Bridge Guarantee Program
Loan
Provides working capital to microfinance institutions (MFIs) all over the world
Accion is a global nonprofit dedicated to building a financially inclusive world with access to economic opportunity for all, by giving people the financial tools they need to improve their lives. A world pioneer in microfinance, over the last 50 years Accion has helped build 62 microfinance institutions in 31 countries on four continents. Those institutions are currently reaching millions of clients. The Accion U.S. Network is the largest microfinance network in the United States and, since inception, has served hundreds of thousands of clients with loans and support.
In the area of investing, Accion provides early-stage equity, quasi-equity financing, and loan guarantees to help MFIs become independent of donor funds, build their capital base, attract deposits and attain financial leverage to expand their reach.
Summary
Established in 2005, the Global Bridge Fund (GBF) provides financial assistance to microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide. Using loans from investors, the GBF provides MFIs with guarantees to access local bank lines of credit and to issue debt instruments.
The GBF is an evolution of Accion’s Latin American Bridge Fund. This fund, founded in 1984, was the world’s first-ever loan guarantee fund for MFIs and has afforded Accion over 20 years of experience in this area. Since its founding, the Global Bridge Fund has provided nearly US$90 million in guarantees to 28 MFIs in 12 countries, leveraging more than US$25 million in microloans to over 350,000 microentrepreneurs.
Social Impact
Accion is an innovator in financial access, developing many of the best practices and emerging standards in the industry. It provides a full range of management services, investment and governance support to help financial institutions build institutional capacity, provide diversified high-quality financial services, become financially sustainable and reach meaningful scale.
Financial Impact
As an investor, you will be able to earn interest and diversify your portfolio revenue, while your pooled funds support the issuance of guarantees for small to mid-size MFIs and, as a result, foster financial inclusion and fuel economic opportunity for millions of hardworking small business owners all over the world.
For every dollar invested in the GBF, approximately 4 to 5 dollars (in equivalent local currency funding) will be made available, indirectly by Accion, in microloans for microentrepreneurs to expand their businesses.
