Given the liquidity growth that the microfinance industry (MFI) has in the country, especially from the largest institutions such as the municipal savings and credit banks (CMAC), it appears as a possibility to have the stock market as an efficient alternative for future financing.
It has been proven that microfinance offers important business opportunities with financial sustainability, which can be increased in the medium term with greater financing on the Lima Stock Exchange (BVL) and actively participate in the stock market.
Participating in the stock market and listing on the Lima stock exchange are excellent showcases for Peruvian MFIs to strengthen themselves in the face of multilateral international credit organizations and global cooperators. They are letters of introduction as the only leaders who are at the service of the economic segment that grows every day, constituting the support of the Peruvian economic dynamism. We refer to the small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) that already exceed the 3.6 million productive and commercial units in the country, including the MYPE (Micro and small companies).
The legal framework is in place and the financial transparency as well. It is only a matter of decision-making by the various boards to enter the fascinating world of trading. It is known that the Lima Stock Exchange has become for many companies a very effective financing tool.
A possible participation of the microfinance industry in the BVL would suppose the synergy of two bastions of social development: On the one hand, greater financing for MFIs and on the other hand, also greater inclusion, since the microfinance industry promotes business formalization and social inclusion. In other words, greater profitability with a better social impact.
Listing on the stock exchange implies acquiring shares of various companies. In other words, a microfinance institution becomes a shareholder in a corporate company that, in the long term, also means more capital for the MFI. But also, it would allow corporate organizations to participate financially in microfinance companies, a perfect alliance to achieve objectives that go hand in hand with business competitiveness, development of corporate governance, adequate internal controls, management efficiency, and greater financing for specific projects.
It is precisely the institutional investors who would also develop knowledge and technology transfers that would benefit the MFIs listed in the BVL. Examples are being given in the world that is becoming more global every day. Only the most competitive MFIs will survive the changes brought about by the globalization process, and one of those changes is precisely the participation of the microfinance industry in the stock market. It is only a matter of time, nothing more. In the face of global changes, the organization that moves the fastest, with anticipation and vision, will emerge successfully from the transformations in MFIs.
Let us not forget that in other countries, microfinance institutions are turning to the stock market to finance their operations and Peru will be no exception.
