Subordinated loan signed for Prodem Financial Fund

The CAF representative, José Vicente Maldonado, and the president of Prodem, Fondo Financiero Privado, Fernando Anker, signed an agreement for a $500,000 subordinated loan for the Fund to be used for operations with small borrowers, microenterprises and small productive units.

José Vicente Maldonado said the loan was an example of the anti-cyclical role the Corporation is playing in the Andean region coming at a time when the Bolivian economy is in need of a greater flow of funds for reactivation.

With this operation, the Corporation is backing the microfinancial services sector in Bolivia. The Prodem Fund will be strengthened because the loan forms part of its equity, Maldonado added.

In recent years, the multilateral lender has channeled a large volume of resources into several private financial funds in Bolivia through credit lines and equity strengthening operations. CAF’s efforts in this field are added to the Bolivian government’s own initiatives for the development of the microenterprise sector.

The CAF representative said he was pleased with the emergence of formal financial entities supervised by the Superintendency of Banks, which serve the microenterprise sector on market conditions. The operation is a good sign of the support that private initiatives are offering to small producers.

Fernando Anker said that Prodem has been working for 15 years in this sector in Bolivia. Its Financial Fund offers savings and loan products, as well as other services specially developed for the Bolivian market, backed by the most extensive national network in the financial system, with agencies in medium-sized cities and rural areas.

Forming a bridge between rural and urban markets, the Prodem Financial Fund provides its services to broad sectors of the Bolivian population that have no access to financial services.

The Prodem Private Financial Fund is the first savings bank in Bolivia to offer customers intelligent cards, which feature deposit and withdrawal operations with fingerprint identification. The Fund also offers time deposits at competitive market rates; mortgage loans; loans with collateral, personal or securities backing; performance bonds, national and international transfers, and company payroll services.