Unibanco's Experience Using Correspondent Banking

This paper describes the experience of Unibanco in correspondent banking in Brazil. The paper discuses the market in Brazil and highlights that almost 75% of the active population is excluded from banking. The paper presents the Central bank's resolution 1999 and discusses the other ways of doing banking:

• Banco postal operating through post office by Bradesco;
• Caixa Economica using the places that sell lotteries;
• Unibanco operating through department stores.

The paper elucidates the microcredit scenario in Brazil, emphasizing that there are:

• 171 institutions providing microcredit services with total portfolio of US $60 million;
• 223,000 active clients, with an average of 1,304 clients per institution;
• Huge concentration of the microcredit activities in the north-east.

The paper states that Unibanco presently is the third-largest private-sector financial group in Brazil, providing a wide range of services to all income segments. It highlights Unibanco's micro-credit initiative entitled microinvest, which is:

• Currently operational in strategic alliances with Fininvest, Pontocred and LuizaCred;
• Providing services to 300 thousand clients belonging to the low income segment;
• Working in 3 states with 150 distribution points having 55 loan officers.

The paper explains one of the Unibanco Microinvest alternative distribution channel, Fininvest.