Chartered Financial Assistance

Gross Loan Portfolio USD, 2011: 2.4 million

Number of active borrowers 2011: 6,296

Average loan balance per borrower USD, 2011: 378.5

Deposits USD, 2011: 2.7 million

Assets USD, 2011: —

Number of depositors 2011: 6,434

Mission:

To provide a complete suite of financial services that help people work their way out of poverty

Background and Main Challenges:

The roots of Chartered Financial Assistance (CFA) go back to 2002 when an NGO called the National Centre for Education and Development (NCED) was founded with one of its goals being the aleviation of poverty. In 2007, Prima Commercial Fund (PCF) was licensed as an MFI with similar goals. In ... Read more

Address:

PO Box 132

Buea

Southwest

Cameroon

Phone:

+237 3316 0526

Email:

contact [at] cfamicrofinance [dot] com

Website:

http://www.cfamicrofinance.com

Main Funding Sources:

Savings

Shareholder Capital

Products and Services:

Loans

Voluntary Savings

Insurance

Funds Transfer Services

Training and Consulting

Financial Services

Institutional Startup & Transformation

Services Provided:

Full-scale Financial Services

Business Development Services

Education

Looking for (Investment Types):

Equity

Loans in Local Currency

Loans in USD

Capacity-Building Grants

Donations

Guarantees

Loans in EUR

% Operations Comprised by MF:

91 - 100

Date established:

Jan 16 2007

Current Legal Status:

NBFI

Regulated:

yes

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
Poor	1
Clients living in rural areas	2
Women	3
Clients living in urban areas	4
Adolescents and youth (below 18)	5
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
Poverty reduction	1
Increased access to financial services	2
Employment generation	3
Development of start-up enterprises	4
Gender equality and women's empowerment	5
Youth opportunities	6
Growth of existing businesses	7
Children's schooling	8
Improvement of adult education	9
Health improvement	10
Housing	11
Water and sanitation	12
+ 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
Loans for education
Housing loans
+ Savings products offered
Checking accounts
Voluntary savings accounts
Compulsory savings accounts (cash collateral)
Fixed term deposits
Special purpose savings accounts
Health Accounts
+ Compulsory insurance products required
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
Voluntary health insurance
+ Other financial products and services offered
Mobile banking services
Remittances services
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
Enterprise skills development
Business development services
+ Education services offered
Financial literacy education
+ 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:	Microenterprise Loans, Daily Savings Accounts, Health Insurance, MCC Loans, Agricultural Loans etc.
+ 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 remote/rural communities
Outreach to women
Quality of interaction with clients based on client feedback mechanisms
Quality of social data collected
Client retention/drop-out rate
Portfolio quality
+ Social responsibility to the environment
This institution raises clients' awareness about environmental impacts
This institution trains/educates clients regarding environmental improvements
This institution identifies enterprises with environmental risk
+ Poverty measurement tools in use
USAID Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT)