Amhara Credit and Savings Institution

Misión:

ACSI's primary mission is to improve the economic situation of low-income, productive poor people in the amhara region through increased access to lending and saving services.

Antecedentes y principales retos:

ACSI emerged from another local NGO in 1995. Challenges include working in poor infrastructure and providing low-interest rates for very poor people, who lack diversified marketable skills, access to business development services, adequate manpower and technology.

Dirección:

P.O.Box: 417 Bahir-Dar

Bahir Dar

Amhara Region

Ethiopia

Teléfono:

058-220-16-51 /52

Fax:

251 08 201733

Correo electrónico:

acsi [at] ethionet [dot] et

Website:

http://www.acsi.org.et/

Principales fuentes de financiamiento:

Grants

Loans

Productos y servicios:

Loans

Voluntary Savings

Fund Transfer Services

Productos:

Loans, voluntary savings, fund transfer services and pension fund management

Buscar (Tipos de Inversión):

Donations

Guarantees

Capacity Building Grants

% Operaciones que incluyen MF:

91 - 100

Fecha en que se estableció:

Jan 1 1995

Fin de año fiscal:

31-Dec

Current Legal Status:

NBFI

Regulada:

yes

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
Women	1
Clients living in rural areas	2
Clients living in urban areas	3
Adolescents and youth (below 18)	4
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
Poverty reduction	1
Gender equality and women's empowerment	2
Increased access to financial services	3
Employment generation	4
Growth of existing businesses	5
Youth opportunities	6
Housing	7
+ Poverty targets
Very poor clients
Poor clients
Low income clients
+ Governance
Has trained members of its board on social performance management
Has a formal board committee that monitors social performance
+ Range of products and services
+ Financial products and services offered
+ Credit products offered
Microcredit loans for microenterprises
Microcredit for household needs/consumption
SME loans
Loans for agriculture
Housing loans
+ Savings products offered
Voluntary savings accounts
Compulsory savings accounts (cash collateral)
Fixed term deposits
Savings accounts for kids
+ Compulsory insurance products required
Compulsory credit life insurance
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
+ Other financial products and services offered
Remittances services
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
+ Education services offered
Financial literacy education
Reproductive health and family planning
+ Health services offered
+ Women's empowerment services offered
Leadership training for women
Women's rights education/gender issues training
+ Products and services targeting the poor
Products and services specifically designed to target the poor:	Credit, savings mobilization, money transfer, pension payment and micro-insurance for group lending modality clients.
+ Social responsibility to clients
+ Client protection principles in use
The loan approval process requires evaluation of borrower repayment capacity and loan affordability. Loan approval does not rely solely on guarantees (whether peer guarantees, co-signers or collateral) as a substitute for good capacity analysis.
Internal audits check household debt exposure, lending practices that violate procedures including unauthorized re-financing, multiple borrowers or co-signers per household, and other practices that could increase indebtedness.
Productivity targets and incentive systems value portfolio quality at least as highly as other factors, such as disbursement or customer growth. Growth is rewarded only if portfolio quality is high.
Prices, terms and conditions of all financial products are fully disclosed to the customer prior to sale, including interest charges, insurance premiums, minimum balances, all fees, penalties, linked products, third party fees, and whether these can change over time.
Staff is trained to communicate effectively with all customers, ensuring that they understand the product, the terms of the contract, their rights and obligations. Communications techniques address literacy limitations (e.g. reading contracts out loud, materials in local languages).
Acceptable and unacceptable debt collection practices are clearly spelled out in a code of ethics, book of staff rules or debt collection manual.
The organization's corporate culture values and rewards high standards of ethical behavior and customer service.
A mechanism to handle customer complaints is in place, has dedicated staff resources, and is actively used. (Suggestion boxes alone are generally not considered adequate.)
Customers know how their information will be used. Staff explains how data will be used and seeks permission for use.
+ Cost of services to clients
Declining balance interest method
+ Social responsibility to staff
+ Human resources
Transparency on salary (a clear salary scale based upon market salaries)
Benefits (medical insurance, pension contribution)
Protection at work (safety, anti-harassment)
Equality (anti-discrimination, equal pay for men and women with equivalent skill levels)
+ Basis of staff incentives related to social performance
Ability to attract new clients from target market
Outreach to women
Portfolio quality
Savings mobilization
+ Social responsibility to the environment
This institution includes specific clauses in its loan contracts to mitigate specific environmental risks
This institution identifies enterprises with environmental risk
+ Poverty measurement tools in use
Grameen Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)
Participatory wealth ranking (PWR)
Means test