Approximately 64 percent of the shares of the Honduran microfinance institution Banco Popular are changing hands as two multilateral institutions that first invested in Popular in 2007 are exiting their holdings. The sellers are the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation; and Bamboo Capital, which has been an investor in the microbank since 2012.
Popular serves 60,000 clients and reports total assets of HNL 4.4 billion (USD 177 million) as of June 2022. The institution has been moving to increase its rural outreach and its digital capabilities, such as to “facilitate data collection during the loan origination.”
Popular’s new shareholders are two European impact investors, Belgium’s Incofin and the Netherlands’ Triple Jump. Triple Jump’s investment is being issued from the microfinance investment vehicle ASN Microkredietfonds. Meanwhile, two development finance institutions are increasing their stakes in the microbank, Belgium’s Belgische Investeringsmaatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (BIO) and the Netherlands’ Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO).
The Director of Financial Services at Triple Jump, Jarri Jung, commented, “We are extremely excited to become part of Honduras’ largest microfinance institution and only microfinance bank. We look forward to working with our co-shareholders and bank management to build on Banco Popular’s long-term track record of providing impactful financial services to Honduran entrepreneurs.”
Sources and Additional Resources
Direct contact with Incofin
Incofin press release
https://incofin.com/incofin-is-with-a-27-participation-one-of-the-new-shareholders-for-banco-popular/
Popular homepage
https://bancopopular.hn
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