Mexico's Gentera targets underserved low-income savers

Mexican microfinance group Gentera's Banco Compartamos is operating a pilot program in the states of Veracruz and Puebla to increase savings account uptake levels amongst low income families by the end of this year.

This comes at a time when reports show that there are still many challenges for financial inclusion in Mexico.

The bank has roughly 260,000 clients with small deposit accounts, who on average save in amounts of around 400 pesos (US$23). The bank sees the potential to expand savings accounts to the group's entire 2mn-strong client base.

Patricio Diez, director of finance for Gentera, told local daily El Economista that the bank wants to better serve customers from areas not served by the big banks that generally resort to informal and unreliable savings options.

"The truth is we see this segment with positive eyes, and we believe that by the end of the year this product will be growing more rapidly and clearly. We want to offer a product that is convenient to that segment of the population that saves but in a very inefficient way" says Diez.

In the first quarter of 2016, Gentera reported a profit of 898mn pesos, 23% more than the previous year. Banco Compartamos' loan portfolio rose 16.1% to 22.5bn pesos.