The Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation has reported providing a loan in local currency approximately equivalent to USD 860,000 to Salym Finance, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Kyrgyzstan, with the aim of assisting low-income residents in rural and suburban areas. Salym is headquartered in the city of Bishkek and has 32 branches. It provides deposit and transfer services as well as loans for housing, consumption, business and agriculture.
As of 2021, Salym reports assets of KGS 5 billion (USD 62 million) reaching 21,000 clients, about half of whom are women and most of whom live in rural areas. The MFI was founded in 2007 with the name Credit Systems and took on its current name in 2011.
Crédit Agricole, a French retail bank, in partnership with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, established GCA Foundation in 2008. The organization seeks to reduce poverty by providing funding and technical assistance to microfinance institutions and other social businesses. As of 2022, it manages assets valued at EUR 89 million (USD 89 million) outstanding to 75 partners in 36 countries in Africa and Eurasia. These partners’ beneficiaries are mainly women living in rural areas.
Crédit Agricole was established in 1885 to provide agricultural loans in France. As of December 2021, it serves 53 million people in 47 countries. It values its assets under management at EUR 2.6 trillion (USD 2.6 trillion) as of March 2022.
By Renata Samadova, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
GCA Foundation press release
https://www.gca-foundation.org/en/media-room/#the-foundation-grants-a-new-loan-in-kyrgyzstan
Salym Finance homepage
https://salymfinance.kg
GCA Foundation profile on Salym Finance
https://www.gca-foundation.org/en/organisation/salym-finance-2
Previous MicroCapital article on GCA Foundation
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-paidek-of-drc-microloan-foundation-zambia-borrow-1m-from-grameen-credit-agricole-for-microfinance-in-africa/
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