Cooperativa Pacífico
BIO has invested USD 10 M in Cooperativa Pacífico, a Peruvian lending and savings cooperative.
Amount
$ 10,000,000.00
Type of investment
Debt
Development impacts
- Local economic growth
Beneficiary locations
Investment field
Financial Institutions
Activity
Cooperativa Pacifico (CP) is the largest credit & savings cooperative in Peru. It was founded 52 years ago by members of the Peruvian Japanese (Nikkei) community. Since its foundation, CP has worked to preserve its Japanese heritage, which it promotes as a warranty of an excellent quality of service to its members and a proper and efficient management of the institution. Pacifico is a regulated institution, and it has been under the supervision of the SBS (Peruvian Banking Superintendence) since 2019.
CP serves more than 50 thousand members (which also have the status of owners) and has 280 employees. With a loan portfolio of USD 642M, its main lines of business are loans to small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), as well as mortgage and consumer loans. Pacifico also offers term and sight deposits, both in USD and PEN, which account for a total of USD 579M. Going forward, the Cooperative is looking to further diversify its portfolio by increasing the share of loans to micro and small enterprises and of mortgage loans for social housing projects. CP has started to develop a network of small agencies in rural areas, where it finances the development of social housing projects.
CP has been a client of BIO since 2017 when a USD 10M senior loan was disbursed to support its efforts to finance SMEs. This facility will be fully reimbursed in September 2023.
Development impacts
-
Local economic growth
Strengthen CP's capital so that it can continue to grow its (M)SME portfolio, while attracting and serving new cooperative members.
Portfolio diversification strategy towards MSMEs, with CP planning to increase the amount of lending to small businesses
Access to credit facilities for SMEs, as well as other financial products for microenterprises, housing and consumption purposes.
E&S Impact
Cooperativa Pacifico will clarify internal Environmental and Social (E&S) responsibilities by nominating an E&S Manager, will update its Sustainability Policy in order to include social risks and reference to the IFC Performance Standards, and will finalise the Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) consultancy project and share the first three Environmental and Social Due Diligence reports with BIO. Also, it will extend its grievance mechanism to external stakeholders.
Situation at the time of investment
In 2017, Cooperativa Pacifico developed its first ESMS. However, due to lack of internal capacity, its implementation had been lagging behind. Following a recent investment of another lender, an external consultant has been working to audit and improve the current system. The goal is that E&S process covers all the operations of the banks above a certain amount. In parallel, the bank has developed a climate change policy.
Risk Category: A
Read impact and news about this project
Impact Story
Many sleepless nights
12-12-2018
BIO gave a loan to Cooperativa Pacífico, the biggest lending and saving cooperative in Peru.
Ms Julissa Flores received a loan from the cooperative. This is her story.
View more of our investments in this region
Investment Companies & Funds
Darby International Capital Latin American Fund IV
10,000,000.00
Brazil, Colombia, Peru
01/12/2023
Equity
