cope with this pandemic, both physically and emotionally.

We are also putting additional resources into digitizing educational materials and fast-tracking initiatives – including trainings for our entrepreneurs on how to market and sell on Facebook – and digitizing material on health and wellbeing to engage our community through video and interactive content. Despite the fact that some of our clients – and a <a href="https://es.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/cuantas-personas-usuarias-de-internet-hay-en-america-latina/">huge portion</a> of the Latin American population – do not have access to the internet, we are seeing a clear willingness among our clients and patients to adopt digital channels to stay connected.
<h2>A Time for Learning, Creative Solutions and Dignity</h2>
When Bolivia went on lockdown, Benigna Quisbert, a 73-year-old Pro Mujer client, had to close down her clothing shop. Like Marcela, she was left with no income. Worried about how she was going to provide for her grandchildren and about the health crisis in her community, Benigna decided to use her skills to produce face masks. She was able to secure a contract with a public hospital in El Alto, the city where she lives, to make these masks for health workers.

All of us are learning how to navigate an entirely new environment. At Pro Mujer, we are taking this moment to act quickly and at the same time reflect on what has worked for us and what needs to change so that we can build a more resilient organization that can quickly adapt to women’s changing needs.

Today, more than ever, we are seeing the critical need to build systems and structures that guarantee human rights, including equal access to fundamental resources – like health care, education, and food – and systems that allow for gender equality.

Pro Mujer’s team understands this is also a great opportunity for organizations to look at different ways of thinking and doing, to explore new horizons and prioritize the delivery of services for underserved communities around the world, and to ensure they live with dignity.

&nbsp;

The Pandemic Will Not Deter Us

Argentina

Bolivia

Latin America and The Caribbean

Test of a Lifetime: COVID-19 and Financial Inclusion

Challenges and Crises

Enabling Environment

Blog Post

<em>&gt; Posted by Susy Cheston, Senior Advisor, CFI</em>

<a href="http://www.fi2020progressreport.org/client-protection/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-19650" style="border: 1px solid #000000;margin-bottom: 5px" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/client-protection.png" alt="" width="614" height="341" /></a>Visitors to our <a href="http://www.fi2020progressreport.org/client-protection/"><em>FI2020 Progress Report on Client Protection</em></a> will have noted our poor math skills. (This is the section of the report that assesses global progress to date in advancing fair treatment for lower-income financial services clients.) We rated regulators a 6 on consumer protection and providers a 3—and somehow averaged those out to a 5. Our averaging skills make even less sense when you consider the <a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2012/12/05/the-three-legged-stool-of-client-protection/">three legs of the client protection stool</a>—providers, regulators, and consumers—and realize that consumers are not even on the radar, rightfully earning a 1 at best in terms of their capacity to advocate on their own behalf. So why the optimism?

We were certainly swayed by the impressive momentum among a range of actors at the global level—including policy and private sector initiatives—toward improved consumer protection. But it’s what happens at the national level that really counts. The World Bank’s <a href="http://responsiblefinance.worldbank.org/~/media/GIAWB/FL/Documents/Publications/CPFL-Global-Survey-114econ-Oversight-2014.pdf"><em>2014 Global Survey on Consumer Protection and Financial Literacy</em></a> reports that some form of legal framework for financial consumer protection is in place in 112 out of 114 economies surveyed. We are not so <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna_principle">Pollyannaish</a> as to think that having a legal framework is equivalent to having a regulatory and supervisory system that protects consumers well, but we do think it’s a good step in the right direction.

We also looked at the <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/microscope"><em>Global Microscope</em></a>, which shows a wide range of policy and practice in each of the 55 markets it surveys. The <em>Microscope</em> provides a wealth of detail, including noting the countries that have weak market-conduct rules and grievance redressal mechanisms. In general, the MENA region is struggling in these areas. On the whole, in one-third of the countries studied, the <em>Microscope</em> found that significant efforts are needed in both regulation and its implementation. Yet, there are glimmers of best practice. The Latin American region stands out, with Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Bolivia ranked in the lead on consumer protection indicators in 2014, and the Philippines (as always) is worth noting, too.

Overall, with significant recent progress by national regulators such as Indonesia, continued deepening from leaders such as Peru and the Philippines, and progress on global standard-setting, we are just encouraged enough to give regulators a cautiously optimistic 6 in progress to date.

On the provider side, which we awarded a 3 for progress to date, there are bright spots. Among them, industry codes of conduct, and individual financial service providers that recognize the linkage between consumer protection and their own success. However, there are many forces pushing against industry leadership. The challenges and costs of reaching the base of the pyramid together with the challenges and costs of implementing good consumer protection practices can be daunting. We may seem like cockeyed optimists—but we nevertheless hold fast to the vision that providers can and must incorporate consumer protection into their professional identity. Not only is it the right thing to do, it positions clients to be effective, loyal services users, contributing to long-term financial bottom-lines.

Of course, as the market evolves, consumer protection challenges evolve with it. Technology can benefit consumer protection. Among the many examples are how technology can reduce opportunities for petty staff corruption and provide new ways for consumers to share complaints. But technology also brings new risks, such as complex and confusing interfaces, connectivity interruptions, lack of pricing transparency, and new types of fraud. Consumer data in digital form is proliferating, and most countries do not have protections in place about the use of that data. We are now in a period of learning about the consumer protection implications of rapidly changing technologies, and the jury is out on whether client protection is prone to be stronger or weaker amidst those changes.

We weighed all of these considerations and scored the world’s progress toward consumer protection for the base of the pyramid. The last I checked, the “People’s Vote” was a slightly less optimistic 4. Check out the <em><a href="http://www.fi2020progressreport.org/client-protection/">FI2020 Progress Report on Client Protection</a></em> and cast your own vote.

<strong>Have you read?</strong>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2015/10/01/rating-progress-toward-financial-inclusion-on-a-scale-of-1-to-10/">Rating Progress toward Financial Inclusion on a Scale of 1 to 10</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2015/10/05/toward-an-agent-free-world/">Toward an "Agent-Free" World</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2015/10/07/addressing-customer-needs-off-to-the-data-mines/">Addressing Customer Needs? Off to the Data Mines</a>

Why We Gave Consumer Protection a 5

Financial Inclusion 2020

Chile

Middle East and North Africa

Philippines

Agent Banking

Alternative Data

Consumer Protection

Digital Financial Services

Policy, Regulation and Government Initiatives

Privacy

Trends

<a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-2013-global-microscope"><img class="alignright wp-image-16543" style="border: 2px solid #000000" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/microscope.png" alt="" width="280" height="353" /></a>If there’s one thing we’ve learned in taking a close look at financial inclusion efforts around the world, it’s that context matters. That’s why we are excited to be part of the team releasing the <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-global-microscope"><em>Global Microscope 2014: The Enabling Environment for Financial Inclusion</em></a>. The <em>Microscope</em> is carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with sponsorship and guidance from the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, CAF, and Citi. The <em>Microscope</em> evaluates the environment for financial inclusion in 55 different countries and provides powerful signals to policymakers in each country on their progress. Which countries topped the list and which have the most room to grow?

We’ll tell you, but first, it’s important to know what the results mean. Each country inspected in the <em>Microscope</em> is assessed on 12 indicators that consider best practices in national regulatory environments and institutional support for providers serving clients at the base of the pyramid. Indicators range from government support for financial inclusion, to supervision of microfinance and other financial products, the status of credit reporting, regulations governing mobile banking and, last but not least, consumer protection.

This year is an important one in the publication’s eight year history because the focus shifted from microfinance to the environment for financial inclusion, a process that involved adapting the framework to account for today’s diversity of providers and products. What we were surprised by, however, was just how little a difference this made in the rankings. We charted last year’s results on the microfinance environment against this year’s results on the financial inclusion environment and we found a very high correlation between the two (see figure below). Environments that are enabling for microfinance are often environments that are enabling for financial inclusion. Six countries from last year’s top 10 were in this year’s top ten.

<a href="http://bit.ly/1s9k6T0"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-16546" src="https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/microscope-figure.png" alt="" width="600" height="290" /></a>

So, who leads the pack? Here’s the list of the top 10 countries and their scores (on a scale of 0 to 100).
<p style="padding-left: 30px">1) Peru -- 87</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">2) Colombia -- 85</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">3) Philippines -- 79</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">4) Chile -- 66</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">5) Mexico and India (tie) -- 61</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">7) Bolivia and Pakistan (tie) -- 58</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">9) Cambodia and Tanzania (tie) -- 56</p>
There were three very clear champions: Peru, Colombia, and the Philippines, whose scores are well above the next-ranked country, Chile. Peru and Colombia performed strongly across the board, scoring in the top five on nearly all indicators. The Philippines’ inclusion environment ranked well in part due to its capable regulator, optimal credit regulation, and effective dispute-resolution mechanisms.

The wide range of performance is notable. Top-scoring Peru secured 87 out of a possible 100 points, while lowest-ranked Haiti only managed 16, and there are countries spread rather evenly throughout the whole scoring distribution. This reveals a very wide range of attention to and progress on financial inclusion across the world. This range is borne out by the finding that a third of countries have active national financial inclusion strategies with targets, a third have strategies that remain vague or patchy, and a third have not made any formal commitment to financial inclusion.

Regionally, both Latin America and the Caribbean and East and South Asia score well. While the Middle East and North Africa region had the lowest regional average score, low scores are present among countries in several regions: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Egypt, Yemen, and Haiti.

East and South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are the leading regions in regulation for electronic payments. Kenya and Tanzania in particular stand out for their strong regulation conducive to the growth of mobile payments, and Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka for their effective e-pay infrastructure.

