35 years ago, Gentera emerged in Mexico as an NGO whose social vocation was to bring aid and development projects to the most vulnerable areas of the country.
What began as a delivery of pantries and food in the southeast of the country, mainly, found an unexpected development: Gentera reaches the end of 2025 as one of the most solid financial groups in the country, with 28 thousand employees and solid finances that have been a constant since 2007, when they became a public company.
The leap, says Enrique Majós, general director of Gentera, came when they emulated a model of community banks and loans for productive activities that had been successful in Central America and Bangladesh. The idea was named Compartamos and the rest is history.
Since then, Gentera not only became a pioneer in banking and credit services for an audience that had not been taken into account by traditional banking, but also began to take off as a unique institution in Mexico, which combines a social purpose with an innovative financial model.
The evolution of Gentera has arisen from the need to grow and continue supporting those looking for a financial product to boost their own development.
Majós quotes the Espinosa Yglesias Study Center (CEEY): “when a person has access to financial services, they have up to three times more chances of increasing their socioeconomic level. That is what we have dedicated these 35 years to.” And there’s more, the CEEY also highlights that financial exclusion is inherited, that is, those people whose parents did not have access to financial products are very likely to also find themselves financially excluded.
THE TOTAL VALUE OF GENTERA
The Total Value philosophy continues to be the main pillar with which Gentera operates.
“We say that we generate three types of value, which complement each other and generate synergy: the first is social value, which is our mission in the communities where we impact; human value, which appeals to the development of the individual, and here we are talking about both collaborators and clients,” explains the manager.
“And, finally, the economic value, which is the consequence of the previous two: that our clients have a tangible benefit for their work and that we are a solid business, to be there when they need us.”
Gentera’s businesses are perfectly structured: Compartamos Banco – with operations in Mexico and Peru – provides credit, savings and payment methods for microentrepreneurs; ConCrédito, a 100% consumer credit company that Gentera acquired in 2018, and Yastás, banking correspondent administrator.
Gentera’s portfolio includes Aterna, its insurance broker designed for popular segments, and Fundación Compartamos, which continues to ensure the social intention that defines the group.
Despite being a year of high uncertainty in the global economy, Gentera has taken advantage of the opportunities and recorded a 2025 that any financial giant would sign: in the third quarter, its portfolio grew 16.4%, the balance reaches more than 87 billion pesos, and its growth in the other Latin American market it operates, Peru, registered record growth above 20%. Gentera serves 6.3 million people in both countries.
“We made an issue in September and placed more than 5 billion pesos, it was subscribed almost twice as much. That has been part of 2025, a year of capacity building, in which we seek to maintain operation and growth, and at the same time, move towards new technologies and discover that efficiency,” details Majós.
The Gentera spokesperson expects a 2026 that maintains this double-digit growth trend, as well as a year with less uncertainty in global markets.
“We are becoming more digital, with the intention of being more convenient for our clients and understanding the characteristics of the products they need. Mobile banking and technology will be decisive in taking advantage of the opportunities and facing the challenges that come with next year,” concluded Majós.
