BBVA Microfinance Foundation and Inter-American Development Bank reinforce their collaboration for Latin America
The headquarters of BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) in Madrid was the venue of the meeting that the company held with Luis Alberto Moreno, Chairman of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The aim of this meeting was to analyze the joint projects of both institutions and their future initiatives.
The meeting, which took place in mid-January, was the starting point of BBVAMF’s institutional agenda in 2017. The meeting was attended by Luis Alberto Moreno, Javier Flores, BBVAMF’s General Manager and the company’s steering committee. In addition, the event was also attended by the leaders of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), an organization that belongs to the IDB Group and promotes economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector. As a matter of fact, this meeting took place before the IIC’s presentation in the iCEX, where BBVA has contributed its experience as a Spanish investment company in the area.
7,000 victims assisted
This event served to analyze projects that are driving the two entities together and see the next steps that they will take, in a collaboration that has been in place since 2007 for vulnerable people in Latin America. The IDB President showed a special interest in the BBVAMF’s role in Colombia, now immersed in a peace process that is full of uncertainties. “We’re prepared to cooperate on any of the Foundation’s project,” Luis Alberto Moreno said. Meanwhile, Javier Flores highlighted the achievements that have been made in the region: “The Foundation has long been working in affected areas with a training program and serves nearly 7,000 victims of the conflict. A plan is being developed to strengthen the branch network in those areas.”
BBVAMF and IDB work together in sectors such as finance, innovation, ethnic minorities, corporate governance, women and financial education. In 2016, the collaboration between the two entities was strengthened even more, thanks to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Francisco González, Chairman and CEO of BBVA and Luis Alberto Moreno. The document signed included the lines of action that will promote activities related to the microfinance sector in Latin America.
With this meeting, BBVAMF inaugurated a 2017 that will be marked by commemorative events of its tenth anniversary to which Javier Flores personally invited Luis Alberto Moreno. In these ten years, the Foundation has disbursed more than $8.3 billion in loans to 5 million disadvantaged entrepreneurs. Currently the Foundation serves 1.8 million people in Latin America, more than half of which are women.