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Societe Generale focuses its microfinance activities in those countries in which the Group provides universal banking products and services.

Its strategy is implemented via its overseas network of subsidiaries which are encouraged to finance the different microfinance institutions of the countries in which they are located, particularly as these institutions have enormous difficulty in securing local credit facilities. The Group hopes to become the benchmark partner for local microfinance structures, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Microfinancing gives local institutions access to resources which they can pay for in their local currency, thereby avoiding any exchange rate risks. Local “financiers” are long-term partners and close ties are forged and built on mutual trust over time. The institutions supported by Societe Generale are able to offer communities that are unable to open a bank account access to banking products and services and, in doing so, feed their local economies.