communities using funds provided by the government and technical support from Développement Iternational Desjardins of Canada. The average deposit in a _Cajas Solidarias_ is around U.S. $700 and the average loan is about $600. Credit unions have larger average deposits of about $2,000 and average loans of about $4,000.

|**Type of EACP**<br>**Table 26. Popular Banking Institutions,**|**Number**<br>**Assets, L**|**Members**<br>**iabilities an**|**Assets**<br>**d Equity**|**Liabilities**<br>**aspe**|**Equity**<br>**rcentage of**|**Deposits**<br>**GDP**|**Credit**<br>**Portfolio**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Cooperativas de Ahorro y Préstamo**<br>**(CAPs)**|**186**|**1,013,580**|**0.14**|**0.12**|**0.01**|**0.12**|**0.10**|
|**Sociedades**<br>**de**<br>**Ahorro**<br>**y Préstamo**<br>**(SAPs)**|**7**|**639,816**|**0.09**|**0.08**|**0.01**|**0.08**|**0.05**|
|**Uniones de Crédito (UC)**|**24**|**39,380**|**0.03**|**0.03**|**0.01**|**0.01**|**0.02**|
|**Cajas Solidarias (CS)**|**129**|**142,850**|**0.01**|**0.00**|**0.01**|**0.00**|**0.01**|
|**Asociaciones Civiles (AC)**|**18**|**116,042**|**0.02**|**0.02**|**0.00**|**0.01**|**0.01**|
|**Sociedades Civiles (SC)**|**5**|**1,253**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|
|**Sociedad de Solidaridad Social (SSS)**|**10**|**2,079**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|
|**Other**|**9**|**133,537**|**0.01**|**0.01**|**0.00**|**0.00**|**0.00**|
|Total|**388**|**2,088,537**|**0.30**|**0.26**|**0.04**|**0.23**|**0.20**|
|**Source: BANSEFI**||||||||

Recent estimates of BANSEFI show that in 2003, membership in popular banking institutions reached 2.9 million persons. If we add the direct clients of BANSEFI, a grand total of 5,378,094 persons benefit from the services of the “Popular Banking Network” or _Red de la Gente._ BANSEFI’s direct clients had an average deposit balance in September 2003 of $120 U.S. dollars.<sup>19</sup> As noted earlier, BANSEFI does not make loans to its direct clients. The average deposit balance suggests that BANSEFI reaches a population with lower average incomes than that of Popular Banking Network.

One of the reasons that BANSEFI serves households with lower levels of income than those served by popular banks is its diversity of financial products. It has, for example, developed a deposit account, similar to the standard account (Tandahorro) at a popular bank that allows small savers to set up a medium-term savings goal with a specified set of periodic deposits to meet that goal. But the account at BANSEFI is guaranteed a yield above inflation. It has also developed an account for housing linked to the government-housing program “INFONAVIT” as well as savings accounts for children and a savings account that offers a chance to win a lottery. Another element that has helped BANSEFI’s success has been the location of its branch offices, which are commonly located to be convenient to the residents of low-income communities. It could be argued that Popular Banking under the coordination of BANSEFI has become the cornerstone of the institutional framework for the unbanked.

> 19 As reported by Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores in its web page: www.cnbv.gob.mx.

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