Cooperativa Santa Anita

What is Cooperativa Santa Anita's mission?

Cooperativa Santa Anita's mission is to 'offer its members quality products and services according to their needs in order to contribute to community development with a focus on the northern Sierra region of Ecuador'. Its vision is to be 'a solid, efficient, competitive and socially responsible co-operative to the community'. Its institutional values are 'solidarity, equality and cultural diversity, honesty and professionalism, respect and transparency'.

What types of financial services does Cooperativa Santa Anita provide?

It provides individual loans, generally for periods of between 12-48 months. Larger loans are repayable over a longer period of time. Loans are typically invested in farming, business and trade. It provides a range of savings accounts for its members, including special accounts aimed at encouraging children and young people to start saving. It also provides other financial services such as life and accident insurance, money transfer, payment of utility bills and bank transfers.

How much interest does Cooperativa Santa Anita charge?

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) charge higher rates of interest for several reasons. Firstly, the administrative costs of making many small loans are much higher than making fewer larger loans; secondly, they take more time assessing the feasibility of applications and thereby reducing risk because borrowers cannot offer traditional forms of collateral nor do they have salaried incomes; thirdly MFIs often operate in geographically remote areas with low population densities and this means that they incur greater operational costs; and fourthly they often accompany loans with a range of training and technical advice.

The most representative loan product of Santa Anita funded by Lendwithcare attracts an Annual Percentage Rate (APR)* of 24.30%.

*The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is a standard way of expressing the cost of a loan that allows for comparison between loans. It includes annual interest, insurance, and fees that the borrower must pay, and is expressed as a percentage of the amount borrowed.

Does Cooperativa Santa Anita provide any training?

The Cooperativa Santa Anita does not provide any training for its clients, mainly because it does not have sufficient financial resources to cover the costs of training. However, it is planning to introduce voluntary training in financial literacy and basic bookkeeping.

Where can I find out more information about Cooperativa Santa Anita?

Further information about Cooperativa Santa Anita is available from the national microfinance network here.

*PAR30 is a commonly used metric that provides an insight into the quality of an MFI's loan portfolio, which is generally its major asset and therefore its greatest source of risk. It is computed by dividing the amount of delinquent loans greater than 30 days over the total amount of the loan portfolio.

Sources: *World Bank **United Nations Development Programme ***World Health Organisation ****World Population Review