US$5 million equity investment in company promoting mass mobile banking

(Bogota, February 1, 2012). CAF - Latin American development bank - made a US$5 million equity investment in Mi Plata SA Finance Company, the Colombian operator of the Platam?vil Project.

Mi Plata SA is a Colombian corporation authorized and supervised by the Finance Superintendency. It is one of the first institutions in the country to specialize in providing financial transaction services through mobile telephones, primarily to serve sectors that do not use the traditional banking system (low-income and small traders).

CAF President & CEO Enrique Garc?a said the operation was being developed in line with his institution’s interest in supporting projects that promote social development. "This is an inclusive system which will benefit the low-income population by providing them with transactional means and contributing to their financial empowerment," he said.

The Platam?vil Project focuses on providing services to:

• Individuals: transfer funds between accounts, make payments for goods and services, cash withdrawals, remittances, among others charged to electronic savings accounts.
• Businesses: receive payments from their retail distribution channels, eliminating the use of cash, making payroll payments to employees who do not have bank accounts and reducing associated bank costs.
• Government: make mass payments of allowances and other social benefits to any location.

The project’s business model is based on agreements with other key stakeholders, including the non-bank network (stores, grocers, convenience stores) whose role is to distribute the services of Mi Plata SA, and process transactions through networks of affiliated sales points.