CoopEst and the promotion of ethical and responsible finance in Europe
- CoopEst is a pioneer investment fund in addressing specific funding needs of cooperative banks and microfinance institutions in Central and Easter Europe
- The Fund gained the trust of institutional investors and public investors (IFC/World Bank and European Investment Fund) at a time where this kind of partnership was not yet as developed as currently.
- CoopEst support allowed to trigger more funding from other investors and in that sense were key to the development of small MFIs and coop banks in their respective environment.
CoopEst support to the agricultural sector
CoopEst and income-generating activities
CoopEst and Cooperative Banks: supporting local development
Since 2008, CoopEst has developed a strong case for financing cooperative banks, granting a total of 35 loans to 22 cooperative banks and 2 associating banks in Poland.
The cooperative banking sector in Poland numbers over 500 banks with more than 30,000 employees, nearly 1 million members and about 2.5 million customers. The activity of cooperative banks in Poland is licensed and subject to rigorous regulations for the whole banking system. They are obliged to meet the capital requirements laid down in the EU regulations and follow the guidelines of the Central Bank, including data protection, complaints procedures, transparency and consumer protection. Most of the cooperative banks in Poland are affiliated with one of two associating banks which support technological and product development as well as guarantee the liquidity and solvency of their members via institutional protection schemes (IPS). Committed to the development of local communities, cooperative banks balance social and economic objectives, providing adequate financial services and supporting initiatives (such as education, sport, culture, especially directed at children and youth) to the benefit of local towns and villages. According to research conducted for the Banking Institute, the motivation to remain a shareholder of the cooperative bank has been strongly linked to the bank activities supporting the local area, a sense of shared responsibility for the bank and possibility to influence its development, general satisfaction with products and services.
CoopEst and Cooperative Banks: supporting local development
35
Loans
22
Cooperative banks
02
Associating banks in Poland
CoopEst facing multiple crisis :
We must learn from this period of multiple and successive crisis. Nothing is granted forever, and we shall aim to improve continuously while keeping the dedication – shall we dare to say “the passion” – alive
- Financial crisis in 2007-2010: CoopEst contributed to support cooperative bank sector and credit unions in a time of important turmoil.
- 2019-20: Covid hit the world. CoopEst like many other investors plaid a key role in adapting sometime restructuring existing loan schedule in order to ensure MFIs to focus on the most pressing issues. In some few cases, CoopEst decision was central to influence the scenario of continuity of operations to be adopted by other lenders.
- 2022- now : War in Ukraine : at the beginning of the conflict, the uncertainty imposed a close follow-up and attention to any signal from our local partners, especially to inform the Coopest governance and investors. Since then we keep the regular overview of the situation high on our monitoring.
CoopEst, a successful model fund to tackle microfinance criticisms
Testimonials
What our partners say about CoopEst
The CoopEst’s succession
The strategy of Inpulse is based on the progressive replacement of the historic funds and especially CoopEst by new funds in order to ensure the continuity of the service and support to sustainable finance in the regions of operation:
In partnership with Funds For Good www.fundsforgood.eu, Inpulse has launched the ImpaktEU fund meant to be the successor fund of CoopEst and take over the Helenos investment activities with MFIs once its investment period has come to an end. ImpaktEU covers the entire EU and candidate countries and focuses on two main targets: microfinance and social enterprises,. The Fund received the decisive support of the Belgian SFPI-FPIM (holding of the Belgian government) with a EUR 10M shares subscription.
Other existing and new funds:
Launched in 2018, Helenos is the first private equity fund for inclusive finance in Europe. It was created to strengthen the capital base of financial intermediaries targeting micro, small and social enterprises. Helenos provides equity, subordinated and senior loans to support economically sustainable and socially oriented institutions. Helenos benefites from the support of the European Commission’s Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).
Built on the successful track-record of CoopEst, CoopMed develops social finance in the MENA region. The Fund supports the creation of employment and sustainable economic activities by the civil society and promotes green and innovative initiatives enhancing social entrepreneurship. CoopMed offers subordinated and senior loans to MFIs, local banks and mutual companies. CoopMed applies a strong social performance policy with the support of a dedicated technical assistance facility.
The new European solidarity financing fund for Africa, FEFISOL II, closed in May 2022 with EUR 22.5M and a technical support envelope of EUR 1M. FEFISOL II is the successor fund of FEFISOL I, which terminated in July 2021. Promoters for both funds are SIDI (France) and Alterfin (Belgium). FEFISOL II is dedicated to financing with debt instruments African rural microfinance institutions and agricultural entities sourcing from small-holder farmers in Africa.
CoopEst European leader in long-term inclusive finance
