Bancamía provides financial products and services to help former convicts succeed in business

Bancamía is partnering on the Casa Libertad project, which supports former convicts in Colombia who have served their sentences. The bank provides credit, bank accounts and CDTs to ensure that former inmates have a second opportunity and the chance to rebuild their lives via enterprise.

22 July 2015
Bancamía

Bancamía is partnering on the Casa Libertad project, which supports former convicts in Colombia who have served their sentences. The bank provides credit, bank accounts and CDTs to ensure that former inmates have a second opportunity and the chance to rebuild their lives via enterprise.

Bancamía will support the social rehabilitation and reintegration of former inmates in Colombia by providing them with access to financial products and services aimed at helping them to make a living upon their release. Individuals need support to help them rejoin society once they have served their sentence. Bancamía is a believer in providing former convicts with a second chance, which it does so via its support for the Casa Libertad project.

Casa Libertad opened on July 22, 2015, and offers former inmates the opportunity to obtain credit from 70% of the current legal minimum wage (SMMLV), thus helping them to expand business ventures once they are out of prison. They also have the opportunity to open savings accounts and CDTs with small cash amounts, allowing them to keep any surplus and helping them to build a better and less uncertain future.

“At Bancamía our mission is to enhance quality of life for low income families. We are convinced that supporting the reintegration of former convicts within society, via financial products and services designed to help them establish a living, will ensure that they choose a better path in life,” says María Mercedes Gómez, CEO of Bancamía.

Casa Libertad was launched as a result of an agreement between the Teatro Interno Foundation and the Colombian Ministry of Justice. Bancamía will support the Teatro Interno Foundation as it provides training, workplace habilitation, business incubators, social rehabilitation via art and culture and financial literacy programs. The project is also backed by its strategic partners, the Latin American Development Bank (CAF) and the Bank of Opportunities.