About Us

Our History

FINCA Impact Finance (“FIF”) is a pioneer in financial inclusion. For nearly 40 years, we’ve developed market-based solutions to build sustainable communities and enable our clients to fully participate in the economy.

The Idea

With its microfinance tools designed to serve the “unbanked,” FIF has proven that access to, and usage of, responsible banking services can bridge the economic gap and create financial sustainability and self-reliance.

The Network

FINCA Impact Finance is a network of community-based microfinance banks and institutions that offer innovative, responsible and impactful financial services around the world.

The Future

FINCA Impact Finance is leveraging the power of technology to put financial power in the hands of, or around the corner from, our customers, no matter where they live.

How we Started

In 1984, founder John Hatch saw that lack of capital was keeping poor Bolivian farmers poor. Traditional loans were too large and too expensive, and without collateral, the farmers couldn’t borrow.

So he came up with an idea; if the farmers formed groups to share a loan and guarantee repayment, they could access the funds they needed to invest in their farming operations. It was the dawn of what we know today as microfinance.

The idea proved versatile and revolutionary.

In urban and rural areas, and in economies as diverse as Guatemala and Uganda, Village Banks (™) allowed those with scarce resources to borrow, invest and grow their businesses. They also allowed women—who were routinely denied credit—to build enterprises that kept food on their tables and their children in school.

Remaining true to its original idea, FINCA Impact Finance has become a global network of secure, sustainable microfinance institutions and banks that help low-income families create jobs, build assets, and improve their standard of living.

The Network

With more than 30 years of experience, FINCA Impact Finance delivers a double bottom line of social impact and financial sustainability. FINCA Impact Finance’s thousands of staff–mostly local–work across 15 financial services subsidiaries, four shared service centers, and the global headquarters in Washington, DC. We operate in some of the most challenging markets in the world with a geographic reach among the widest and most diverse of the leading responsible finance networks. Each of our subsidiaries is governed by its local board of directors. The local management teams are experienced professionals with sound understanding of their local banking sector, markets, and communities.

The majority owner of the FINCA Impact Finance network is FINCA International, a not-for-profit organization. FINCA International is joined by socially minded minority shareholders, including: the International Finance Corporation (IFC), KfW, Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO), Triple Jump and Triodos.

The Future

The global landscape of financial services is rapidly transforming, and so are we.

Today, the breadth and reach of our responsible financial services continues to evolve and grow to meet new needs and new opportunities. FINCA Impact Finance has gone beyond traditional microfinance by leveraging the power of technology, such as mobile phones and credit scoring, to put products and services in the hands of, or around the corner from, our customers, at costs that are lower and speeds that are faster to meet our customers’ needs.

FINCA Impact Finance is moving from a high-touch, high-cost traditional microfinance delivery model to a hybrid model that maintains responsible customer relationships while enhancing services and reach through technology.

We are deploying credit scoring and analytics, digitization and mobile financial services – in all our markets – to be more efficient and effective. We are re-engineering our credit and customer service processes to streamline them, leveraging technology wherever possible to lower costs, ensure safety and soundness, and make it easier for clients to do business with us, all while maintaining the human touch and warm relationships that define FINCA Impact Finance.

FIF remains at the forefront of financial inclusion. To ensure continuous adaption, we are building the capacity of our staff to have an eye for continuous improvement in their day-to-day work.

FINCA Impact Finance is expanding financial inclusion through a transformed business model: FINCA 2.0. We are leveraging technology and focusing on process improvements, while maintaining the human touch and warm relationships that define FINCA Impact Finance.

Learn more about our social impact.