SOFOMs - The Business Year

Elias Rahmane

Director General, Exitus Credit

We created Exitus Capital to provide financing to SMEs and developed a completely electronic system that had never been used before. Our customers have to meet with our sales staff just once; then we give credit and collect payments from them electronically. Customers authorize us to go into their accounts once a month to deduct our pre-authorized amount. We are the first and leading company applying this approach. This form of on-going credit contract with Exitus Credit is convenient for retired people, who do not want to go into a bank branch to reorganize their finances every month. We developed our own independent electronic collection system.

Allan Cherem

Director General, Financiera Contigo

Started Financiera Contigo in 2010 after selling several companies involved in SME and payroll loans. I saw an opportunity in micro-finance to set up a company that could benefit all its stakeholders; our mission is to change the lives of our employees, clients, shareholders, and suppliers. Regardless of the size of the other companies we have in our loan portfolio, the size of the market we were attending to was small and not aligned with the values I grew up with. In the micro-finance sector, I found the opportunity to create a company that did this.

Carlos Rahmane Sacal

Director General, Carlos Rahmane Sacal

SOFOMs can be split into two areas. The first types are those that receive institutional funding and are mostly regulated. In our case, we are regulated in terms of capitalization according to BASEL III, which covers outstanding loans and corporate governance. On the other hand, some SOFOMs put in their own capital and want non-performing loans. Those SOFOMs should not be regulated because they are risking their own money, not government or public money. SOFOMs are important because there are only 40 or 50 banks in Mexico and they cannot cover all the financing demands. We need to professionalize the supply; therefore, we can meet the demand.

Gerardo Maldonado

Director, In-Credit & Leasing

In-Credit is a 100% Mexican company and it has grown from strength to strength on an annual basis. Our main focus is to exceed our customers’ expectations in terms of customer service. We focus specifically on leasing and auto-finance for high-end vehicles. For us, customer service is critical in terms of having a quick response time, making a great credit decision for customers, and, once the customer is in our system, giving them easy access to our customer service representatives, which is outsourced as a strategy in order to have a proper technology and to service customers satisfactorily.

Abraham Behar

Director General, Economízate

Despite being created as an arm of our real estate firm, Economízate is now stronger in payroll loans. In 2016, after a year and a half of preparation, we were audited by PwC, obtaining a positive qualification, and we received a 10/10 qualification by CONDUSEF. We had 200 customers in 2016 and our goal for 2017 is to double this number. The idea behind payroll loans is to contact companies and offer them financing for their employees, with these companies responsible for the repayment of loans. This translates into an employment benefit that simultaneously helps us reduce risks and creates a healthy credit collocation.