The <em>Microscope</em> found that countries that had strong institutional support – credit reporting, client protection, accounting standards – often performed very well overall, and countries that had weak institutional support performed poorly. Countries at the bottom of the rankings performed especially poorly on measures of institutional support.

The <em>Microscope</em> report, with its country profiles, provides a rich source of information for further research. It also provides a stimulus for policymakers to focus on areas for improvement and to look to the leaders for inspiration and example.

For more detail, including country breakdowns and rankings, you can download the report <a href="http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/534-global-microscope">here</a>.

<em>Graphic credits: <a href="http://bit.ly/1s9k6T0">'Global Microscope 2014'</a></em>

<strong>Have you read?</strong>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/12/17/defining-the-path-to-financial-inclusion-in-peru/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defining the Path to Financial Inclusion in Peru</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2013/10/03/global-microscope-finds-the-world-getting-more-microfinance-friendly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Microscope Finds the World Getting More Microfinance-Friendly</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2012/12/20/putting-a-microscope-on-client-protection-in-microfinance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Putting a Microscope on Client Protection in Microfinance</a>

&nbsp;

The 'Global Microscope 2014': Results and Surprises

Bangladesh

Cambodia

Congo, Dem. Rep.

Egypt, Arab Rep.

Haiti

Kenya

Madagascar

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Yemen, Rep.

Financial Inclusion Strategy

<em>The following post was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elisabeth-rhyne/genius-in-microfinance-re_b_5671545.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">originally published</a> on The WorldPost blog of The Huffington Post.</em>

<a href="http://www.audinet-conseil.com/news/article.php?id=1163"><img class="alignright wp-image-15774 size-full" style="margin: 5px;border: 0 solid #ffffff" src="http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/panchootero.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>In a <a href="https://www.microlinks.org/studying-past-looking-future-bancosol-moving-microfinance-mainline-financial-system" target="_hplink">recent retrospective</a>, Rich Rosenberg called Pancho Otero, the founding leader of Bolivia's Prodem and BancoSol, a genius. With Pancho's sudden death last month, I find myself surprised to speak with many people who work in microfinance or financial inclusion today but do not know about Pancho's genius. And so, I would like to take this moment to tell the story of who Pancho was and what he accomplished.

Genius can be applied in many spheres, from art to action. But all notions of genius share the idea that a genius sees beyond the things ordinary people see and works in some extraordinary way to bring that vision into being, disregarding conventional boundaries. I think Pancho would have enjoyed this thought about genius, by seventeenth century English author Jonathan Swift, "When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." But that is the end of the story, not the beginning.

In 1986 Pancho was hired by Accion to start a microenterprise lending organization in Bolivia. His signal accomplishment was to create an organization that was so good at what it did that it gave rise to the idea - and then the reality - that a microfinance operation lending exclusively to the poor could become a full fledged commercial bank. And when Prodem launched BancoSol, Pancho became President of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mainstreaming-Microfinance-Lending-Began-Bolivia/dp/1565491262/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407851116&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=Elisabeth+Rhyne" target="_hplink">first private commercial bank in Latin America dedicated to the microenterprises of the poor</a>. BancoSol, in turn gave impulse to the transformation of microfinance NGOs into financial institutions all over the world and set the ball rolling for the widespread commercialization of microfinance.

Genius does not work alone, and Pancho had help of many kinds - a cultural tradition among his clients, mainly Aymara people, of entrepreneurship and honoring debts, and a set of capable and influential backers in both Bolivia and North America, who helped finance and advise the new organization.

But Pancho's own unique contribution? I think his genius lay in two attributes, his personal charisma and his iconoclastic passion. He applied them both to great effect in creating first Prodem and then BancoSol.

Pancho's first genius was a winning way with all kinds of people. He could establish rapport with clients in an instant. He understood, empathized, and honored the poor of Bolivia. As a passionate Latin American leftist, he believed - and practiced - radical solidarity with the poor and indigenous. Perhaps he was sometimes a romantic about this, but not when he was actually in the field, where he felt fully at ease. Pancho believed that a microenterprise organization should be built on trust between the client and the institution, trust that grows from the connections created when people look each other in the eye. Pancho treated clients with kindness, sympathy, and camaraderie.

That was the <em>mistica</em> he brought to his work and spread among his staff, a sense of mission that suffused every facet of Prodem. In the early days, Prodem was steeped in this <em>mistica</em>. It perspired <em>mistica</em>.

And that <em>mistica</em> inspired the staff as Pancho created a sense of excitement and discovery among them. Every time a credit committee met to consider a loan application, Pancho saw it as an opportunity for learning and growth. And so he set loan officers to challenge each others' assumptions, turning the credit committees into classrooms for staff. As Pancho's life has been memorialized in Bolivia, <a href="http://www.la-razon.com/opinion/columnistas/Homenaje-Pancho-Otero-Bailey_0_2097990192.html" target="_hplink">members of his staff</a> are among those offering the most <a href="http://www.noticias.com.bo/opinion/querido-pancho/" target="_hplink">moving tributes</a>.

Prodem staff lived by a few catch phrases that captured and translated the <em>mistica</em> into practice. <em>Ni un vaso de agua </em>(not even a glass of water) emphasized expectations that staff would be fully ethical in dealings with clients, reversing patterns of corruption in Bolivia associated with government lenders. "Zero tolerance" sent loan officers out immediately upon arrears, not (as Pancho later explained) for the purpose of harassment, but first of all to find out whether the client was "can't pay" and needed to be worked with sympathetically or "won't pay" and would be treated strictly. In a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwV3l5H56C4" target="_hplink">video interview</a> with MicroSave (embedded above) he explains the presumption at Prodem that arrears usually signaled a shortcoming of the institution, not of the client.

Pancho also turned his genius for people full blast on the supporters of Prodem, from the top political figures of Bolivia, to donors at USAID and the IDB, to colleagues at Accion. He charmed everyone with warmth, humor, and conviction, and in return, received the backing he needed in the form of Accion's full support, grants from USAID and the IDB, and local political support. It is hard to believe today, but at that time the case Pancho repeatedly had to make was something we now take for granted: that low income people can and will repay their loans and form the basis for a successful financial operation.

As for the second strand of genius, Pancho was a highly motivated iconoclast, by ideology and by nature. Born and raised in Bolivia, Pancho was profoundly influenced early in life by two politically active leftist uncles, one of whom was gunned down by the Bolivian military. He gloried in establishing himself in contrast to authority, and especially against the role of the United States in Latin American affairs during the 1960s and 1970s. His heroes were revolutionaries, and he saw microfinance as his contribution to the revolutionary tradition. This side of Pancho's genius is responsible for his dedication to making Prodem an excellent institution that learned from its own experience rather than simply copying others. It enabled him to create a vision for the organization, rally his staff around that vision, and resist slipping into a more donor-led position. He turned that questioning spirit on Prodem itself, challenging it to do things in a way that turned conventional banking on its head. Pancho wanted Prodem to be the anti-bank.

Which is why it is ironic that his most significant achievement was the conversion of the NGO Prodem into a bank. Pancho did not originate the idea for BancoSol, but he created the conditions that made it possible by making Prodem a truly excellent operation that was growing fast and breaking even in just a few years. By 1989, after only two years of operation, the prospect arose that Prodem could become a bank (as it was financially viable) and needed to become a bank (in order to raise the funds to continue growing). It is hard to believe now that in 1989 this was a revolutionary idea, one that at first even Accion's board of directors were reluctant to endorse. Over the next few years, Pancho continued to advance Prodem's success while working with a team set up by Accion and Calmeadow to develop a business plan, find investors, and secure regulatory approval. It was a proud day in February 1992 when BancoSol opened its doors, and surely one of the handful of most significant dates in the evolution of microfinance.

But Pancho's iconoclasm was also his tragic flaw, at least so far as the BancoSol story is concerned. As an anti-banker himself, he wanted BancoSol to stay as different from a bank as Prodem had been, and thus, he defied the formalization that the new shareholders and the regulatory authorities demanded. As effective as BancoSol was, with Pancho at the helm it resisted the formal systems necessary for a larger, regulated institution. Pancho preferred to do business based on person-to-person connections among his team, and he was temperamentally allergic to bureaucracy and control. He clashed with those who sought to impose more of that on him and his own dear creation.

But BancoSol simply could not operate as a bank on <em>mistica</em> alone. And so, in 1994, with great reluctance and sadness, the board of BancoSol asked Pancho to step down as President and CEO. This was a great disappointment to Pancho, and the bitterness engendered when he had to surrender his role at BancoSol stayed with him for years.

Pancho believed wholeheartedly in the power of microfinance to transform lives, but only if it were delivered with proper care and connection to clients. If he were starting out today, he would undoubtedly be one of the new advocates of "client-centricity", though I'm sure he would dismiss the term itself as corporate-speak.

Pancho continued to work on the kind of microfinance he believed in, heading for countries where it was not available and where he believed it could be life-changing. He died suddenly, of cerebral malaria, in the small town of Kikwit, in the hinterlands of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he was building yet another microfinance program, Credit Ya Mpa.

As I think about Pancho personally, I remember a man who loved to be contrary, and because he was warm and funny and charming, usually got away with it. He was the kind of person who, while entering the U.S. with his Bolivian passport, picked an argument with the customs official about U.S. policy in Latin America, nearly getting himself pulled into detention. He was the kind of person who, when requested to speak about a certain topic in a conference, would talk eloquently about something else. He had talents - like drawing perfect circles freehand (an unusual way to impress women), and mimicking accents perfectly. Although I have not seen him in several years, I can still hear his version of Indian English, complete with head-waggle. He often talked about eye-to-eye-based trust, probably because his own eyes twinkled incorrigibly.

