Wednesday, 20 June 2019.- The COFIDES Chairman, José Luis Curbelo, helped launch INBONIS RATING today, Europe's first credit rating agency that specialises in SMEs registered with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The COFIDES Chairman remarked that, for SMEs, “improving transparency is vital so that companies obtain arating, which in turn leads to obtaining financing". In this respect, he recalled that COFIDES has supported INBONIS "because it can help greatly in improving SMEs' access to financing".
During his speech, he also explained that COFIDES measures financial, environmental and social factors for the conduct of impact investing. Furthermore, he recalled that the company was one of the first 60 institutions to sign up to the initiative entitled Operating principles for impact management, led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), belonging to the World Bank and "we are debating how we could incorporate the questions of impact into the evaluation systems".
The Chairman of INBONIS RATING, Alberto Sánchez Navalpotro, explained the activities of the new agency and its role in improving access to financing for SMEs. As such, he explained that INBONIS RATING strives to democratise credit ratings by placing the market rating of SMEs at competitive prices and with guarantees of objectivity.
“Our ratings will act as a way to objectify the risk of SMEs, which translates into an increase in the efficiency of the credit process and, therefore, the flow of funding to SMEs and its resultant positive impact on the economy”, highlighted Alberto Sánchez Navalpotro.
The round table on "The regulation and benefits of rating SMEs" has since taken place, at which the COFIDES Chairman, José Luis Curbelo, spoke. He was joined by: the CEO of Inbonis, Alberto Sánchez Navalpotro; the Chairman of the Club de Gestión de Riesgos de España, Juan Carlos Estepa; and the Director of the Secondary Markets Division at the CNMV, Javier Ruiz del Pozo.
INBONIS is a Fintech company that supports the financial inclusion of SMEs. Specialised in the construction of complex models and machine learning algorithms to generate trust among small and large enterprises, it succeeded in achieving B-Corp accreditation in December 2017. This certification distinguishes entities with higher standards in environmental and social protection, transparency and legal accountability.
COFIDES is a public-private company which has been offering financial support to Spanish companies investing abroad since 1988. It is accredited with the EU to manage Community budgets, allowing it to structure transactions with a high impact on development. It is also accredited with the UN’s Green Climate Fund and can structure operations on climate change mitigation and adaptation with the GCF. It is the exclusive manager of FIEX and FONPYME funds on behalf of the Secretariat of State for Trade attached to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and supports AECID in managing FONPRODE funds. Shareholders include Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America.
