Mibanco believes that all human beings must have the same rights and deserve to live in total equality, regardless of their gender.

Peru is a country where gender inequality is one of the biggest social problems. Here there are policies of the financial system based on the macho mentality that terribly affect millions of married women. That they have to live forced to depend financially on their husbands.

This situation widens the gap between the genders, taking away from women not only their opportunities to grow economically, but also their freedom.

As a bank that believes that is possible to transform Peruvian women´s lives through their financial inclusion and progress, we needed to do something.

That's why we asked ourselves, how do we reduce gender inequality?

And how do we really change the lives of women who cannot live in freedom?

And how can women be free without economic independence?

Peru is a most macho-minded country.

Here, married women cannot access to credit to start a business without their husband's permission. So, millions of women in the country are forced to be economically and financially dependent on their partners.

The financial system is to be blamed.

As an industry-wide policy, the signature of the husband is a mandatory requirement for women who ask for a loan. But, if the husband wants to control his wife's financial life, he simply deny his signature.

This macho mentality policy exists because the banks assumes that women cannot support themselves.

This situation force women to live in a total sexist control.

A terrible issue that also causes physical and psychological violence against women. It mistreats their self-esteems and impedes them from fulfilling their dreams.

That's why, Mibanco decided to go against the financial system and break national banking policies.

Mibanco changed its risk policies to consider all married women in the country as single, eliminating the husband's signature from the mandatory requirements to access a loan.

We literally transformed the physical contract, deleting the space where the husband signature was.

So that when a woman receives it, she will know that she doesn't depend on anyone to access to her financial independence. She now only depends on herself.

With this brave move, Mibanco challenged the Peruvian banking system prioritizing the empowerment of women and their financial and social independence.

The main target is married women who reside mainly in urban expansion areas or rural areas. The average age is between 35 and 48 years. Their level of education is basic, they don´t have formal credit experience, they are usually fearful and cautious when they think about a loan.

They want to emerge and give well-being to their children. In many cases they are victims of family violence and a macho environment.

Today, these women continue to face historical inequalities that encompass aspects as diverse as health, education, and employment, as well as different forms of violence.

In Mibanco we truly believe that this reality can be changed and that is our responsibility to fight for it.

For this reason, we decided to change our entire strategy, giving these women easy access to credit with a focus on accessibility and simplicity, eliminating the husband's signature and simplifying the required documentation.

The implementation of the idea started with the product development.

The Emancipation Loan was designed to be accessible to all women in the country, eliminating the signature of the husband from the mandatory requirements.

In this way, we physically erased the space for the husband's signature, from all the contracts.

Once the product was designed, the scale of this action was nationwide and the credit became a real accessible solution for any woman who requires it, anywhere in the country, in our more than 300 branches.

Each woman received personalized advice to ask for the credit, as well as training to be able to start a business and all the necessary support they needed.

Because in addition to the user experience, we believed that it must be sustainable for every woman, so that they can grow a business, earn their own money, fulfill their dreams and finally being financially independent.

The women's response to the Emancipation Loan was overwhelmingly positive.

In a few months the number of women who requested a loan increased by 180%

The value of the Credits granted to date amounts to 212 million Soles, an incredible achievement for this segment in the country.

The initiative ignited a nationwide discussion and gets more than 45 million organic impressions.

We achieved an amazing behavioral change in women regarding bank loans, thanks to this product, most Peruvian women now know that they can access to economic freedom and fulfill their dreams.

We invite other banks to also fight for the economic independence of women and many are joining and creating their own initiatives.