I'm not sure whether Pancho was "a genius", but I am sure that he had genius in him. The twinkle in his eye, and everything that came along with it, made a lasting mark on the world.

<em>Image credit: <a href="http://www.audinet-conseil.com/news/article.php?id=1163" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audinet</a></em>

<strong>Have you read?</strong>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2011/09/22/financial-inclusion-the-trust-factor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Inclusion: The Trust Factor</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2011/09/28/revista-features-beth-rhyne-on-the-bolivian-model-of-microfinance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'ReVista' Features Beth Rhyne on the 'Bolivian Model' of Microfinance</a>

<a href="http://cfi-blog.org/2012/02/03/from-the-roundtable-reflections-on-improving-microfinance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From the Roundtable: Reflections on Improving Microfinance</a>

Genius in Microfinance - Reflections on Pancho Otero

<b> </b>

<b>Executive Summary<img class="imgRight" src="storage/images/Bolivia.jpg" alt="Bolivia" width="282" height="198" /></b>

Bolivia’s banking system has long suffered from corruption and weak regulation. There has been little political will or other resources dedicated to the creation of a framework for consumer protection. This is especially in light of the country’s current political landscape featuring a stark division between President Evo Morales and his opponents as the president tries to pass a new constitution. Many recommendations to improve client protection for financial services in Bolivia have been made by local and international organizations. However, the status of consumer protection in Bolivia is weakened by little or no state action on this issue and scarce initiative on behalf of banks to self-regulate.
<ul>
 	<li>The principal banking networks of Bolivia have not set client protection standards.</li>
 	<li>No agreement has been made between banks and the regulatory authorities about the creation of a financial services ombudsman.</li>
 	<li>The instructions that have been erected to protect clients are sector-specific and leave out financial services.</li>
</ul>
<b>Introduction</b><b></b>

Bolivia is amongst the poorest Latin American countries and has an economy dependant mostly on its natural resources including tin, copper, silver, and natural gas. It is also highly dependent on foreign aid. The banking system in Bolivia has long suffered from corruption and weak regulation. The country has a central bank, but few private banks.

In 1993, Bolivia passed the Banking Law (which has been subsequently reformed several times), which improved and opened the banking sector to foreign participation. The lack of credit given by banks to microenterprises made microcredit NGOs a source of capital for many Bolivian entrepreneurs. As the NGOs became regulated institutions and the Bolivian microfinance industry matured, vibrant competition developed, which is generally positive for consumers. However, there has also been great concern about protecting bottom-of-the-pyramid clients, and so regulatory measures have been put in place by the state.

Regarding the financial industry as a whole, there has been little work to try to create a client-protection framework. Moreover, with the current status of the Bolivian political landscape, a near deadlock between the ruling coalition and the opposition, passing any law is a highly politicized process, especially with a constituent assembly presently re-drafting the country’s constitution. This presents an uncertain prospect for the passage of any law in the near future, at least until the Constituent Assembly’s draft Constitution is ratified by a national referendum.

<b>Legal Framework</b><b></b>

The General Law on Banking and Financial Institutions of 1993, last modified in May 2004, is Bolivia’s general banking law. As such, it enforces the rules and regulations for all banks and financial institutions. It is quite generic in its main points, but there are a few items worth highlighting:
<ol start="1">
 	<li>Non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) cannot lend individuals or groups a value above 1% of their net equity without a guarantee. The exception is a housing credit, in which case NBFIs cannot lend above 5% or 10% without authorization from the Banking Superintendency.</li>
 	<li>Directors of banks must maintain the privacy of both operations within the banking system and their clients' information.</li>
 	<li>The law created the Superintendencia de Bancos y Entidades Financieras (SBEF), which is the banking comptroller general.</li>
</ol>
On April 16, 2008, President Evo Morales issued <a href="http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.45980/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Supreme Decree 29519</a>, which regulates competition and consumer protection with regards to conduct that negatively influences the market. The decree will be executed by the Bolivian Institute of Metrics and the Business Superintendence. To prevent price and quantity speculation, the decree determines what constitutes competitive and anti-competitive behavior. However, it does not contain any caveats about financial services in general or describe consumer rights. There has been strong criticism of this decree from the <a href="http://www.cainco.org.bo/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce (CAINCO)</a> because the Superintendence does not have the facilities to perform its job under the decree. CAINCO argues instead that there must be clear and well defined norms that protect Bolivians’ economy, health, and access to more and better products.

The <a href="http://www.economiayfinanzas.gob.bo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ministry of Finance</a> and the <a href="http://www.bcb.gob.bo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Central Bank</a> have a mandate to determine the country’s monetary and fiscal policy as well as to oversee and regulate the financial industry of the country. Within that context, the SBEF’s objective is to strengthen the role of all actors to measure and monitor the risk of every financial institution as well as the system as a whole, thus contributing to a healthy financial system that is efficient and profitable, benefiting the security of the public’s savings.

The Superintendency of Banking also issues periodic regulatory updates with the objective to improve the Bolivian financial industry. One of these updates is the Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance Institutions in Bolivia (Regulación y Supervisión de las Entidades Microfinancieras en Bolivia). Some of the important norms contained in this update include:
<ol start="1">
 	<li>MFIs now have a specific credit risk rating scheme, with the objective of using a general risk assessment tool to allow uniform interpretation of information.</li>
 	<li>MFIs can obtain credit history information from the credit bureaus as well as provide information to them in order to increase transparency in the microfinance sector and have more accurate information about over-indebtedness.</li>
 	<li>MFIs should disclose all details of their operations in their contracts, including nominal and variable interest rates and detailed information about all charges and fees.</li>
 	<li>Furthermore, before contracting an agreement, MFIs should clearly disclose in writing all the terms and conditions of loans.</li>
 	<li>Given their nature, MFIs will provide a record of its clients credit history in order to integrate people into the formal sector.</li>
 	<li>The Superintendency will implement two types of monitoring for MFIs:
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ol start="1">
 	<li>Off-Site - monitoring the financial records of the MFI and its indicators, including asset liquidity and profitability to asess the state of the country’s microfinance industry.</li>
 	<li>On-Site - inspections of the MFI with regard to quality of information, governance, risk assessment and loan portfolio.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
Bolivia also has the Financial System Development and Productive Sector Support Fund, or FONDESIF for its Spanish acronym. It is that state institution that serves as a public policy instrument to orient and support the microfinance sector, widening coverage, diversifying products, and democratizing access to credit through economic initiatives for the bottom of the pyramid to be viable.

FONDESIF partners with sustainable MFIs to expand their coverage to regions previously without financial services or consolidate the MFIs presence in an area. It assigns resources to these MFIs in two ways:
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ol start="1">
 	<li>Loans for the establishment of a portfolio that will allow the MFI to serve the identified clients.</li>
 	<li>Technical assistance, subject to conditions, for the subsidization and financing the MFI’s operational costs.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
Furthermore, FONDESIF provides resources to promote research and seminars that advance the microfinance sector in Bolivia. The resources for these efforts come from the Bolivian government, international donors, and cooperative agencies.

The government also has a consumer protection institution called the Consumer Protection Office, or ODECO for its Spanish acronym. It is a service of the sectoral regulation system to provide a servomechanism of redress to the consumers of the electric, hydrocarbon, sanitation, telecommunications and transportation sectors. The institution embraces the best consumer protection practices and seeks to implement international experiences to provide an effective protection of user and consumer rights. Clients of financial services cannot use ODECO’s mechanisms.

There is a citizen-led NGO that strives to protect consumers called the Bolivian Consumer Rights Defense Committee, or <a href="http://saludpublica.bvsp.org.bo/ais/codedco.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CODECO</a> for its Spanish acronym. It is a member of the Consumers International Global Federation. In Bolivia, it seeks to represent consumers and patients across the country who seek to promote citizen participation in safeguarding their rights. Unfortunately, with its very diverse agenda, financial services are not included in their program of activities.

In 2004, an <a href="http://www.unctadxi.org/Sections/DITC/COMPAL/docs/Informes%20de%20Consumidor/Informe%20Bolivia%20PROTECCIONCONSUMIDOR.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unofficial UNCTAD report</a> found the status of consumer protection in Bolivia to be particularly weak. It mentioned that Bolivia does not have institutions that dedicate themselves to the protection, promotion and defense of consumer interests. Furthermore, it stated that no clear consumer protection laws that existed for specific sectors. A series of recommendations were issued by the organization including:
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ul>
 	<li>The need to build a societal consensus around the need for consumer rights.</li>
 	<li>The need to extend the reach of institutions who are designed to protect certain consumers, to encourage them to go beyond basic services.</li>
 	<li>The need to establish a culture of consumer and user rights in public and private sectors to advance social and academic policies that introduce this idea to all sectors of society.</li>
 	<li>The need to strengthen the role of civil society with regard to consumer protection in order for civilians to defend their interests and represent themselves.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
Both UNCTAD and CODECO have suggested that the current consumer protection and competition Decree could be turned into law.

<b>Networks</b><b></b>

<em><a href="http://www.asoban.bo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bolivian Private Banks Association</a></em>

The Bolivian Private Banks Association (ASOBAN) is the largest association of private banks in Bolivia, and has 12 members. Its objective is to design policies to develop banking in Bolivia as well as preserve and maintain the interests of the banking sector in the economic development of Bolivia. It biannually publishes a report on the state of the banking industry in Bolivia along with several other studies on the state of the Bolivian economy. The ASOBAN website does not list any policy protections regarding consumer protection.

