Financiera Independencia posts 21% rise in Q1 net income

Microfinance Monitor, April 29, 2010: Financiera Independencia, a Mexican microfinance lender of personal loans to lower income segment individuals and working capital loans through group lending microfinance, has announced results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2010. Net income for 1Q10 increased 21.1% YoY to Ps.141.9 million.

Commenting on the results, Noel Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer, said: “In the first month since taking control, Finsol has shown significant signs of improvement and contributed positively to our net income. Reflecting the growth opportunities in the market and our significantly larger funding capacity, resources origination showed a significant increase. During the quarter, Finsol contributed with 152,740 clients and represented 13.4% of the Company’s total loan portfolio. During 1Q10 we also continued to achieve organic growth. In fact, excluding Finsol our loan portfolio increased by 5.3% year-on-year.”

“Excluding Finsol, NPLs declined to 11.9% from 12.0% in 4Q09. Finsol’s group lending methodology results in lower NPLs which have also contributed to improve the quality of our consolidated loan portfolio… The successful placement of a $200 million bond offering was another important milestone achieved during this quarter. It allowed us to continue to diversify funding sources and has opened access to the international markets,” he added.