A. M. 
Alonso Zuniga / Photographer / Producer
The Vice President of the Republic Felix Ulloa, accompanied by the President and CEO of FEDECRÉDITO, Macario Armando Rosales Rosa and the President of the Federación Peruana de Cajas Municipales de Ahorro y Crédito (FEPCMAC) Jorge Solis Espinoza, inaugurated SUMMIC El Salvador 2024, a three-day meeting in which talks, panels with experts and keynote speeches focused on microfinance will be held.
This space has been timely to promote initiatives that promote trade development between Peru and El Salvador, with the participation of distinguished personalities such as the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, Elizabeth Galdo Marín and the Ambassador of Peru in El Salvador, Jorge Rosado La Torre.
The meeting is part of an alliance that crosses borders, between the Federación Peruana de Cajas Municipales de Ahorro y Crédito (FEPCMAC), and the SISTEMA FEDECRÉDITO, being the second edition of the Microfinance Summit for Latin America and the Caribbean, SUMMIC 2024, and the first to be held in El Salvador, The purpose of the Summit is to explore and address crucial challenges and to provide a space for dialogue and reflection on the challenges and opportunities currently facing microfinance institutions in the region.
During the three-day congress, more than 400 financial leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean will address topics of relevance for financial inclusion in the current context, including cybersecurity, technological services, user experience, corporate governance, as well as innovation in services and customer service, among others.
“At SISTEMA FEDECRÉDITO we are honored to be the co-organizers of such an important event that brings together to address an essential and relevant topic for Latin America and the Caribbean, such as reinventing financial inclusion in pursuit of a greater goal, whose objective goes beyond simply providing access to financial services, as it seeks to create an inclusive and equitable environment for all, bringing together hundreds of financial leaders in the region, where we will address issues of great interest to microfinance. There is no doubt that this will be an unprecedented event in our country and we are proud to be part of it”, said Mr. Macario Armando Rosales Rosa, President and CEO of FEDECRÉDITO.
Jorge Solis, President of FEPCMAC commented: “SUMMIC El Salvador 2024 represents a unique opportunity to strengthen regional collaboration and jointly address current challenges by promoting the exchange of knowledge and best practices among industry leaders, thus contributing to the strengthening and adaptability of the microfinance sector”.
The microfinance sector in El Salvador
Microfinance in the region has made significant progress, but not enough to meet the challenges of financial access and poverty reduction.
MSEs in Central America and the region are still considered one of the main sources of employment and income. In El Salvador, MSEs and self-employed workers represent 85% of the population’s jobs, according to figures from the Government of El Salvador.
However, financing to this market niche only represents 13% through traditional formal means in El Salvador, including microfinance institutions, and is usually replicated throughout the region. So we still have a lot of work to do to continue contributing to the issue of bankarization and financial inclusion.
The pandemic has pushed all sectors to reinvent themselves, so microfinance institutions have had to make several innovations to enhance the digitalization of the financial services they offer to their clients, thus promoting financial inclusion. According to studies conducted by Mastercard in the region, it can be seen that people have more access to savings accounts and digital payments with lower transaction costs of services and products.
In 2019 a National Council for Financial Inclusion and Education was instituted, and more recently in 2021 a National Financial Inclusion Policy was officially launched. In general, the banking penetration rate for El Salvador is above 36% in 2021, which reflects a growth of almost 6% compared to the last measurement in 2017. However, there are still important challenges to reach the base of the population pyramid, as well as Micro and Small Enterprises.
