Providing the Human Element in Financial Services

As technology takes over different sectors of our economy, opportunities are surging in the way products and services are offered and consumed all around the world. 

Undoubtedly, the financial sector is part of this disruption. Since the first decade of this century, traditional banking institutions have taken their operations into the digital world. Those transactions, once made only in a branch office or even in an ATM, nowadays can be made from any smartphone, which entails convenience and satisfaction for the user. Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge or service failures end in a lot of frustration for users, especially for elderly people who are not familiar with them.

The microfinance sector has also been part of this disruption since the last decade. The transition into a more digital world has been accelerated tremendously in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this new global context, no matter the sector you belong to, we need to ask ourselves how to maintain the closeness with our clients. IT solutions are efficient but they seem to pull apart institutions and individuals. 

Gentera operated as an NGO for a decade, from 1990 to 2000. That fueled an obsession for a person-centered approach to business. This strategy has had, in our three decades of history, at least three serious implications in our value offer as a financial institution:

1. Technology is a means to an end. It sounds simple, but it certainly is not. As a financial institution we must consider all the IT tools within our scope, so we can improve our value proposition. We aim for a tailor-made offer for all of our clients, aligned  to their context, needs and moment in life. There’s a catch though. It’s not about what you can deliver as an institution, but about the value that customers receive and furthermore, the value they perceive. We proudly serve people, mainly women from the base of the pyramid. Therefore, we must consider their level of technology adoption, geographic and communication barriers, the kind of smartphones they own, etc. We must stop and think if that fancy solution, that surely costs millions to put into effect and maintain, will solve needs or facilitate any aspect of our client’s life.

2. Closeness. Since 1990, we have distinguished ourselves from other financial entities because of the presence of our loan officers visiting their clients every week. Even in the middle of the pandemic, we were there and offered them a set of benefits and solutions that helped them to walk out of this difficult stage. To be clear, much of this approach had not to do necessarily with information of their loans, but how to deal with the situation, maintain their mental health, how to deal with the confinement, entertain their children, etc. This bet was bold and expensive, but it was essential. Being there for them gave us a lot of information regarding who they are,  the kind of participation they have in their town,  the size of their business, are they really investing their loans in whatever they stated, how is their business doing, and what risks are they facing? We used these data to design different benefits to help them. For Gentera, closeness also means that our staff comes from the same community as their customers. That makes it easier for us to build up this close relationship that distinguishes our service.

3. Warmth. It’s not about what we do but how we do it. Our goal is  that all of our 4.1 million clients sense how much we care for them, because we do. Our 20,000 coworkers firmly believe that everybody deserves the best service available. We invest heavily in both training and soft skills. We want to offer inclusion and development opportunities, and the best way to start is with our own people. Therefore, it is not difficult to consider that behind every woman, there is not only the will, but the ability to grow as an entrepreneur. Every time we visit our operations all around Mexico and Peru, we witness thousands of success stories of women who transformed their lives and those of their families with their ventures.

Our operation has significant implications for both social and financial inclusion for the underserved segment. Delivering human financial services is not a whim, but a commitment to those who trust in us. It is how we are contributing to making this a more inclusive place for everybody. We believe in total value as a concept that integrates human, social and economic value. Total value means, therefore, going beyond a transactional relationship with our customers and evolving to a more profound commonwealth relationship. 

We aspire to make a real difference in our customers’ lives and to help them to achieve their dreams.