Spotlight on Citi's microfinance leadership.

Bob Annibale, Global Director of Citi Microfinance and Community Development, recently shared his observations on trends in microfinance as the keynote speaker at Columbia Business School's "Social Enterprise Conference 2010." In his address, he outlined the Citi Foundation's longstanding philanthropic support for the microfinance sector and also discussed the strategy underlying Citi Microfinance, which launched in 2005 as a business to serve microfinance institutions (MFIs) as clients and partners.

Annibale told the audience that, working across Citi's businesses, product groups and geographies, Citi Microfinance serves more than 100 MFIs, networks and investors as clients in over 40 countries, offering products and services that in turn allow them to expand access to financial services to the underserved on an individual level. These include local currency financing, hedging and transaction services as well as development and distribution of savings, remittances and insurance products. Referring to the economist who developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance, Annibale said, "[I]f Muhammad Yunus is the 'Banker to the Poor,' then we're the 'banker to the banker of the poor.'"

Global Impact Investing Network's Jake Samuelson covered the event for the Next Billion blog, noting, "The most important insight for me was the work Annibale did in 'mainstreaming microfinance' into Citi's global operations. No one is making inspirational videos to highlight these operational processes, but their importance cannot be overstated."