<em><a href="http://www.asofinbolivia.com/sp/default.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Assocation of MFIs</a></em>

Assocation of MFIs (ASOFIN) is the largest microfinance network in the country. Its mission is to promote policies that strengthen microfinance in Bolivia and safeguard the interests of the sector. It has 8 members, among them <a href="http://www.bancosol.com.bo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bancosol</a>, which has been characterized as Bolivia’s best bank. ASOFIN does not have any clear consumer protection policy or a statement that characterizes the policies of the network on consumer protection.

ASOFIN in turn has a couple of provocative publications on its website: <a href="http://www.asofinbolivia.com/archivos/DOC%20COMPLETO%20EN%20PDF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“A study on the Feasibility of a Financial Ombudsman”</a> and another one on the <a href="http://www.asofinbolivia.com/archivos/Bolivia%20Lecciones.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Lessons Learned about Microfinance Regulations in Bolivia.”</a>

<em>Association of Financial Institutions for Rural Development</em>

The Association of Financial Institutions for Rural Development (FINRURAL) is a group of 15 organizations that work in the microfinance and microenterprise sector in Bolivia. They promote improved institutional management, product diversification, and recognition for MFIs in Bolivia. FINRURAL promotes innovation and technology transfers and proclaims itself a leader in the sector. All of its members are non-regulated financial institutions, but they have clear policies to promote self-regulation. The objectives of this system of self regulation are to:
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ol start="1">
 	<li style="list-style-type: none">
<ul>
 	<li>Increase the credibility of MFIs so they will be able to reach more people who have previously been excluded from the formal financial sector;</li>
 	<li>Promote the continued advancement of good MFI management to promote efficiency and effectiveness in generating value and risk reduction;</li>
 	<li>Harness MFIs to act as a group to consolidate their efforts; and</li>
 	<li>Promote development of a healthy and sustainable microfinance sector.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
The website has a section on self-regulation where they specify what their internal regulations are, from tax reporting to interest rate methodology. Unfortunately, there is no consumer protection policy where they clearly outline a pro-consumer approach.

Bancosol has published a report entitled “The Bolivian Financial Market and the Defender of Financial Consumer Protection.” In this report, they mention that a certain financial culture has been developed in Bolivia where institutions provide adequate information and consumers are no longer fooled by banks’ marketing strategies. It also mentions that banks have the duty to provide clear and sufficient information to consumers about the conditions and characteristics of the products that they advertise. This paper also makes the argument that a Financial Services Ombudsman contributes to equalizing the imbalance of power between the banks and the consumers. An ombudsman would help clients confront abuse, injustice and lack of quality in financial services. Moreover, Bancosol’s report mentions that ASOFIN, FINRURAL and ASOBAN have all committed themselves to institutionalize the Financial Ombudsman, though this has not yet been implemented.

<b>Conclusions</b><b></b>

The Bolivian legal framework is rather vague when it comes to client protection. It does not have specific clauses regarding sectoral regulations for financial services. However, there are institutions dedicated to the protection of consumer rights for the electricity, hydrocarbons, sanitation, telecommunications and transportation sectors. Currently, financial services are not seen as a basic service, which is something that will need to change in order to create a strong enabling environment for client protection in microfinance. Furthermore, the general law on banks does not contain specific clauses regarding transparency, over-indebtedness, reckless lending, or client rights. Some good measures have been implemented by the Superintendency of Banking, but they are directed exclusively at microfinance organizations, and are not mandatory for the rest of the financial sector.

Finally, the banking networks lack clear client-protection policies, and although they all welcome the existence of a banking ombudsman to protect consumers, so far they have not taken the initiative to advertise and implement client-protection codes and practices.

<i>These profiles are not exhaustive and have not been reviewed by country experts. If you notice a gap or error in any of the profiles, we would very much appreciate your comments about how they can be improved. In this way we can work together to expand our understanding of the variety of client protection strategies and initiatives that are being pursued in different parts of the world.</i>

<a title="Client Protection Library" href="publications-a-resources/client-protection-library" target="_parent">Back to Client Protection Library</a>

Client Protection in Bolivia

Report

<em>&gt; Posted by Center Staff</em>
<em><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4346" title="ReVista logo" src="http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/revista-logo.png" alt="" width="170" height="62" /><a href="http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline/" target="_blank">ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America</a></em> has just released an issue that maps out Bolivia's changing social, political, cultural, and economic landscape.
CFI Managing Director Beth Rhyne's article <a href="http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline/fall-2011/microfinance" target="_blank">"Microfinance: A World-Class Performance"</a> takes readers on a tour of the "Bolivian model" of microfinance, which has "led to the transformation of dozens of MFIs around the world, launching the expansion of microfinance from a few tiny, donor-driven programs to a global industry that today brings access to financial services to 150 million people."
Rhyne's analysis begins:
<em>When I first saw the photos of the sacking of BancoSol, I cried. The slide show began with chaotic pictures of the mob hauling desks, computers and files into the street and setting them on fire. Next were two captured looters lying face down and handcuffed amid the wreckage of what hours before had been a functioning bank branch. Finally, next-day photographs documented the ravaged premises of BansoSol’s branches all over La Paz and El Alto.</em>
<em>Thinking back to 2003 when these events occurred, I ask three questions. Why did protestors ransack a socially motivated bank that lends to the poor? Why did that make me cry? And what has become of BancoSol and the rest of the microfinance sector since then?</em>
<em>Development economist Claudio González-Vega once said of microfinance in Bolivia, “One could not write the recent economic history of Bolivia without highlighting microfinance, and one could not write the world history of microfinance without highlighting Bolivia.” (Boulder Finance Institute presentation, July 2007). Microfinance is one of Bolivia’s best claims to a world-class performance. It started in the late 1980s when idealistic Bolivian social activists created a series of microfinance institutions (MFIs). They found a ready market for small loans among Bolivia’s enormous informal sector, dominated by Aymara-speaking microentrepreneurs. The need, the services and the culture somehow clicked, and these MFIs quickly grew into leaders in the emerging global microfinance sector.</em>
Please click the link to read the rest of <a href="http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline/fall-2011/microfinance" target="_blank"> "Microfinance: A World-Class Performance."</a>
<a href="http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline/about" target="_blank"><em>ReVista</em></a>, published three times yearly, focuses on different themes related to Latin America, Latinos/as, and the Iberian peninsula. The magazine-length publication brings together different voices on each theme, highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, students, alumni and visiting scholars.
Harvard’s <a href="http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies</a> is <em>ReVista</em>'s parent institution. The publication's creators "hope to foster cooperation and understanding among the people of the Ameri<em></em>cas [and] seeks to contribute to democracy, social progress and sustainable development and to stimulate dialogue on these issues."
<strong>Have you read?</strong>
<a href="http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/the-centers-best-kept-secret-the-country-by-country-client-protection-library/" target="_blank">The Center’s Best-Kept Secret: The Country-by-Country Client Protection Library (Featuring Bolivia)</a>
<a href="http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/a-tale-of-microfinance-in-two-cities/" target="_blank">A Tale of Microfinance in Two Cities</a>
<a href="http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/pilar-ramirez-microfinance-trailblazer/" target="_blank">Pilar Ramírez, Microfinance Trailblazer</a>
<a href="http://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/weathering-the-storm-and-learning-from-latin-americas-experiences/" target="_blank">‘Weathering the Storm’ and Learning from Latin America’s Experiences</a>
Microfinance
A World-Class Performance
By Elisabeth Rhyne
When I first saw the photos of the sack ing of BancoSol, I cried. The slide show began with chaotic pictures of the mob hauling desks, computers and files into the street and setting them on fire. Next were two captured looters lying face down and handcuffed amid the wreckage of what hours before had been a functioning bank branch. Finally, next-day photographs documented the ravaged premises of BansoSol’s branches all over La Paz and El Alto.
Thinking back to 2003 when these events occurred, I ask three questions. Why did protestors ransack a socially motivated bank that lends to the poor? Why did that make me cry? And what has become of BancoSol and the rest of the microfinance sector since then?
Development economist Claudio González-Vega once said of microfinance in Bolivia, “One could not write the recent economic history of Bolivia without highlighting microfinance, and one could not write the world history of microfinance without highlighting Bolivia.” (Boulder Finance Institute presentation, July 2007). Microfinance is one of Bolivia’s best claims to a world-class performance. It started in the late 1980s when idealistic Bolivian social activists created a series of microfinance institutions (MFIs). They found a ready market for small loans among Bolivia’s enormous informal sector, dominated by Aymara-speaking microentrepreneurs. The need, the services and the culture somehow clicked, and these MFIs quickly grew into leaders in the emerging global microfinance sector.

