Coopenae is a leading regulated, deposit-taking, finance company organized as a cooperative with over 70,000 active members in Costa Rica. It was created in 1966 to provide services to teachers and started its financing operations in 1983. As of December 2010, Coopenae has $600 million in total assets and over 320 employees. The Company offers loans, savings, and insurance products nationwide through a network of 19 branches and serving around 50,000 clients. It is the largest of the 31 supervised financial sector cooperatives holding 27% of the cooperative market share and the second largest local private sector financial institution in terms of assets and deposits.

The total project cost is estimated at $30 million in local currency. The transaction entails an up to $15 million equivalent credit line from IFC and an up to $15 million equivalent from another IFI.

15.0 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	15.0
Equity

* These investment figures are indicative

The Company is headquartered in San Jose, Costa Rica. Coopenae is the largest cooperative in Costa Rica with 19 branches around the country.

1. Contribution to Private Sector Development: By supporting Coopenae, IFC will facilitate access to specialized financial services for consumers and MSMES. These segments are generally underserved by large foreign-owned banks in Costa Rica. SMEs represent a critical private sector segment, however, accounting for about 30% of the total number of registered Costa Rican companies.
2. Scaling up MSME Lending: This Project involves scaling up a local MSME lender by supporting it with long-term local currency debt funding. Accordingly, IFC is playing a catalytic role in the sustainable development of the MSME sector.
3. Contribution to Poverty Reduction: The Project will support productive MSMEs and employment generation in Costa Rica. MSMEs account for 38% of the total formal employment in Costa Rica and the SME sector plays a crucial role in achieving poverty reduction and accelerating economic growth and is therefore key to the health of the economy.
4. Funding Mobilization: IFC will provide the loan in local currency and with FMO, which will provide parallel funding of equal amount.

IFC''s investment will help Coopenae expand its business activities to grow its MSME portfolio by providing long-term local currency funding and mobilizing funding from other funders such as FMO. IFC will also provide knowledge and global best practices in terms of products and processes through a potential Advisory Services project. The project will also have an impact on the bottom of the pyramid.

This Project involves IFC support for a bank to increase its lending and has been classified as a Category FI project according to the IFC Environmental and Social Review Procedure. Since the main E&S risks of the project are associated with the client''s portfolio of investments, during appraisal IFC will review the portfolio and the client''s capacity to manage E&S risks in order to determine the applicable requirements, which may include a combination of the IFC Exclusion List, the national E&S laws and regulations as well as the Performance Standards. In this process IFC will also assess the client’s labor practices according to IFC’s labor standards. The client will be required to: (i) develop, upgrade or maintain a SEMS to ensure compliance with the applicable requirements; (ii) demonstrate commitment to applying the labor standards established by the IFC Performance Standard 2: Labor and Working Conditions; and (iii) submit a periodic report to IFC as per a format to be provided by IFC.