Compartamos Banco is a Mexican bank and the largest microfinance bank in Latin America, serving more than 2.5 million clients. The bank was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Mexico City.
The bank is engaged in the credit and insurance sectors. In the Credit division, Compartamos offers a range of loans, including Woman Credit, Additional Credit, Home Improvement Credit, Solidarity Credit and Individual Credit, and in the Insurance division it provides Life Insurance and Integral Insurance. The company has 352 service offices in the Mexican domestic market.
History
Founded by Jose Ignacio Avalos Hernandez as an NGO in 1990, Compartamos aimed to alleviate poverty by providing microcredit to small businesses, initially by offering loans to women at the base of the economic pyramid.[1]
In order to grow the fund, it was decided to incorporate as a for-profit company in 2000, and a commercial banking license was obtained in 2006 [2]
In 2007 Compartamos controversially raised $467 million from the issue of an IPO,[2]