| Name | Vancity Community Business Banking |
| Where | South West of Canada |
| Type | Credit Union |
| Person we met | Catherine Ludgate (Manager, Community business banking) |
| Website | www.vancity.com |
| Amount of loans | from 5.000 to 35.000 CAD (from 3.000 to 20.000 €) |
| Number of micro-entrepreneurs | more than 1.000 in 12 years |
| Interest rates | Vancity applies the same rates for micro-entrepreneurs as the ones for the other entrepreneurs |
| Recovery rates | from 85 to 96% depending of the status of the person who gets the loan (individual or peer group) |
| Comments |
Vancity propose micro-lending to any person who wants to start a business and whose credit application does not fit to the “normal” banks for any reason. Anyway, Vancity looks closely to the business plans which have to be very solid. This credit union also allocates micro-lending to person who needs to buy equipment for working and who has not the money for it (for example, a worker who needs to buy a helmet and special shoes to work on construction). The government department of “Western Economic Diversification Canada” has searched for structures for developing microfinance and community economic development. This department gives money to some organizations to promote microfinance. Vancity was one of the chosen candidates. The money it receives helps it to maintain low interest rates to micro-entrepreneurs and to take more risks with their loan portfolio. |
| In the future | Vancity is thinking about ways to enlarge the services in microfinance, such as micro-insurance. |
MFI met on the 8th of August 2008