Banco Contactar is the youngest of the 30 that operate in Colombia, but its history of almost four decades as a microfinance institution in the lower strata of the population has given it the experience to serve small producers and, as its president, Paulo Emilio Rivas, says , go to the mountain to look for the client.
How has the bank started?
The Financial Superintendence granted us the license at the end of December 2023, but as a bank we opened on March 1st. We have 140,000 clients with their credit operations and we have 1,700 employees in 99 offices in 18 departments, serving more than 70% of the country.
Clients continued with their credit products for urban and rural working capital.
The new thing, regarding liabilities, which are the CDT, we have good results reaching figures higher than those budgeted, since there is a well-planned commercial strategy, with a force specialized in that product with our people, especially in Bogotá, Pasto and other cities.
Are there new products?
A few days ago we opened the Purpose Savings Account, designed for rural clients whose objective is to teach them to save, since they have moments of good liquidity due to their agricultural activity or in stores and we offer them the option to save and with their own profitability. from the market and take out the savings whenever they want. That is the feeling of clients, saving with the purpose of achieving a goal.
We linked up with ATH to provide interoperability with the financial market, which together with the App will generate for clients in the city and the countryside the possibility of making transactions online and with different entities. We will take that transactionality to the base of the pyramid.
What are the next plans?
An office was opened in Villavicencio and Ibagué and 10 offices will be opened in Bogotá in the second half of 2025.
How is the portfolio?
We started with $550,000 million and will close this year at $615,000 million, with a growth of 14%, above the market, and the trend is for quality to be 4% (expired).
We maintain our DNA, which is loans of an average of $4.3 million with a term of 18 months, with which we have expanded financial inclusion.
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Do you have an insurance market?
We activated the microinsurance that is mandatory for credits, we launched voluntary microinsurance for life, funerals and personal accidents, with low premiums, in accordance with the ability to pay. The alternative is highly accepted and we continue with something for which we are recognized and that is the interference in social development where we benefit families, women heads of household, young people and indigenous communities and we are the first to reach some with a booklet in Spanish and their dialects in the territories of Huila and Nariño.
But banking is now very digital…
We are in the process of digitizing internal processes, without deviating from credit methodologies in analysis, approval and disbursement, which is done in one or two days, and we are going to reduce it so that the client feels that we are effective.
At the end of the first quarter of 2025 on the bank’s website and App, clients will be able to open CDT investments virtually thanks to a significant investment in technology. We are faithful to the microfinance methodologies that are relational, visiting the client, knowing the needs, their payment capacity, but without over-indebting them, which is a responsible financial inclusion and we combine it with the digital development of the bank that is done in hours.
What is the key to the Credit Pact?
The issue of guarantees is key and there is good work done by the National Guarantee Fund, since they have energized and generated alternatives to financial entities. Today we have guarantees of up to 90% of the capital, with a commission that is paid to the FNG. It is a great support for entities to assume a little more risk to lend.
What do you think about usury?
The formula for calculating interest rates should be modified. With the change of 2023, some distortions were generated that affect the rural productive credit modality.
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HOLMAN RODRÍGUEZ MARTÍNEZ
Portfolio
