Gerardo Obregón is a Chemical Engineer by profession, with courses in Finance at the University of Standford. Gerardo Obregón began working in a family company and later in the technology area of a company that allowed him to have more excellent knowledge about the possibilities of technological innovation.
In October 2009, Gerardo founded Beef Mart, a gourmet butcher, company of which he was the CEO. Gerardo Obregón maintained a close relationship with the workers. In 2010, he realized that one of them was worried about the debts he had after requesting a loan of 10,000 pesos. The original credit grew up due to the interest rate, which he had been paying for several months. He still owed enough money despite having paid an amount higher than the original amount. This situation led him to think about founding Prestadero, a fintech company whose objective is to take loans with fairer interests.
Gerardo Obregón founded Prestadero in 2011, a P2P Lending or Crowdlending company that began operating in 2012. The goal of Prestadero is that loan investors receive better returns for their savings, while applicants can obtain fairer rates and more in line with the risk of their loans.
Many people told Gerardo Obregón that a collective loan platform in Mexico could not work because “Mexicans do not pay.” Obregón did not agree with this idea, and the results have proved him right. In 2018, Borrower had granted more than 235 million pesos in loans and had paid more than 44 million pesos to its investors.
The yields for investors in the Borrower are in a higher range than other financial instruments, such as CETES or demand to check accounts. The average interest obtained for investors with a Borrower is above 13%.
For Obregón, one of the keys to Prestadero is transparency. Investors can verify the level of risk of the loans they grant, while applicants have the opportunity to know the reasons why their loans are rejected.
In 2018, Obregón also presented PrestaPal. PrestaPal is a product where loan applicants can receive money from family and friends with an interest rate from 0% to 35%. The aim of this feature is giving applicants the chance to create a credit history and being able to access better credits later.
Gerardo Obregón is one of the founders of the Fintech Mexico Association. This association has promoted the creation of a regulatory framework for Fintech in the country and is made up of several pioneer companies in the sector. Recently, Borrower requested the regulation before the CNBV of Mexico to be able to operate like a fintech under current legislation.
