Almost US$3 billion is the amount of additional annual income that banks and other providers do not generate for not providing financial services to women in the same proportion as to men in the cases of Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.
“Calculations reveal that financial institutions could achieve almost 3 billion dollars in additional annual income, if they optimize their offers focused on the women’s market for businesswomen and personal banking,” reveals Milagros Rivas, General Director of Advisory Services at the IDB Invest.
“Of the banks with products aimed at women, the majority consider them an aspect of corporate social responsibility or their environmental, social and governance initiatives, rather than an opportunity for growth and business,” she adds.
For the Peruvian case alone, there is a total of US$756 million in annual income that can be obtained by satisfying the demand of unbanked and underserved clients.
Paradoxically, the segment with the greatest potential is concentrated in the lowest income brackets, which comprise 86 percent of Peru’s female population.
Even though studies show that women are good clients for personal and business banking, there are not enough products designed for them, warns the representative of the agency dependent on the Inter-American Development Bank.
Around a third of commercial banks in Guatemala, Mexico and Peru have a market strategy for women, although 40% say they are considering developing it. according to Empresarías en Ascenso: A study on the potential of women’s banking in Latin America and the Caribbean del BID Invest.
Rivas recalls that the credit portfolios provided to women experience higher growth rates and they are active users of non-financial services. “In addition, women pay off their loans in less time than men,” she notes.
Marisela Alvarenga, General Director of the Financial Sector of the IDB Invest, observes that women own almost a quarter of entrepreneurial companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America.
The women’s market is a commercial segment full of potential, with significant collective purchasing power and significant growth prospects. But it is wasted by commercial banks in the region.
“We know that today in our region, women own almost a quarter of businesses, and small and medium-sized businesses,” she says.
The credit gap for women is 86 billion (about US$260 per person in the United States), and is one of the highest in the world.
“Only 18% of financial institutions that do not have a defined segment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a specific offer for women entrepreneurs, while 85% of those that do offer products aimed at them. ”, he concludes.
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– 2024-04-29 22:11:36
