by Amira Berrada - Investment Funds, Latin America & Caribbean -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BBVA Microfinance Affiliate Corporacion para las Microfinanzas Puerto Rico (PR) Reaches $2m in Entrepreneurial loans

In its first year of commercial operation, which ended September 2011, Corporacion para las Microfinanzas Puerto Rico (PR), a microfinance institution created and owned by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, granted USD 2.1 million to entrepreneurs on the island of Puerto Rico [1]. BBVA Microfinance Foundation supports eight microfinance institutions in the Americas and has assets of USD 941 million as of December 2011 [2]. BBVA Microfinance Foundation is an arm of the BBVA Group, a Spain-based bank that was created from a 1999 merger between Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria. BBVA has total assets of EUR 552.7 billion (USD 725.3 billion) as of December 2010 [3].

Corporacion para las Microfinanzas PR’s aggregate loan amount of USD 2.1 million comprises 790 loans, with an average size of USD 2,600. 56 percent of the loans were related to the commerce sector, 32 percent to services and 12 percent to manufacturing [1]. Microfinanzas PR describes its lending approach as involving “executive staff visits, personalized evaluations, detailed analysis of the borrower’s project viability, and providing advice and general backing of the businesses” [1].

Mrs. Annette Montoto, the president of Microfinanzas PR remarks, “With our activity, we enable the economic, social and sustainable development of our clients, contributing to the growth of the productive networks, job creation and the social progress of Puerto Rico” [1].

Amira Berrada, Research Associate

About Corporacion para las Microfinanzas Puerto Rico (PR): Corporacion para las Microfinanzas PR was created in October 2008 and is one of eight MFIs within the network of Spanish nonprofit BBVA Microfinance Foundation. BBVA Microfinance Foundation owns 75 percent of Microfinanzas PR, and the remaining 25 percent belongs to the Economic Development Bank of Puerto Rico. Microfinanzas PR does not report data to the US-based nonprofit data provider Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) and information on the institution is not otherwise available. BBVA Microfinance Foundation reports total assets of USD 941 million and approximately 900,000 borrowers.

About BBVA Microfinance Foundation: The BBVA Microfinance Foundation is a Spanish nonprofit institution created by the BBVA Group, a Spain-based bank with assets of EUR 552.7 billion (USD 725.3 billion) as of December 2010. Created in 2007 as part of its corporate responsibility strategy, BBVA Microfinance Foundation focuses its activities on productive microfinance. It holds stakes in microfinance institutions in Peru, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Chile, Argentina and Panama. Total assets stood at USD 941 million with approximately 900,000 borrowers as of December 2011.

Source and Additional Resources:

[1] Microfinanzas Puerto Rico Press Release supplied to MicroCapital: “Microfinanzas PR grants credits worth over $2 million to disadvantaged entrepreneurs of Puerto Rico”

[2] http://www.mfbbva.org/english/fundacion/inicios-de-la-fundacion.html

[3] http://inversores.bbva.com/TLBB/micros/informes2010/en/index.html

About Fundación BBVA Microfinanzas: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Fun…

About Corporacion para las Microfinanzas Puerto Rico: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Cor…

MicroCapital.org article, December 4, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: In Panama, Fundacion BBVA Microfinanzas and Autoridad de la Micro, Pequena y Mediana Empresa (AMPYME) Promote Microfinance”
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-in-panamafundacion-bbva-m…

MicroCapital.org article, July 25, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Provide $4.6m Equity Investment and $9m Loan to Caja Nuestra Gente of Peru
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-international-finance-cor…

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Amira joined MicroCapital while working at Export Development Canada (EDC) as a Credit Insurance Underwriter. Amira holds a Bachelor degree in International Business and Finance from Concordia University in Montreal. While completing her bachelor degree, Amira spent a semester in France and upon graduation, three months in India working with non-governmental agencies, political and spiritual groups for various socioeconomic initiatives such as the advancement of women. While travelling to different cities and rural areas in India, Amira was touched by the poverty she witnessed and was dedicated to finding a way to intertwine her business interests with her passion for development. She hopes this internship in microfinance will provide the framework to integrate an element of development into her professional career as well as positively contribute to the field of microfinance. Amira speaks English, French, and Spanish fluently and has conversational knowledge in Portuguese and Arabic. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, trying new restaurants such as molecular gastronomy, restaurants made out of ice and Nicaraguan meals wrapped in banana leaves. Most of all, she loves to travel with loved ones.