Washington, June 2, 2026—The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), home of the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, has issued guarantees to Banco Santander, S.A. that will enable increased lending to create jobs and support the sustainable development ambitions of Colombia and Uruguay.
MIGA will provide a combined $639.3 million of capital optimization guarantees to Santander that will help the bank free up capital for new loans to impactful projects by optimizing the capital treatment of mandatory reserve requirements held with host-country central banks.
MIGA’s first capital optimization guarantee in Colombia is for an amount of $100 million and will enable $59 million of new loans to be made available to microenterprises in rural areas, including those owned by women (68 percent), in addition to financing for electric and hybrid vehicles (32 percent).
Financial inclusion for smaller businesses, particularly those owned by women, and decarbonization are two of Colombia’s biggest development challenges. Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contribute 40 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and generate 80 percent of employment, but they are typically underserved by traditional local lending institutions, with an estimated financing gap of 14 percent of GDP. According to Colombia’s National Administrative Department of Statistics, 35.4 percent of the country’s microenterprises are owned by women.
Colombia has also made great progress in accelerating transport electrification, which is supporting the country in its efforts to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
The project in Uruguay is a renewal of an existing $539.3 million guarantee. Santander Uruguay has disbursed capital freed up under the guarantee in a wide range of sustainability-focused projects, including green transportation, clean energy, climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable construction, among others. The released capital is expected to enable new lending of $163.6 million, supporting Santander Uruguay’s ability to achieve its target of issuing $300 million of climate finance by December 2028.
Ariane Di lorio, Director of the Financial Institutions Group at MIGA, said: “Smaller businesses in rural areas of Colombia have historically been overlooked by the financial services sector, and the country’s electric vehicle loan market, while fast-growing, is still nascent. Meanwhile, Uruguay is vulnerable to climate shocks, which have an impact not just on lives and livelihoods, but also on economic growth, inflation, and the country’s current account. We’re delighted to partner with our long-standing client Santander on these latest capital optimization guarantees, which will unlock capital to address key development challenges.”
Oscar Moseley, Head of Private Credit Insurance at Banco Santander, said: “We are pleased to continue strengthening our long-standing partnership with MIGA through these capital optimization guarantees in Colombia and Uruguay. These transactions are a strong example of how Santander can use innovative risk transfer solutions to deploy capital more efficiently, while supporting financial inclusion, climate finance and sustainable growth across Latin America.”
About Banco Santander S.A.
Banco Santander (SAN SM) is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Openbank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments. This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal and fair way. In the first quarter of 2026, Banco Santander had €1.4 trillion in total funds, more than 176 million customers, 6,600 branches and 185,000 employees.
About the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform
Initiated in 2024, the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform consolidates guarantee products and experts from across the World Bank Group at MIGA. It provides a simplified and comprehensive menu of guarantee solutions, enabling clients to select the instrument that best suits their needs. The platform streamlines processes, removes redundancies, and provides greater accessibility by de-risking investments in developing countries. Its goal is to boost the World Bank Group’s annual guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030.
For more information about the guarantee platform, please visit: https://www.worldbank.org/wbgguarantees
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Contact: In Washington: Elizabeth Howton, ehowton [at] worldbankgroup.org