Center Invests In Payments & Lending Firms

The Center for Financial Services Innovation announced Wednesday that it has invested in iSend, an international payments company, and Progress Financial Corp., a lending company focused on Hispanic immigrants. The Chicago-based center, which is a nonprofit affiliate of the Chicago-based ShoreBank Corp., made the investments through Catalyst Fund LP, a limited equity partnership it created to invest in financial-services companies that serve the underbanked, the center says in a statement. Center spokesperson Lori Bonhma would not say how much it invested in each company. Progress Financial, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., makes unsecured loans between $500 and $5,000 to underbanked Hispanic immigrants, according to its Web site. It has four locations in California and has plans to expand across the country. Watertown, Conn.-based ISend enables immigrants living in the United States to pay for goods and services in their home counties. Consumers who use its service can pay utility bills and mobile-phone bills in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, by visiting an iSend store, according the company's Web site. Consumers also can make mortgage payments in Mexico, Brazil and Guatemala, the company says on its site.