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Finance
within the category of “Banking Strategies” at the “Beyond
Banking” awards organized by the Inter-American Devel-
opment Bank (IDB), where the project was recognized for
its impressive social and environmental sustainability ini-
tiatives, as well as for its corporate governance of financial
intermediaries in LatinAmerica and Caribbean.
“El Banco del Barrio” has positively transformed the lives
of Ecuadorian people through boosting banking activities
in the country”, declares Guillermo Lasso Mendoza, the
Executive President of the bank.
“El Banco del Barrio” forms a strategic alliance between
the Bank of Guayaquil and small businesses across
Ecuador. As of 2008, district banks allowed the Bank of
Guayaquil to quintuple the total coverage of its services,
establishing more than 3.400 branches in Ecuador, which
corresponds to 45% of the total amount of branches of
the entire Ecuadorian banking sector; with 1,500,000
transactions on a monthly basis. Their range of financial
services is extensive with: deposits, cash withdrawal,
payments of services, remittance payments, transfers
and cell phone recharges, as well as payments of the Hu-
man Development Bonus, a subsidy of $35 given to un-
employed Ecuadorian people on a monthly basis. District
banks guarantee accessibility, availability and security of
banking services to everyone, where a person that lives in
a small rural community does not have to travel to a near-
by city and incur excessive transportation costs, but can
make all necessary transactions just around the corner.
“With district banks we have reached urban and rural seg-
ments, but our core vision are small businesses, small
shops, those that can feel the positive transformation of
their lives when their sales grow from 40% to 60%”, com-
ments Guillermo Lasso Mendoza.
The Project has seen international recognition, as an
important social initiative that considerably improves the
life of Ecuadorian people. Currently, there are more than
2.,700 district banks in all of Ecuador’s provinces. In just
three years, the Project has incorporated thousands of
Ecuadorian people into the formal economy. “El Banco
del Barrio” has added dynamics to smaller communities,
allowing their economies to grow and thereby terminating
their exclusion from the national financial system.
“The Bank of Guayaquil” has provided the banking busi-
ness with a social focus, amplifying its vision not to 25%of
Ecuadorians, but to 100%. We aremaking a business us-
ing a model that is successful and sustainable over time.
“El Banco del Barrio” will continue incorporatingmore and
more Ecuadorians into the formal economy”, concludes
the Executive President of the Bank
BANCO FINCA
Leonardo R. Polit
Country Director Finca Ecuador
Av. Amazonas N39-123 and JoséArizaga
Amazonas Plaza Building, 9th floor, Quito
Tel.: +593 2 225 246 1660 / 246 1444
www.bancofinca.com
Area of activity: Microcredit Bank
Date of creation: 1993
Employees: 328
Assets: $20 million USD
“Small loans – Big changes”
Banco Finca is one of the leading financial institutions for
microcredit in Ecuador, aimed at providing financial prod-
ucts and services to Ecuador’s poorest families, allowing
them to increase and stabilize their incomes, achieve sig-
nificant improvements in their living standards and they
can become more involved in the development of produc-
tive activities. By providing financial products and services
targeted at low-income people, Banco Finca strives to bal-
ance financial returns with social returns.
Banco Finca came to Ecuador in 1993 as an affiliate in-
stitution of the FINCA International network worldwide. It
began its operations in Quito, under the supervision of the
Ministry of Social Welfare. In 2004, it was transformed into
a financial institution and in 2008 into a bank in order to
facilitate the process of attracting local funds and offer its
products to the neediest customers.
Currently, Banco Finca has around 51.000 clients that in
average value $470 USD (in microcredit), whereas the
financial institution gains less that 5 USD on a daily basis.
The vast majority of its clients are single mothers.
Banco Finca has a limit of interests of 30% established by
the Government. The bank also has 10 subsidiary offices
in Ecuador, although its sales representatives travel all
around the country in order to visit their customers.
The core products offered by the Banco Finca are the fol-
lowing:
- Loans to Community Banks
- Credits for Community Development Groups
- Individual Credits
- SavingsAccounts
Finca is an international nonprofit institution, headquar-
tered in Washington, with a presence in 21 countries in
LatinAmerica, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
It was founded in 1984 in Bolivia, by John Hatch, who