Traditional banking institutions do not finance many of the small and microenterprises operated by millions of low income people in Latin America.    

These enterprises generate the vast majority of new employment opportunities in the region. As such, they are an important component of economic growth and profit generation.

It is estimated that some 50 million microenterprises exist in Latin America and the Caribbean, of which only 10% have access to formal credit mechanisms.

In fact, the majority of microenterprises do not access the services offered by the formal banking system due to cultural reasons, lack of tangible guarantees and rudimentary accounting and financial information systems.  

Nevertheless, starting in the 1980s, an ample gamut of credit entities have come to serve the microenterprise sector.    

Indeed, from non profit organizations in search of concrete acts of solidarity to visionary groups of financiers in search of profitability, a range of credit entities have entered low-income neighborhoods and rural towns to offer their inhabitants microloans.

These credit institutions are known as microfinance institutions (MFIs).

The most prominent MFIs in Latin America are either current or potential clients of LA-CIF.