The BBVA Microfinance Foundation performance report is among the “ten best initiatives for transparency and good governance in 2014”

  • The Fundación Compromiso y Transparencia (Commitment and Transparency Foundation) and the magazine Compromiso Empresarial (Entrepreneurial Commitment)have selected the 2013 Performance Report “Measuring what really matters” as among the “ten best initiatives for transparency, accountability and good governance”, for promoting and developing a methodology with impact in the microfinance sector.
  • The BBVA Microfinance Foundation has developed its own measuring system to determine how its activity impacts the economic and social development of its customers.

The 2013 Performance Report entitled “Measuring what really matters” from the BBVA Microfinance Foundation has been recognized by the Fundación Compromiso y Transparencia and the magazine Compromiso Empresarial for “promoting and developing a methodology with impact on the microfinance sector focused on strengthening and supporting their micro-entrepreneur customers”.

Every year the Fundación Compromiso y Transparencia and the magazine Compromiso Empresarial choose the best initiatives in transparency, accountability and good governance among the public, private and third sectors. This rating is the result of the nominations sent in by the readers and the magazine.

As described in the magazine, the Foundation’s report “outlines the main scope of the impact of its activity” and “has grouped its indicators for activity and results into three categories: Our customers, their businesses, and their progress”.

It is particularly worth noting that the category entitled Our customers “provides information on the figures to confirm that the customers served are poor or in a situation of vulnerability. For example, it contains information on the proportion of male and female customers, their level of education, level of poverty, age and economic sector”.

The category entitled Their businesses contributes “information on the sales level in the micro-entrepreneurs’ businesses, their asset-liability ratio, and the distribution of the expenses in the micro-enterprise”. It also recognizes the importance of including income percentages, as this indicator “serves to dispel the myth that micro-credits are very expensive, and reveals that the monthly repayments –principal plus interest– on the loan account for between 4% and 9% customers’ sales”.

The category Su progreso (Their progress) notes that the Foundation explains the development of the customers’ enterprises in terms of their sales level, increase in their business surplus, level of assets and the number of jobs created according to the business volume. It also points out that the information is broken down according to the countries in which it is present.

The BBVA Microfinance Foundation has created its own methodology to determine how its activity impacts the economic and social development of the vulnerable entrepreneurs it serves. This measuring system is a way of becoming acquainted with the customers, learning about their businesses, seeing their assessment, and rating their success in terms of their development and economic and social progress.

Furthermore, in its report “Building Confidence 2014. Report on Transparency and Good Governance in the websites of Spanish foundations”, the magazine Compromiso Empresarial singled out the BBVA Microfinance Foundation for the second year in a row as “the only bank that offers information on its impact in terms of the benefits for the population it serves. In addition to offering information on the assessment methodologies for measuring its activity, it uses objective indicators to demonstrate that it is delivering on its commitment”. According to this report, that Foundation is outstanding for its mission, vision and exemplary objectives, and is “an excellent model of a Foundation, with a clearly formulated mission and a very clear focus”.

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