for the year ended 30 September 2012
Activity 3: Examining and monitoring the impact of our financial services on disadvantaged communities Shared Interest has a wealth of expertise when it comes to lending to producers of fair trade products. At the end of September 2012 we were lending directly to 79 different producer organisations in 24 different countries. Analysis of producer group customers by region over the last three years
The obvious growth in where we are lending directly to producer groups is in South America; this has predominantly been in Peru. Despite only increasing the number of producers in Africa by one we actually introduced nine new customers into this region. This meant that we closed eight accounts during the same year. This was as a result of non-utilisation, bad debt or quite simply poor account management by the producer. The number in Central America has remained the same partly due to this market being dominated by coffee and the restrictions enforced through our prudential limits. We continue to be restricted by local lending regulations in the Indian sub-continent and have not placed any focus on working in this region. The single customer in the Middle East (Palestine) who held an account has repaid the loan in the last 12 months and as a result the account has been closed. We will continue to look for new opportunities in this region.
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