&#039;ReVista&#039; Features Beth Rhyne on the &#039;Bolivian Model&#039; of Microfinance

<em>&gt; Posted by Center Staff</em>
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2763" title="5" src="https://content.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2011/02/5.gif" alt="" width="100" height="100" />Andhra Pradesh's shadow is long, and particularly dark where it falls across the media. But beyond the bleaker headlines are stories of a different kind, about countries where microfinance is working.
The Center's managing director, Beth Rhyne, this week published an article on this topic in<em> The China Daily</em>. It may cast a new light on microfinance for the newspaper's nearly 400,000 readers, many of whom hail from Asia's business and investor community.
Here are some excerpts from "Five Countries Where Microfinance Works":
<ul>
 	<li>"Indian policymakers created a perfect storm for a microfinance shipwreck ... MFIs, locked out of the ability to provide a range of services, had no other channel for growth than unbridled credit expansion."</li>
 	<li>"Tiny Bolivia got many things right ... competition between ... strong institutions brought interest rates in Bolivia below 20 percent, among the lowest microfinance rates in the world."</li>
 	<li>"Cambodia and Mongolia followed Bolivia’s example. Acleda Bank in Cambodia and Xac Bank in Mongolia ... added savings and other services, offering a solid range of products."</li>
 	<li>"Indonesia showed what a state-owned bank can do ... Bank Rakyat Indonesia now serves tens of millions of clients, has been profitable since it began, and has never experienced a significant crisis of over-lending."</li>
 	<li>"The government’s nurturing approach led the Economist Intelligence Unit to rank the Philippines second in the world in its “Global microscope on the microfinance business environment 2010.”</li>
</ul>
To access the entire article, please click <a href="http://www.cdeclips.com/files/asiapdf/20110218/cdasiaweekly20110218p14.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
<i>For more information, <a href="http://bit.ly/FI2020signup">sign up for updates</a> from the Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign.</i>

5 Countries Where Microfinance Works

Mongolia

&gt; <em>Posted by Jon Pattee</em>
<em><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2486" title="110103_MFM_Raw Photo_Pilar Ramirez_headshot crop 3" src="https://content.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2011/01/110103_mfm_raw-photo_pilar-ramirez_headshot-crop-3.jpg?w=220" alt="" width="220" height="300" /></em>Pilar Ramírez, a pioneer of microfinance in Latin America, in 1985 launched FIE, Bolivia’s first MFI. Her personal journey in the industry parallels the Bolivian microfinance sector’s development from its beginnings to its current mature status.
Ramírez, whose passion for social justice has never flagged, believes that she, FIE, and microfinance in Bolivia have all made significant contributions to the lives of low-income Bolivians.
Today, however, she sees troubling developments that are products of the industry’s very success.  As MFIs become more profitable, Ramírez worries that the field is luring in professionals who lack the social commitment of the founding leaders.  “It’s becoming like any business,” she laments.
As 2011 begins, Ramírez shares her thoughts on the microfinance industry past, present, and future, in the second of the “Microfinance Matters” interview series:
<h1 style="padding-left:30px"><span style="color:#ff6600"><strong>Pilar Ramírez</strong></span></h1>
<h3 style="padding-left:30px"><span style="color:#99ccff"><strong>Defying Conventional Wisdom, Pursuing Social Justice</strong></span></h3>
Although born into a wealthy family in Bolivia, Pilar Ramírez was part of a generation whose social conscience was formed by the events of the late 1960s.  As a high school student, Ramírez was galvanized into activism when the revolutionary hero Ché Guevara came to Bolivia and was killed by the military dictatorship in 1967.  “Ché had impressed the youth here, as he represented change and hope that a ‘new man’ – one who cared about the needs of the poor – was possible,” she says. At that time, she might have been stunned to learn that her belief in social justice would ultimately lead her to become a banker, and eventually the chair of CONFIE, a bank holding company.
<p style="padding-left:30px"><em>To read more of the interview with Pilar Ramírez, click <a href="http://bit.ly/eKkoOV" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p>

Pilar Ramírez, Microfinance Trailblazer

&gt; <em>Posted by Elisabeth Rhyne</em>
CGAP has just come out with an important new Focus Note analyzing recent microfinance repayment crises in Nicaragua, Morocco, Bosnia, and Pakistan—<a href="http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.42393/" target="_blank">“Growth and Vulnerabilities in Microfinance.”</a> Reading it set me thinking back to the Bolivian repayment crisis of 1999-2000 and to the lessons that came out of it.
The Bolivian crisis had all the same hallmarks as recent crises.  New entrants, in this case consumer lenders, came in with very aggressive growth strategies, as second movers behind the more established MFIs.  They tolerated and even welcomed multiple borrowing.  Borrower difficulties were triggered by a recession, which in turn triggered a virulent—and politically motivated—debt protest movement. At one point protestors piled all the computers of MFI branches into the street and set fire to them.  At the height of the crisis, the outlook for Bolivian microfinance was bad. But today, Bolivian microfinance is thriving, and that includes all of the leading microfinance institutions who experienced the crisis.
A number of key short- and longer-term actions made it possible for Bolivian microfinance to survive, recover, and move to a more stable footing.
In the short term, the Bolivian MFIs instigated intensive dialogue with government so that responses to the debt protestors could be worked out together. They then announced that they would work with every single client who the protestors named to resolve their repayment problems. This helped defuse the protests.  In fact, the big numbers melted away as it turned out there were only a few seriously troubled borrowers in the debt protest movement. The banking regulators issued out a new rule limiting debt service for consumer loans to 25 percent of a person’s salary.  This shattered the business models of most of the consumer lenders, who fled Bolivia or quietly closed operations, losing millions on the way.
Longer term, MFIs ended up writing off many loans and taking a big hit to profitability for a couple of years.  They survived by drawing on their past strong financial, especially the financial cushions they had in terms of prudent provisioning and leveraging.  NGOs working in rural areas were hit less hard than regulated urban lenders who occupied the same market space as the consumer lenders.
Since the crisis, and partly as a result, the MFIs in Bolivia strengthened their associations, which became strong and competent organizations, able to work with government and monitor the status of their members.  Government, associations, and MFIs worked together to improve the coverage and timeliness of credit bureaus.  And MFIs strengthened their own operations, in improved repayment capacity analysis and by seeking to offer clients greater value—a fuller range of services.
Each repayment crisis has its own specifics, but the lessons from Bolivia give some indication of the paths the microfinance industry can take to resolve and rebuild—and possibly even prevent the next crisis. <em>
</em>
<em>
</em>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">CGAP has just come out with an important new Focus Note analyzing recent microfinance repayment crises in Nicaragua, Morocco, Bosnia, and Pakistan—“<a>Growth and Vulnerabilities in Microfinance</a><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size:8pt"><a id="_anchor_1" class="msocomanchor" name="_msoanchor_1" href="#_msocom_1">[KM1]</a> </span></span>.”  Reading it set me thinking back to the Bolivian repayment crisis of 1999-2000 and to the lessons that came out of it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">The Bolivian crisis had all the same hallmarks as recent crises.  New entrants, in this case consumer lenders, came in with very aggressive growth strategies, as second movers behind the more established MFIs.  They tolerated and even welcomed multiple borrowing.  Borrower difficulties were triggered by a recession, which in turn triggered a virulent—and politically motivated—debt protest movement. At one point protestors piled all the computers of MFI branches into the street and set fire to them.  At the height of the crisis, the outlook for Bolivian microfinance was bad. But today, Bolivian microfinance is thriving, and that includes all of the leading microfinance institutions who experienced the crisis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">A number of key short- and longer-term actions made it possible for Bolivian microfinance to survive, recover, and move to a more stable footing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">In the short term, the Bolivian MFIs instigated intensive dialogue with government so that responses to the debt protestors could be worked out together. They then announced that they would work with every single client who the protestors named to resolve their repayment problems. This helped defuse the protests.  In fact, the big numbers melted away as it turned out there were only a few seriously troubled borrowers in the debt protest movement. The banking regulators issued out a new rule limiting debt service for consumer loans to 25 percent of a person’s salary.  This shattered the business models of most of the consumer lenders, who fled Bolivia or quietly closed operations, losing millions on the way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><a>MFIs</a><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size:8pt"><a id="_anchor_2" class="msocomanchor" name="_msoanchor_2" href="#_msocom_2">[KM2]</a> </span></span> ended up writing off many loans and taking a big hit to profitability for a couple of years.  They survived by drawing on their past strong financial, especially the financial cushions they had in terms of prudent provisioning and leveraging.  NGOs working in rural areas were hit less hard than regulated urban lenders who occupied the same market space as the consumer lenders.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">Since the crisis, and partly as a result, the MFIs in Bolivia strengthened their associations, which became strong and competent organizations, able to work with government and monitor the status of their members.  Government, associations, and MFIs worked together to improve the coverage and timeliness of credit bureaus.  And MFIs strengthened their own operations, in improved repayment capacity analysis and by seeking to offer clients greater value—a fuller range of services.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"></p>
<span>Each repayment crisis has its own specifics, but the lessons from Bolivia give some indication of the paths the microfinance industry can take to resolve and rebuild—and possibly even prevent the next crisis. </span>
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<div id="_com_1" class="msocomtxt"><a name="_msocom_1"></a>
<p class="MsoCommentText"><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size:8pt"> <a class="msocomoff" href="#_msoanchor_1">[KM1]</a></span></span>URL to link: http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.42393/</p>
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<div id="_com_2" class="msocomtxt"><a name="_msocom_2"></a>
<p class="MsoCommentText"><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size:8pt"> <a class="msocomoff" href="#_msoanchor_2">[KM2]</a></span></span>Is this the longer term?</p>
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Repayment Crises: Lessons Learned from Bolivia

John Fischer

Chief Investment Officer

Brian Kuwik

Emma Morse

Jeffrey  Campbell

Jorge de Angulo

Libby Morley

Prateek Shrivastava

Rachel Morpeth

Victoria White

China

Colombia

East Asia and Pacific

India

Mexico

Nigeria

South Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Advisory Services

Agricultural and Rural Finance

Appropriate Product Design and Delivery

Banks

Credit

Customer Centricity

Data Analytics

Delivery Channels

Digital Credit

Entrepreneurs of MSMEs

Financial Health

Financial Service Providers

Financial Technology

Fintechs

Governance

Microfinance

Microfinance Institutions

Mobile Banking

MSME/SME Finance

Payments

Resilience

Responsible Digital Finance

Risk Management

Rural Populations

Saving

Smallholder Farmers

Underserved Groups

Article

China’s economy has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, with a booming micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) market. There are over 50 million MSMEs in China that collectively account for over 60% of China’s GDP and over 50% of the government’s tax income. These businesses create 80% of total employment in China’s urban areas.

