Mexico City, Mexico, August 19, 2010—IFC,
a member of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement to support FinTerra
in its efforts to develop advanced credit risk management tools, which
will help the financial institution serve small and medium enterprises
in Mexico’s rural areas.
In Mexico, financial services for small and medium enterprises represent
an important vehicle for recovery from the financial crisis, which continues
to hobble Mexico’s economy. However, most financial services in
Mexico are targeted to high income clients, leaving smaller businesses
undercapitalized and unable to achieve healthy growth. Providing such enterprises
with access to financial services is critical to their survival.
“This project with IFC will help us to further strengthen our credit risk
management tools and take a leading position as an innovative lender to
small and medium businesses in Mexico’s agribusiness sector,“ said Mark
McCoy, CEO of FinTerra.
This project is framed into the IFC’s Small and Medium Enterprises Finance
Program in Latin America and the Caribbean. The program aims to augment
the level of credit being made available to smaller businesses and micro
entrepreneurs across the region by providing participating financial institutions
with a package of investment and targeted technical assistance aimed at
increasing each institution’s ability to serve lower and middle income
borrowers. The program is supported by the Spanish Fund for Latin America
and the Caribbean.
Greta Bull, IFC Regional Business Line Leader, said, “IFC seeks to improve
access to finance for smaller businesses by providing needed technical
assistance to local financial institutions. IFC is eager to continue supporting
financial institutions like FinTerra with programs that help them build
sound portfolios.”
IFC is also supporting FinTerra’s growth with a credit line of 15,000,000
Mexican pesos.
IFC’s overall strategy for Mexico focuses on enhancing competitiveness
of the private sector, promoting investment in areas newly opened for private
sector participation, encouraging sustainable social and environmental
development, and promoting good corporate governance. IFC’s agribusiness
strategy for Mexico aims to support smaller agribusiness companies, which
have difficulties accessing bank credit.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development
institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create
opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do
so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply
essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering
advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global
economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion
in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
About FinTerra
FinTerra is a leading non-bank financial institution in Mexico focused
on lending to small and medium enterprises in the agribusiness sector,
primarily producers of fruits, vegetables, grain crops, dairy, livestock,
specialty crops as well as various agri-related businesses. Established
in 2004, FinTerra currently has 11 branches located in 10 states of Mexico
and a client base of over five hundred smaller businesses, providing working
capital and long-term financing. FinTerra also provides loans to
thousands of small farmers through its grower financing programs.
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