Credit Suisse Celebrates 10 Years of Microfinance

Congratulations to our corporate partner Credit Suisse on achieving 10 years of leadership in microfinance. Opportunity International CEO Vicki Escarra participated in two panel discussions, both of which highlighted innovations in products and delivery mechanisms to reach and serve clients more effectively. “We take a private equity approach by providing leadership and financial training as well as health and welfare education around that loan,” she said. Today, Opportunity provides financial services to over four million people, but with three billion living on less than $2 a day, the need seems almost endless. “That’s why it’s necessary that we constantly re-evaluate, re-calibrate and innovate in order to meet our clients’ needs.”

Earlier this year, Credit Suisse was awarded a special commendation at the Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Sustainable Finance Awards program. This award in the Global Sustainable Bank category recognized the bank’s decade of microfinance work across all divisions, including investment solutions for clients, thematic research, custody and depositary services, structuring, capital market transactions and capacity building through corporate citizenship activities.

Laura Hemrika, Head of the Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative at Credit Suisse, champions the partnership with Opportunity. “Our partners have been an integral part of our work and our success in microfinance,” she said, “and so we thank Opportunity for this fruitful and effective collaboration. We look forward to continuing our work together to create innovative solutions to link the top with the base of the income pyramid and promote financial inclusion.”

Congratulations to Credit Suisse on a decade of innovative achievements serving the world’s most impoverished people. We look forward to many years of collaboration to come.