Despite China’s overall economic growth, the need to foster full financial inclusion is still imperative. In 2010, 38 million MSMEs lacked access to formal financial services, forcing them to borrow informally from friends, family, and moneylenders.

The majority of Kenyans have mobile money accounts; their activity demonstrates digital financial services’ potential. Accion helps Kenyan innovators harness emerging technologies to create new financial services.

Though Nigeria’s government has set ambitious goals for financial inclusion, the majority of its people lack a formal bank account. Accion has worked in the country since 2007 to expand access to financial services.

Accion’s partners have always used innovative approaches to bring financial inclusion to underserved people and businesses in emerging economies. The coronavirus pandemic has put their spirit of innovation to the test as they must find new ways to continue serving clients while protecting their wellbeing and that of their employees.

We’re sharing examples of adaption from our partners around the globe that we hope will be helpful for all organizations to keep in mind when considering client and staff safety and business continuity during a time of constant changes.
<h3>1. Ensure staff has the equipment and education to do their jobs safely.</h3>
Our partner <a href="https://www.accion.org/this-company-is-making-healthcare-more-accessible-in-emerging-markets" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Field Intelligence</a> is a startup operating in Nigeria and Kenya that uses data-driven supply chain management software and highly efficient distribution service to help pharmacies operate more efficiently. Their pharmacy clients remained open throughout the pandemic to provide necessary services in their communities. As a preemptive measure, Field Intelligence completed a handwashing and safety campaign to encourage 150 pharmacies to use safe practices that prevent the spread of the virus. They also supplied and trained all of their delivery staff on proper personal protective equipment usage. By tapping into their existing network, they were able to quickly provide training to their staff. These steps were critical for keeping essential workers safe over the past few months. As many countries begin to reopen and ease restrictions, businesses should prioritize safety above all else and provide the training and equipment that staff and clients need.
<h3>2. Enable staff to provide customer support remotely.</h3>
<a href="http://apolloagriculture.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apollo Agriculture</a>, another startup in Kenya, partners with small-scale farmers to help them access everything they need to maximize their profitability, from financing and insurance to farming products and optimized advice. These <a href="https://www.accion.org/this-agricultural-fintech-empowers-the-farmers-who-feed-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">farmers are facing great challenges</a> during the pandemic and Apollo empowers them to be productive and sustainable. To continue providing customer support to farmers, Apollo faced a major challenge: transitioning their call center of over 150 people to remote work. Most of their call center agents did not previously have internet or a computer in their home. Despite these challenges, Apollo successfully transitioned the entire team to remote operation and equipped all staff with reliable internet in a matter of days — all during their busiest time of year and the COVID-19 crisis. As remote work may continue for some time, staff need to be fully equipped to work remotely to make these solutions sustainable in the long-term.
<h3>3. Innovate to meet customer's needs digitally.</h3>
In Bolivia, <a href="https://www.accion.org/transforming-finance-low-income-people-bolivia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BancoSol</a> — a regulated commercial bank dedicated to serving micro and small entrepreneurs — knew that their customers needed urgent services to stay afloat during the pandemic and that digital tools would be crucial for reaching them. BancoSol launched a pilot of a remote lending program and is also working on revamping their existing mobile application to serve more clients digitally. Additionally, tellers are encouraging clients to sign up for online banking services and begin using them to minimize face-to-face contact and continue to be able to manage their businesses and connect with customer service representatives. So far, results from BancoSol’s initiative have been encouraging — in the first ten days of their efforts, online transactions increased by five percent, and transactions have continued to rise since then.
<h3>4. Make a plan to keep your team safe and productive in the long-term.</h3>
As China has reopened its economy and more people have returned to work, conversations with our partner <a href="https://www.accion.org/giving-customers-a-reason-to-trust-digital-finance-in-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grassland Finance Limited</a> have given us a glimpse into what many of our other partners may experience in the coming weeks and months. Grassland shared with us that their staff is:
<ul>
 	<li>Practicing social distancing in the office. Staff continue to work in shifts and will do so until the situation improves.</li>
 	<li>Wearing protective masks and regularly monitoring for symptoms to ensure those coming into the office are healthy.</li>
 	<li>Avoiding in-person team activities and unnecessary travel.</li>
</ul>
For Grassland and other partners, the need to increase digital capacity to adapt to immediate challenges and to move into a new normal is a key theme. Seah Hooi Koon, Grassland’s COO, shared, “The disaster also showed again the importance of building up the digital capability of both our company and of our clients, and this will be key in our strategy going forward.”

Digital capability, adaptability, and a spirit of innovation will continue to guide companies forward as the situation evolves around the globe. At Accion, we will continue to stay in close contact with our partners to learn from them as they adapt and to provide resources to help them increase digital capabilities, keep staff safe, and continue to serve their clients.

Four examples show how businesses can stay safe and effective right now

Apollo Agriculture

BancoSol

Field Intelligence

Grassland

Business Leader

Financial Service Provider

Impact Investor

Accion Global Investments

COVID-19: Economic response and resilience

India is a global leader in financial inclusion. For over a decade, Accion has worked with and learned from India’s innovators, investors, and policymakers to expand economic opportunity for its people and businesses.

South Africa is a global hub for fintech innovation. Accion supports and advises South African innovators using technology to help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and families protect their homes around the world.

Many uncertainties surround the COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing is clear: this crisis affects all people, no matter their nationality, race, age, gender, or socioeconomic status. We want to help our partners prepare and adapt to disruptions in their communities so they can continue to serve the people who need help the most. ​One way we’re doing that is connecting with our colleagues from different countries, business models, and levels of digital capacity to learn from the ways they’re navigating this crisis. This week, <a href="https://www.accion.org/webinar-leadership-in-the-time-of-covid-19">we convened partners from across the globe</a> to hear their experiences, challenges, and recommendations in a webinar. Kurt Koenigsfest, CEO of <a href="https://www.bancosol.com.bo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BancoSol</a> in Bolivia, Neil Welman, CTO &amp; Co-Founder of <a href="https://www.lulalend.co.za/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lulalend</a> in South Africa, and Dibyajyoti Pattanaik, Executive Director of <a href="https://annapurnafinance.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Annapurna Finance</a> in India, joined us to share how they’re adapting in this uncertain time.
<h2>A commercial bank is bridging the digital divide in Bolivia</h2>
When Bolivia enacted a country-wide lockdown to stave off the spread of the new coronavirus, it mandated three types of businesses to remain in operation: grocery stores, pharmacies, and banks. BancoSol, a 30-year-old commercial bank with a microfinance focus, needed to take swift action to empower branch workers and continue serving clients safely. BancoSol’s business model relies on daily human interaction at brick-and-mortar branches. To continue their service during the pandemic, BancoSol’s crisis committee is prioritizing the safety of front office staff by taking proper sanitization, social distancing, and protective measures within their open branches.

Before the virus outbreak began, BancoSol had digital banking options in place, but most clients had not fully adopted them. Now, about half of their transactions are digital, but the rest are still in person. BancoSol CEO Kurt Koenigsfest expects the percentage of digital transactions to continuously rise during and after the pandemic.

When the bank launched its network of ATMs throughout Bolivia ten years ago, employees found that they needed to take each client to ATMs to teach them how to use the machine. Today, the vast majority of BancoSol’s clients already have smartphones and are generally more prepared to adapt to new digital services. Younger clients in urban areas have adopted BancoSol’s banking apps quickly, but older clients in rural areas often find digital services more challenging. To bridge the digital divide for these clients, BancoSol has quickly increased phone-based support for clients that need help setting up digital accounts. They’re even meeting clients where they already are — virtually — by providing online tutorials through social media platforms for those who are online but uncomfortable with digital financial services.

How three financial service leaders are adapting to COVID-19

Annapurna Finance

Lulalend

Institutional Funder

Social Good

Accion Global Advisory Solutions

How does a traditional bank go digital to serve more customers? Recently I visited Lagos, Nigeria, and La Paz, Bolivia, to see — and help drive — that process. In Lagos, <a href="https://www.accionmfb.com/">Accion Microfinance Bank</a> hopes to triple the number of people it serves through a digital-first model for acquiring new clients and improve internal processes. In La Paz, Accion is working with <a href="https://www.bancosol.com.bo/">BancoSol</a> to establish an innovation hub — a unit tasked with bringing better digital products to market, using a data-driven approach. Both projects are part of <a href="https://www.accion.org/mastercard-and-accions-partnership-to-unlock-millions-of-underserved-microbusinesses">Mastercard's ongoing partnership with Accion</a>.

For the last 14 years, I’ve worked with <a href="https://www.mastercardservices.com/en/solutions/test-learn">Mastercard</a> to fulfill the mission of bringing smart, data-driven decision making to the banking, retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), hospitality, and automotive sectors. We help companies test ideas like “should I dramatically overhaul my stores and brand?” or “should I offer a 30 percent promotion, 35 percent, or buy one, get one free?” Getting these questions right can mean significant impacts on top and bottom lines.

In August, Mastercard gave me the opportunity to take on a new mission for three months: bringing a similar approach to solving big questions with data, analysis, and testing to Accion’s <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/advise/accion-global-advisory-solutions">Global Advisory Solutions</a> team. We are working with Accion’s partner organizations to leverage analytics to drive financial inclusion.

