Almost half a million vulnerable people in Peru experience progress with the support of Financiera Confianza, an entity of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF), who celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Half of the clients served are women and in many cases, entrepreneurs and mothers who are heads of households who start a business for survival.
These are some of the data presented today by the BBVAMF in Lima, all of them contained in the annual social performance report Measuring what really matters. These figures reflect the progress of hundreds of thousands of people in a country where the financial inclusion rate barely reaches 30% for the adult population. According to Stephanie G. Van Gool, director of the Foundation’s Impact Assessment and Strategic Development, “with 25% of clients from rural areas, Financiera Confianza is the entity with greater outreach in these places, and the only one covering the whole Peruvian territory”. Through initiatives like Palabra de Mujer group credit which serves around 30,000 entrepreneurs, loan officers bring financial services where others don’t reach.
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- Eduardo Torres-Llosa, BBVA Continental CEO referred to the trip made by BBVA’s CEO to visit Financiera Confianza’s entrepreneurs saying, “It was a very inspiring experience”
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- Peru’s minister for Development and Social Inclusion said that “the access to financial system is a powerful instrument which has to be used to reduce vulnerability and ensure that those who need it the most can access to services and markets”
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- “The BBVAMF, with Financiera Confianza, is a strategic ally for development and inclusion for those who need it the most”
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- Claudio González-Vega: “The poor are the ones who fight against poverty. The financial services that we offer them are but a tool to help them increase the probability of achieving it”
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- The attendees at the presentation were able to better understand the work carried out by the BBVAMF for 10 years
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- Socorro Heysen: “The poor people, the ones who are more vulnerable, need more attention and support to improve their financial skills”
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- Stephanie G. Van Gool: “The BBVAMF’s mission is to promote sustainable and inclusive development to the vulnerable entrepreneurs that it serves”
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- Martín Naranjo: “What we do from where we stand is to fight for the long term and the sustainability of our country”
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- Javier M. Flores, BBVAMF CEO, handed over the 2016 social peformance report “Measuring what really matters” to Socorro Heysen, Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds
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- Javier M. Flores also handed the BBVAMF’s social performance report “Measuring what really matters” to Cayetana Aljovín, Peru’s minister for Development and Social Inclusion
During the presentation, the Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds, Socorro Heysen said, “the poorer people are the ones who need more support to improve their financial skills”. She also added that in terms of quality financial education, “the Foundation has a lot to teach the sector”.
Indeed, Peru’s Minister for Development and Social Inclusion, Cayetana Aljovín, stressed the need to work with the private sector: “We have a long way to go, that’s why the Foundation, with Financiera Confianza, is a strategic ally for development and inclusion for those who need it the most”
As for the Managing Director of the BBVAMF entity in Peru, Martín Naranjo, he highlighted the importance of women’s role in household economy: “They are better resource managers, they move forward with their businesses despite of having to face more difficulties than men, and they comply better with the payments”.
The BBVA Microfinance Foundation was created by the BBVA Group in 2007, as part of its corporate social responsibility. For 10 years, it has been fostering the sustainable and inclusive economic and social development of vulnerable people. As stated by Eduardo Torres-Llosa, CEO of BBVA Continental, “Peru is a global success in microfinance development, and in this aspect, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation through Financiera Confianza aims to reach where no one else does, to build opportunities for the less-privileged families by improving their incomes, financial education and quality of life. The focus is on the non-profit net contribution in the country, by promoting financial inclusion in every sense and helping reduce poverty”.
From left to right: Eduardo Torres-Llosa, BBVA Continental CEO; Claudio González-Vega, BBVAMF Chairman of the Board of Trustees; Socorro Heysen, Peru’s Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds; Javier Flores, BBVAMF CEO; Cayetana Aljovín, Peru’s Minister for Development and Social Inclusion; and Martín Naranjo, Managing Director of Financiera Confianza
The BBVAMF’s work is aligned with the Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, who recently conceded a consultative status to the Foundation. According to the chairman of the board of trustees, Claudio González-Vega, in ten years, “the Foundation was able to strengthen and consolidate a group of six leading microfinance entities in five Latin American countries. It currently serves almost two million people in the region with credit, savings, payment and insurance services. 77% of these clients are vulnerable and 60% are women”.