Financial institutions that miss funding opportunities against their competitors often have a more silent problem: they have not made visible what they do well.

A financial institution that can reliably demonstrate adherence to this standard can better diversify its funding sources on more favorable terms and forge long-term financing relationships.

The difference isn’t always in what you do. Sometimes it’s in what you can demonstrate you do.

Responsible investment funds and development finance institutions that currently channel capital into the inclusive finance sector in Latin America make decisions based on evidence. And the evidence that carries the most weight in their analysis beyond financial information is how you treat your customers.

These organizations, which operate internationally, have incorporated customer relationship management as one of their objective criteria for allocating funds.

Do you know how your loan officers actually behave when they’re face-to-face with a customer?

Have you ever been able to independently verify that your customer service policy is actually being followed? That the customer fully understood the terms of the loan agreement they signed? That they know what channels are available to them if they need to file a complaint?

In MicroRate’s experience gained over nearly thirty years across a wide variety of institutions the gap between what regulations stipulate and what is observed in practice is often much wider than management teams realize.

What isn’t measured isn’t managed. What isn’t demonstrated isn’t funded.

When an institution completes the Certification process in Client Protection Standards with MicroRate, it obtains three results that translate directly into operational and financial value:

• An accurate institutional snapshot of how your entity operates in front of the client, with actionable findings that management could hardly generate internally with the same objectivity.
• A certificate recognized internationally by major funds and multilateral organizations, which opens financing opportunities.

• A support process that does not end with the issuance of the seal: MicroRate works alongside the institution to ensure that the findings become real and sustained improvements over time.

Institutions that seriously incorporate the findings of the process reduce their rate of unresolved complaints, align field operations with the declared standard, and improve the quality of their relationship with the client in a measurable way.

The value of a certification process depends, to a large extent, on the track record, rigor, and credibility of the person leading it.

For decades, MicroRate has worked alongside institutions in various markets, supporting processes aimed at strengthening standards, generating greater transparency, and building trust with key actors in the financial sector. 

This journey has allowed it to consolidate a reputation based on analytical independence, technical expertise, and knowledge of the sector in different countries around the world.

Therefore, working on this process with MicroRate not only represents a technical evaluation but also an opportunity to strengthen the trust and credibility of the institution with various key actors in the sector.

The practices proposed by the CP Pathway are becoming increasingly relevant within the sector and, at the same time, require a progressive process of incorporation into the business model, the institutional culture, and daily operations.

For this reason, institutions that embark on this path early tend to move forward with greater preparedness and 

consistency in meeting standards that are now highly valued by various stakeholders in the financial ecosystem. These forward-thinking institutions build a competitive advantage that will take their competitors years to replicate.

The issue is not whether to pursue certification or not. Rather, it is a decision about when to do so and whether that moment comes before or after the competition does.