During my travels with Accion, I had the opportunity to speak with Accion Microfinance Bank and BancoSol’s senior leadership teams about their use of data and technology in building out their digital strategy. I also gave a presentation to each team’s leadership on how to conduct testing and analytics, and how it can help organizations achieve their growth ambitions.

I spent time with clients of each bank in their homes and at their places of business to learn more about how they use financial services. I was surprised at how accessible financial technology is for many entrepreneurs — one vendor's stall in Lagos was no bigger than my cubicle but featured a Point-of-Sale (POS) machine for credit cards. Even though that vendor was equipped to receive digital payments, they were hesitant to make electronic payments and deposits of their own. This disconnect reflects how much less customers trust their banks in Nigeria compared to customers in the U.S. One takeaway from speaking with customers in Lagos: we have a big task ahead in giving underbanked people reason to trust that digital banking will be safe, reliable, and easy to use.
<blockquote>We have a big task ahead in giving underbanked people reason to trust that digital banking will be safe, reliable, and easy to use.</blockquote>
In Bolivia, the challenge is less about trust-building and more about increasing people’s comfort and literacy around digital tools. Many entrepreneurs told us that they have a digital product but aren’t using it.

Like customer needs, degrees of digitization vary dramatically. At Accion Microfinance bank, the team is working to build a data warehouse to make analytics and reporting less manual. At BancoSol, the data warehouse has existed for several years and is impressive. It captures critical elements into a data server and then extracts commonly used information into reports automatically. It rivals the systems in place for banks in the U.S., and there are plans in place to make it even more powerful. BancoSol’s next goal is to leverage this well-captured data more effectively. That’s one of the mandates for the new innovation hub, and something we will be supporting them to implement.

In many ways, the challenges facing microfinance institutions look a lot like the ones facing the commercial banks that I work with at Mastercard. In both worlds, companies are looking to understand their customers' wants and needs and create a niche in a rapidly evolving market. They're both working to take down the overhead of branches and field staff while trying to expand reach digitally.

My visits were educational and eye-opening. It’s amazing to be part of an effort to expand the benefits of the global financial system to people who have not had them historically. The opportunity to speak directly to customers about their relationship with their financial providers was a good reminder that the customer should always be at the center of any initiative. Upon returning to Mastercard, I will be reminding my clients of this as well.

I am excited to support the Accion team to identify the role of data in making digital banking more accessible. From risk analysis to customer segmentation to operations and payments, when we leverage data, we can make financial tools more available — and more useful — to everyone.

Data is crucial for driving  inclusive growth

Accion Microfinance Bank

Mastercard

Financial Inclusion Practitioner

Most of Mexico’s people lack access to a formal bank account. Accion has worked in Mexico for decades to create a thriving and competitive financial sector that embraces innovation and protects its clients.

We know from our work that digital technology can be a powerful tool for financial inclusion.

Yet, despite advancements in mobile connectivity, improvements in payments infrastructure, and investment in new technologies, cash is still used in the majority of transactions around the world. In fact, the use of cash is rising.

Cash is slow, expensive, and exacerbates a broader issue: without digital tools to record transactions, store owners struggle to build the credit history they need to obtain financing. That, in turn, keeps merchants from expanding their business and limits inclusive, sustainable growth.

In the past year of our ongoing project with<a href="https://www.accion.org/mastercard-and-accions-partnership-to-unlock-millions-of-underserved-microbusinesses"> the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth</a>, we have built partnerships and shaped strategies to drive the digital transformation of millions of microbusinesses and the financial institutions that serve them. We are excited to be working with institutions that are making the digital economy more inclusive by developing meaningful and responsibly designed products and services. Our current partners, Accion Microfinance Bank in Nigeria, Bancosol in Bolivia, CÍVICO in Colombia and Mexico, and Sub-K in India, already serve more than 2 million microbusinesses.

As we think about what successful digital transformation looks like, we look to the small business owners that our partners serve for insight and inspiration. Their stories bring to light how microentrepreneurs benefit from financial technology innovation and digital transformation.
<h3><strong>Promise appreciates a faster loan process in Nigeria</strong></h3>
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="527"]<img class="" src="http://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Promise-AMfB.jpg" alt="" width="527" height="351" /> <em>Promise owns a business importing leather for making shoes and bags and has been an AMFB client for 11 years.</em>[/caption]

Accion Microfinance Bank in Nigeria (AMFB), an Accion partner, has invested in systems that make it easier for small business owners to get the funding they need. AMFB is using mobile tablet devices, SMS payment reminders, automatic loan deposits, and other digital features to make applying for and managing a loan much more convenient for its busy entrepreneur clients. And those clients notice the difference. Promise, a microentrepreneur, who has a business in which he imports leather for making shoes and bags, has been an AMFB client for 11 years. He appreciates the new digital banking service. For example, he says, the time it takes to apply for a loan has decreased dramatically. “I don’t have a lot of paperwork anymore because it’s all done digitally,” he says, adding, “Before, you waited for more than a week for your loan, and it would make you angry. But now I get it in three days.”
<h3><strong>Alfonso is going digital in Mexico — and bringing the whole market with him</strong></h3>
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="523"]<img src="http://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Alfonso-Civico.jpg" alt="" width="523" height="392" /> <em>Accion CEO, Michael Schlein speaking with Alfonso Lopez Carmona, a merchant in the Medellin market who sells candies and beverage among other items.</em>[/caption]

CÍVICO, a digital platform that maps micro and small businesses and connects communities in Colombia, Mexico, and Chile, is working with Accion to provide credit services to merchants. In Mexico City, Mercado Medellin (also known as “The Little Habana”) has over 500 market stalls, offering products from across Latin America. One of the merchants in the Medellín market, Alfonso López Carmona, sells international products, such as candies and beverages He appreciates CÍVICO’s efforts to bring Medellín market into the 21<sup>st</sup> century. He actively uses the platform to promote his business and also uses CÍVICO Pay and QR codes to receive payments. Alfonso hopes to leverage CÍVICO to increase the digital presence of his business. He believes this will enable him to attract more customers, sell a greater variety of products from other countries, and grow his business. He also actively promotes the adoption of CÍVICO among other merchants in the market.
<h3><strong>In Bolivia, Carolina's clothing business is powered by tech</strong></h3>
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="530"]<img src="http://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Carolina-BancoSol-1.jpg" alt="" width="530" height="354" /> <em>With BancoSol's help, Carolina was able to afford the machines and staff she needed to grow her business.</em>[/caption]

Bolivia, like much of Latin America, has lagged behind other countries in the <a href="https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/analysis-indicator">Global Innovation Index</a>. To boost innovation in the country, Accion is working with BancoSol to create an innovation hub that would offer meaningful financial products and services to BancoSol’s nearly one million customers.

Carolina Yesica Rodriguez Alcon, an entrepreneur who runs her own clothing company under the “Jhonny Dey” trademark in Bolivia, has been a BancoSol client for several years. The loan from BancoSol helped her buy machinery and recruit staff to run her company. Carolina is a driven and ambitious entrepreneur — she is working towards expanding her brand nationally and internationally. She appreciates that she can manage her finances and grow her business with financial technologies offered by BancoSol, including AppSol and SolNet — BancoSol’s mobile and internet banking platforms. She even uses QR Pay to conveniently and swiftly collect payments from customers and make payments to suppliers. By prioritizing innovation, BancoSol will be able to help more entrepreneurs like Carolina spend less time at the bank so they can focus on their customers.

As we continue to work with Mastercard and partner with more forward-thinking institutions around the world, we hope to equip millions of microentrepreneurs with the tools and technology that accelerate the growth of their businesses and help improve the quality of their lives.

<em>Arisha Salman contributed to this article. </em>

Three small business owners who show why we need better digital tools

Civico

Sub-K

Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

At a height of 14,000 ft, up in the Andes, lies a thriving economy — La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. During a recent visit, I stopped by El Alto, a neighboring city that hosts the country's largest outdoor market. El Alto sits at an even higher elevation than La Paz. To reach it, I took Mi Teleferico, the aerial cable car system that serves as affordable public transport for the state’s 2.7 million residents.

From a public infrastructure perspective, Mi Teleferico is a monumental achievement. In 2014, upon completion, the system was the longest aerial cable car system in the world. Bolivia is also the first country to use a cable car system as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/world/americas/with-subway-in-the-sky-valley-meets-plateau.html?_r=0">backbone of a mass-transit system</a>. For its innovation in addressing a growing public transportation crisis, Mi Teleferico won a <a href="http://gondolaproject.com/category/installations/mi-teleferico/">Latam Smart City Award</a> in 2018.

