Article at a glance:

Financing Latin America's low-income consumers

• Serving the consumer finance needs of lower-income consumers represents a huge opportunity for banks in Latin America.
• People in lower-income brackets, who can’t afford most goods or even emergency items such as medicine without credit, have a strong need for consumer finance products.
• Experience in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico shows that providing credit to lower-income groups is attractive because of the massive market it opens up and because it can make banks more profitable and foster economic development.
• To serve this market, banks must develop commercial and distribution models more appropriate to lower-income segments, sophisticated credit and collection skills, and a low-cost infrastructure.

Note: This article includes translations in Portuguese and Spanish.