MICROCAPITAL STORY: ResponsAbility Global Microfinance Fund of Switzerland Loans over USD 1.1 Million to Unión de Crédito Interestatal Chiapas (Unicreich) of Mexico and PRESTANIC of Nicaragua

Here is yet another story coming courtesy from the latest issue of the Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse. ResponsAbility Global Microfinance Fund has made a series of loans totaling over USD 1.1 million to two Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs). The two MFIs—Unión de Crédito Interestatal Chiapas (Unicreich) and PRESTANIC—received USD 462,800, USD and USD 500,000, respectively. The loans took place in July of this year, two of the seven loan investments undertaken by the microfinance fund. The Latin American loans consist of 13.3 percent of the fund’s July microfinance investments, which totaled over USD 7.2 million.

Unicreich, a Mexican MFI founded in 1994 and based in the Chiapas, had a loan portfolio of USD 4.3 million as of the first quarter of 2006. In November 2006, MicroCapital reported another loan received by the Mexican MFI from the responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, totaling USD 453,310. Unicreich does not report to the MIX.

PRESTANIC was reported on earlier this week here at MicroCapital after receiving a USD 500,000 loan from responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds. The MFI was founded by the Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD) in 1991 and began to operate independently in 1999. At the end of 2006, PRESTANIC had a gross loan portfolio of USD 11.0 million, with 9,219 active borrowers and average loan balances of USD 1,198 (see “Financial Data” and “Outreach & Impact”). In terms of profitability, in 2005 the MFI experienced a return on assets of 4.3 percent and return on equity of 16.3 percent (see “Financial Data”).

By Quentin Ruiz-Esparza, Research Associate

Additional Resources:

CGAP: “List of Recent Transactions.”

PlaNet Finance: “Financing of 2 Mexican MFIs.”

MicroCapital.org article, August 29, 2007: “Swiss ResponsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds Begins Microfinance Investing and Loans USD 500,000 and USD 344,456 Respectively to PRESTANIC in Latin America and Al Karama in Middle East.”

MicroCaptial.org article, November 3, 2006: “The ResponsAbility Global Microfinance Fund Distributes Loans to Various Microfinance Institutions in Latin America.”

MIX Market: “Profile for PRESTANIC.”