While Bolivia is driving innovation in public transport and sustainability, it has lagged in other areas — particularly financial services. Significant regulation has made innovation difficult, especially in serving Bolivia’s informal small businesses sector, which employs over <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3614/d4228fd389c6ec33944b4b394220034b346e.pdf">half of the population</a>. The country also has the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-richest-countries-in-south-america.html">lowest GDP per capita</a> in Latin America, and it’s the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI">second-lowest in South America on the Human Development Index</a>. In this environment, small businesses can't access the tools they need to grow.
<h2><strong>Serving Bolivia’s small businesses</strong></h2>
<a href="https://www.bancosol.com.bo/">Banco Solidario S.A (BancoSol)</a>, the first regulated commercial bank in the world dedicated to serving micro and small entrepreneurs, is headquartered in La Paz. The bank serves more than 1.5 million clients nationwide. Most of these clients operate in the informal economy, and nearly half are women. Accion has been supporting BancoSol, as a shareholder and advisor, since its original transformation into a <a href="https://www.accion.org/transforming-finance-low-income-people-bolivia">commercially driven microfinance bank.</a>

Bolivia’s small businesses need innovative products to help them grow

<p class="graf graf--p">Twenty-six years ago in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, the microfinance industry was transformed. Accion and a local partner transformed a Bolivian nonprofit institution into Banco Solidario S.A, the first regulated commercial bank in the world dedicated to serving micro and small entrepreneurs. Today, <a href="https://www.bancosol.com.bo/">BancoSol</a> serves almost one million clients, nearly half of which are women.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Bringing needed banking services to low-income Bolivians isn’t easy. Bolivia has the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-richest-countries-in-south-america.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lowest GDP per capita</a>, and it’s the second <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lowest in South America on the Human Development Index</a>, which measures quality of life. It is one of only two landlocked countries on the continent and is bordered by the Atacama Desert, Andes Mountains, and Amazon Rainforest, making access to international markets challenging. Bolivia’s regulatory environment presents challenges as well, involving strict regulations for the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/banking/bolivian-banks-brace-for-govt-imposed-lending-rate-caps/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">productive sector</a>, which includes tourism, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. As of 2013, the interest rates for productive sector loans have been capped at <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/banking/bolivian-banks-brace-for-govt-imposed-lending-rate-caps/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">11.5 percent</a>, and by 2018, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.bnamericas.com/news/banking/bolivias-financial-reform-to-force-private-banks-to-become-more-efficient-competitive?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">60 percent</a> of all universal bank portfolios must consist of loans directed to this sector.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Despite these obstacles, BancoSol has managed to continuously improve its performance by expanding its outreach to underserved clients. Its success has attracted competition to the industry, thereby decreasing costs for borrowers and enhancing the quality of the products offered. BancoSol has been able to create a notable demonstration effect, changing the perception of microfinance as a high-risk sector to a worthwhile venture capable of achieving a double bottom line of social impact and revenue generation. Even in a growing industry, the bank serves more clients in the microenterprise sector than any of its competitors.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Bolivian regulations combined with BancoSol’s client-focused model have propelled its business forward. Microfinance interest rates vary <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.paginasiete.bo/inversion/2016/4/17/que-dice-harvard-sobre-bancosol-93430.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">from one country to the next</a>, from about 30 percent in Ecuador to as high as 80 percent in Mexico. Bolivia’s average microfinance interest rate of 13.5 percent is one of the lowest in the world. When the government introduced interest rate caps, all microfinance lenders except BancoSol opted to drop their lower-ticket clients. BancoSol embraced this challenge as an opportunity to reinvent the bank’s business model by leveraging technological innovations to lower costs and increase efficiency. For example, although the bank has a mobile app, it also made essential banking activities accessible through SMS to address low smartphone penetration. BancoSol even introduced <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.bancosol.com.bo/secciones/productos-y-servicios/microseguros" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">insurance policies</a> to meet customers’ needs for resilience and security. By exploring ways to better serve its target market with new products, alternative delivery channels, and technological solutions, BancoSol has maintained client trust and continued to grow.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">In recent years, Accion has played a leading governance role in BancoSol. Recently, we acted as an anchor investor to bring in a grid of like-minded shareholders strategically aligned to the bank’s social mission. Much of BancoSol’s success can be attributed to its outstanding management and staff. CEO Kurt Koenigfest has led the bank through difficult times, guiding with a disciplined management style, a focus on results tied to the bank’s social mission, and an effort to establish personal connections with clients and employees. His dedication to the bank’s mission has paid off. Today the bank serves more than 650,000 savers, over 260,000 borrowers, and close to 190,000 microinsurance clients. Furthermore, BancoSol’s delinquency rate hovers at less than 1 percent, the lowest in Bolivia’s microfinance industry and one of the best in the world.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">BancoSol is actively involved in Bolivia’s community development through the implementation of <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.bancosol.com.bo/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Memoria-Capital-Social-2016.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">programs</a> that cover topics ranging from financial literacy and business tactics to sports and music. Because BancoSol’s core clientele lack formal education, they typically do not have the capacity or experience to manage their businesses properly at the start. BancoSol recognized there was a gap that needed to be filled. Coupling microloans with proper training programs empowered business owners to leverage capital while developing their skills, allowing their small businesses to lift off the ground and become profitable.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">With nearly two-thirds of Bolivians employed by the informal economy, and the microenterprise sector expanding at 5 percent annually, BancoSol is fueling growth by providing solutions at financial, strategic, and operational levels. BancoSol has set a precedent for the success of the industry in Bolivia, and it continues to be an example of a model microfinance institution across the globe.</p>

Transforming finance for low-income people in Bolivia

<em>By Lily Leavitt</em>

Late last year, I joined Accion staff from around the world on a trip to La Paz to visit BancoSol – the first private commercial bank in the world dedicated exclusively to microenterprise – and find out how this microfinance giant has become so successful despite the tight banking regulations in Bolivia.
<h2>Inside BancoSol</h2>
[caption id="attachment_6706" align="alignleft" width="1024"]<img class="wp-image-6706 size-large" src="http://blogs.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BancoSol-Accion-Lily-Leavitt-1024x768.jpg" alt="Lily (second from left) with (l-r) Robert Torrez, Assistant Director of Credit Underwriting for BancoSol's Regional Office at El Alto; fellow Accionista Jessica Cassel; client Javier Quiroga; and Accionista Luis Espinosa. Image courtesy of Lily Leavitt." width="1024" height="768" /> Lily (second from left) with (l-r) Robert Torrez, Assistant Director of Credit Underwriting for BancoSol's Regional Office at El Alto; fellow Accionista Jessica Cassel; client Javier Quiroga; and Accionista Luis Espinosa. Photo courtesy of Lily Leavitt.<span style="font-size: 16px">By all accounts, BancoSol is a very impressive organization. The numbers certainly speak for themselves: historical growth rates of over 20 percent per year, return on equity of 29 percent, portfolio delinquency at only 1 percent. But what we found even more impressive was the pride felt by all the employees, from loan officers all the way to the CEO, Kurt Koenigsfest.</span>[/caption]

&nbsp;

We were honored to spend an hour with Kurt himself, who spends a week each month visiting branch offices and interacting with clients and loan officers. Meanwhile, loan officers from most competing banks only interact with their CEO one way: by reading about them in the local newspaper.

This kind of personal association with the bank’s leadership helps foster trust between staff and management — which in turn creates an organization that is better equipped to serve its clients. BancoSol’s clients have expressed how committed the organization is to their own personal and business success. This, in turn, helps BancoSol retain its clients, develop its team, and ensure that more people in Bolivia continue to use formal financial services. There’s real value to this kind of interaction, and you can see it in BancoSol’s bottom line.
<h2>Believing in clients</h2>
All this employee dedication and pride in BancoSol translates to customer loyalty. We spoke with Javier Quiroga, a client who manufactures parts for auto and truck repair and is a self-proclaimed machine nut. He’s been a client of BancoSol for 14 years, and he’s still going strong despite tough competition. He still remembers how BancoSol believed in him when no one else did when they gave him his first loan, enabling him to launch his business and provide for his family.

Then there’s Andres Ticona, who offered us a Coke while showing off his amazing sound system and even more amazing ingenuity in building machines to create baking molds. His business savvy was highly evident. For example, he didn’t want to patent his invention until after the high-revenue Christmas season, for fear that competitors might try to copy his ideas. And he created one of his machines in two separate parts, again to make it more difficult to replicate his invention.

Last but not least, we met Doña Aurora, who sells men’s jeans and has been a BancoSol client for many years. Doña Aurora also recalls her first loan from BancoSol, back when the alternative was to borrow from a costly loan shark. BancoSol has helped her expanded her business to three stalls in various markets, and employ some of her relatives in the process. All the stalls sell men’s jeans. When asked why she doesn’t sell women’s jeans, she replied that women are a pain to sell clothes to because they keep changing their minds and returning the merchandise.
<h2>A new hurdle</h2>
Unfortunately, BancoSol and other banks in Bolivia are now facing a major challenge: in 2013 President Evo Morales’s administration mandated that 60 percent of bank portfolios must consist of productive and housing loans by 2018. Productive loans are defined as loans to businesses involved in agriculture or the process of transforming raw materials into intermediate or final goods — actually producing things. Retail businesses do not meet these criteria. Productive loans are regulated by the government, with a maximum interest rate of 11.5 percent.

Currently, a little more than one-third of BancoSol’s portfolio is considered productive loans, and average interest rates are 17-18 percent. BancoSol is meeting this challenge head-on, trying to find ways to boost productivity and revenue via technological advances (<a href="https://www.accion.org/sites/default/files/consolidated_dfa_study.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital field applications</a>, anyone?) and selling products other than loans through partnerships, such as debit cards; life, health and accident microinsurance; certificate of deposits to guarantee contract performance; and international wires, among others.

In contrast, many of BancoSol’s competitors are taking the easier route of increasing loan sizes to clients who work in the productive sectors and abandoning smaller or retail businesses which do not fit regulatory requirements. While there will be some increase in loan size, BancoSol is committed to its client base and is finding other ways to gain efficiencies and streamline costs in order to remain profitable while complying with the government mandate. In this manner, it can continue to serve Doña Aurora and others like her who have come to rely on BancoSol for microcredit and other financial services.
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
Given the focus and energy that BancoSol is dedicating to this challenge, the bank’s outlook for hitting its goals is optimistic. After all, what does it take to be the biggest, most successful microcredit bank in Bolivia? It takes focus on clients like Javier, Andres, and Aurora, by BancoSol employees who care about and are cared for by the organization. And the result is exemplified by BancoSol’s slogan – <em>Juntos Crecemos</em> – “together we grow.”

Inside BancoSol, Bolivia’s largest microcredit bank

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