BancoEstado micro enterprise unit set to reach client target ahead of time

Chilean state bank BancoEstado is likely to reach its target of 400,000 micro enterprise clients ahead of schedule due to strong growth in new clients, the bank's micro enterprise unit commercial manager Héctor Pacheco told BNamericas. That target was initially expected to be attained by December 2010, but as it looks now, it could be reached in June next year, Pacheco said on the sidelines of the 22nd congress of the World Savings Banks Institute held in Santiago on April 30-May 1. When speaking at the congress, Pacheco said BancoEstado expects to surpass 360,000 micro enterprise clients by the end of this year. Last year, the unit attained its 300,000-client target - the previous main goal. The crisis and Chile's slowing economy have seen competitors in the micro enterprise market scale down their operations, so BancoEstado is signing up many of its rivals' clients as it also grows its own operations at full speed, said Pacheco. BancoEstado is the largest player in the local microcredit market, where it competes mainly with the Banefe unit of Spain's Santander (NYSE: STD) and Banco del Desarrollo, today owned by Canada's Scotiabank (NYSE: BNS).