Bancamía granted 116,389 new customers a productive credit in 2013, just a few of the 604,000 Colombians that have today been given a financial opportunity to upgrade their productive units and generate employment.
In 2014 Bancamía is set to carry on working for entrepreneurs at the base of the economic pyramid, and is firmly committed to making a name for itself in Colombia as a bank with a social purpose, and to further develop its four distinguishing features: productive development, approachability, straightforwardness, and agility.
The Bank ended 2013 with very positive results in terms of coverage and scope of its services. The challenges of this year are enormous, because in Bancamía, “the bank with a heart”, the goal is to generate value and contribute to improving the quality of life for low-income entrepreneurs through Productive Finance.
In the last year, the Bank’s customer base grew by 20% and its holdings hit a figure of over one trillion Colombian pesos, the highest volume within the private supervised microfinance sector, according to the latest figures published by the Superintendencia Financiera (Financial Superintendency) in Colombia at the close of November 2013.
One of Bancamía’s key aims is to go wherever entrepreneurs need them both in the city and in the countryside, and this is why today it has 181 branch offices serving customers in 817 communities, in 29 of the 32 departments in the country.
A commitment to scope and scale that can be seen in the opening of the new branch offices in 2013, which has taken them to areas in the national territory with a total absence of financing facilities, such as Mitú (Vaupés) and Inírida (Guainía); in addition to the specialized service in the indigenous capital of Colombia (Uribia, La Guajira), with partners belonging to the Wayúu ethnic group.
For Bancamía it is a major satisfaction to know that today over 604,000 families are running their productive businesses thanks to the delivery of 1,143 loans a day and 143 every working hour, making new opportunities for entrepreneurial growth a reality. Additionally, with a 27% growth in new savings accounts, Bancamía is contributing to the overall mechanism of the concept of financial inclusion, closing the year with 567,000 savers.
The Colombian countryside continues to be a priority for Bancamía, as it was in 2013, and for this reason it will go on developing new financial products and services. 2013 saw a 33% increase in the percentage of rural customers served, a segment that represents 36% of the bank’s total holding.
With the avowed aim of alleviating the geographic limitations and economic conditions of rural entrepreneurs, Bancamía is due to open ten new branch offices in 2014, thus providing access to finance for people who live and work in the countryside. The Bank will also extend its network of banking correspondents to provide over 3,000 service points in different regions in the country through alliances with existing networks, in order to be more available to its customers.
This expansion of service channels for 2014 will require new communications methods to eliminate technological restrictions and provide assistance to those who need to use the Bank’s services without limitations of time or place.
Similarly, Bancamía will continue offering financial literacy services to all its customers and non-customers at its branch offices as it did in 2013, when they were able to reach 82,000 customers with objective advice, and a further 11,000 people in the community through workshops, enabling more citizens to discover how the financial system can be an effective tool in their economic and social development.
Bancamía thereby reasserts its commitment to stimulating sustainable and inclusive economic and social development of disadvantaged sectors of Colombian society through Productive Finances.