Bancentro

Banco de Crédito Centroamericano, S.A. (Bancentro) is a leading commercial bank of Lafise Group in Nicaragua. In 2008 SIFEM participated in a USD 15.0 million club loan to Bancentro together with Finnfund and BIO. SIFEM's USD 5.0 subordinated convertible credit facility provides Bancentro with Tier 2 Capital to support its continued growth and product development within the areas of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) financing and leasing.

Founded in 1991 by the Zamora family, Bancentro offers financial intermediation, banking services and the development of the agricultural and industrial production and commerce through lending activities. Bancentro provides a large range of services such as financing, payments, credit cards, deposits, internet banking and fund administration among others. In 2007 Bancentro decided to enter the MSME market, thus departing from its traditional focus on corporate lending to large companies. Its SME programme offers the following products: working capital loans, fixed asset loans (purchase of fixed assets), and mortgage loans (housing improvement).