Development Finance: Financing Tomorrow, Today

For the last 20 years, CHF International has served as a leading provider of financial services in developing and transitional countries around the world. Our Office of Development Finance currently oversees 12 lending operations in 11 countries across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Eurasia. As of December 2007, CHF International managed a global loan portfolio of $80.5 million, which has more than doubled in size in the last three years, while maintaining a portfolio at risk of 2.21%. Approximately 10% of the portfolio includes assets that we manage on behalf of private commercial banks.

We refer to our micro, small, and medium-business lending activities as Development Finance to reflect the broader objective of community development. By improving access to financial services for those unserved or underserved by the formal financial markets, CHF is helping to create jobs, improve living standards for clients, and bring private capital into microfinance markets—and to the poor.

A unique aspect of CHF International’s approach to finance is the variety of lending methodologies and institutional models we operate in a broad range of settings to extend financial services to those who have limited access. We offer loans ranging from $1000 to as much as $250,000 depending on the market. Our work ranges from housing loans to low-income maquila workers in northern Mexico, to servicing arrangements with commercial banks that extend microfinance services across the Middle East.

CHF International’s development finance operations are currently located in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Mexico, Romania, and West Bank/Gaza.

For more information on CHF International's work in development finance, download our latest brochures Local Expertise, Global Opportunities for general information on development finance, and Financing Tomorrow, Today, for information of interest to commercial lenders.