Victor Menezes, Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup, USA
Original transcription by Rebecca Kooshakjian
You are fabulous...I'm very proud to be with you this evening.
More than five years ago, one of our customers, a very determined customer, called and asked us to meet with Sam Daley-Harris and Muhammad Yunus, to discuss and extraordinary undertaking to reach 100 million people through microcredit programs around the world by 2005. And while we didn't understand then the extraordinary organizing talents of Sam Daley-Harris nor the extraordinary commitment of Dr. Muhammad Yunus, we accepted that challenge. We served on the first organizing committee five years ago and have continued to support this campaign over the last five years. And I'm proud to be here because my company has been involved in this tremendous adventure together with you.
Partly because my personal background—I come from India, I've worked in China—I've spent all of my career in emerging markets around the world. And I've seen first hand what this tremendous thing can do. And working as a banker I can tell you, it's something what you in the microfinance field have been able to pull off. So, I'm very proud that my company is associated with this, that I'm associated with this.
...We will support it with money, we will support it with time and fellow Citibankers around the world have been very actively involved in this activity. And we do think what you are trying to build today is something terribly important.
...We support the professional development of microfinance organizations with information systems, with banking systems around the world. Because this is important to us as a bank, this is important to the communities that we operate in. And I think what you are up to is tremendously exciting and it is going to change the world.
So we work with you to make sure that our partners have the best know-how, we partner you to develop uniform standards (the best practice around the world); we seek to support you as you develop greater skill, outreach, and financially sustainable reach. And we want to work with you to establish a deep, multifaceted relationship with microcredit institutions and networks.
This is a huge challenge. This is what makes life terribly exciting to us. We believe that the microfinance field is an important business opportunity. Citibank in Peru for example, has worked in issuing a $6 million bond with a partial USAID guarantee on behalf of Mibanco—a local microfinance institution. And we have an ongoing relationship with them.
We strongly believe that this is a commercially viable option and we really believe that this is the best way to alleviate poverty and help development around the world. So we are committed to do this and I can tell you that our commitment is long-term...We believe it's good for individuals. I think the highest value is educating women. I believe the best loans we can make are to lending to women entrepreneurs—and you can take my word for that. We believe it's good for communities, we believe it's good for national economies, and as a result I think it's good for our business.
We congratulate you on this conference. I hope you all found it really useful. We are committed to help you in the future and on your great story to great success. And you can count on Citi being with you every step of the way in this exciting journey. Thank you very much and thank you for being with us.
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