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Home/DFI Index/DFI Transparency Index 2025/CAF – non-sovereign
DFI

DFI Transparency Index 2025

CAF – non-sovereign

Score:
33.4
Position:
13 / 22 (Non-sovereign)

Overview

The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), is a development finance institution that finances development projects and promotes a sustainable development model in Latin America and the Caribbean through credit operations, non-reimbursable resources, and technical assistance. CAF was established in 1970 and currently has 17 members. Its non-sovereign portfolio finances development projects in the private sector. CAF became a member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) in 2024.

Total asset size: $53.8bn (CAF total)
Key links
  • CAF website
  • CAF project database

Analysis

Overall, CAF’s non-sovereign portfolio ranked 13th out of 22 institutions assessed, scoring 33.4 out of 100. This is a strong improvement of 25 points from its position as third-last in 2023 when it scored 8.4 out of 100. In 2023, no non-sovereign investments were identified in its data portal and therefore all project-level indicators failed, whereas sampling six non-sovereign projects in 2025 significantly boosted CAF’s score and ranking. CAF now also makes a bulk download file of investment data available and publishes investments to the IATI Standard. However, CAF’s overall score was affected due to having insufficiently complete recent investment data, meaning a 50% penalty was applied across project-level indicators. Without this penalty, CAF’s non-sovereign portfolio would have scored 43.5 points and placed five positions higher in the Index.

CAF ranked 16th in the Core Information component with a score of 9 out of 30, improving from its position as second-last in 2023 with a score of 1.5. It went from only scoring two out of seventeen indicators in 2023 to scoring sixteen out of seventeen in 2025. At the organisational level, it received 100 per cent on accessibility and annual report indicators. At the project level, the only sub-indicators it did not score for were due to missing disclosures on sub-national location, sub-sector, client description, client contact, and not disclosing the E&S risk category consistently enough.

CAF’s non-sovereign portfolio performed strongly in the Impact Management component, ranking 3rd out of 22 with a score of 14 out of 25, a marked improvement from its joint second-last position in 2023. Whereas it previously only scored for aligned impact standards and additionality approach, this Index saw CAF achieve 100 per cent across all organisation-level indicators in this component. At the project level, CAF scored for consistently disclosing activity results indicators and metrics but failed to consistently disclose additionality statements and current results data, and did not publish baseline or target values for the indicators.

In the ESG and Accountability to Communities component, CAF ranked third-last with a score of 6.5 out of 30. This is a slight improvement from its position as joint second-last in 2023. Its performance improved on some policy-level indicators including explanation of E&S risk categorisation and PGM community disclosure policy. However, CAF continued not to score for any project-level indicators in this component, including E&S risk summaries, E&S documentation and assurance of community disclosure.

CAF came 11th in the Financial Information component, scoring 3.25 out of 15 and maintaining its 2023 ranking. At the organisational level, CAF improved by publishing its financial reports/statements to the IATI Registry and scoring on the new climate finance methodology indicator. CAF also saw new disclosures on currency of investment and concessionality. However, CAF continued not to score for repeat investment, co-financing, instrument-specific disclosure and did not score for any of the new project-level climate finance indicators. Although it did not score for the mobilisation indicator due to inconsistent disclosure across the whole sample, we noted significant progress through the creation of a dedicated private sector mobilisation portal on its website.

In the Financial Intermediary Sub-Investments component, CAF came second-last out of 22 with 0.63 out of 10. The only improvement was new disclosure on use of funds (banks) at the project level. CAF did not score for any other indicators in this component.

Core Information 9 / 20
Impact Management 14 / 25
ESG & Accountability to Communities 6.5 / 30
Financial Information 3.25 / 15
Financial Intermediary Sub-investments 0.63 / 10

Recommendations

  • CAF should ensure timely project disclosure, with projects published as early as possible and without delay. It should also ensure its database is complete and includes all projects.
  • CAF should review its disclosure policy according to current best practice.
  • CAF should disclose further Core Information data including sub-national location, sub-sector, client description and client contact. It should add funding source to its bulk file and consistently disclose E&S category.
  • CAF should disclose additionality statements consistently at the project level. It should disclose baseline and target value data for identified indicators and ensure actual/current value data is consistently published.
  • It should develop an early disclosure policy covering, at a minimum, high-risk projects and disclose investments in line with the policy.
  • CAF should update its E&S community disclosure policy to require early disclosure and clearly articulate what E&S documentation will be disclosed to project-affected people.
  • It should create an IAM, following best practice examples and incorporate disclosure requirements for an IAM into existing policies.
  • CAF should disclose project-level ESG and Accountability to Communities indicators, such as summary of E&S risks, E&S documentation and assurance of community disclosure.
  • For Financial Information, CAF should begin disclosing whether an investment is a repeat investment, co-financing data, mobilisation, instrument-specific disclosure and project-level climate finance data.
  • CAF should develop a policy for disclosing qualifying sub-investments according to the DFI Transparency Tool and disclose in line with it. It should also define use of funds for FIs (banks) at the organisational level.
Core Information 9 / 20
Impact Management 14 / 25
ESG & Accountability to Communities 6.5 / 30
Financial Information 3.25 / 15
Financial Intermediary Sub-investments 0.63 / 10

Deep Dive

Core InformationImpact ManagementESG & Accountability to CommunitiesFinancial InformationFinancial Intermediary Sub-investments

Core Information

9 / 20
About component

The basic information that describes a DFI’s organisational policies and investments. This type of information is typically found in key organisation documents and represents the first tier of project information, typically disclosed on project web pages or in files available for bulk download. At the organisation level this includes access to information policies and annual reports. At the project level, this includes project titles, locations, and key dates.

Disclosure / access to information policy

Score: 0.75 out of 3
Does the development finance institution (DFI) have a disclosure or access to information policy?0.75 / 0.75
Does the policy include a presumption of disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the policy have limitations of commercially sensitive information and sensitive internal deliberations information?0 / 0.75
Does the policy have an independent appeals process?0 / 0.75

Accessibility

Score: 2 out of 2
Does the DFI's portal allow free, bulk export of data?0.67 / 0.67
Does it contain detailed disaggregated data?0.67 / 0.67
Is the data published under an open licence?0.67 / 0.67

Annual reports

Score: 1 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose an annual report?1 / 1

Project identification

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose a project title?0.25 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a unique identifier for the project?0.25 / 0.5

Status

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the current status of the activity?0.5 / 1

Project description

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose a description of the activity?0.25 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the objectives, rationales, and expected outcomes of the activity?0.25 / 0.5

Location

Score: 0.25 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the country the activity takes place in?0.25 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the sub-national location the activity takes place in?0 / 0.5

Domicile (non-sovereign only)

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the domicile of the investee?0.5 / 1

Sovereign / non-sovereign

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the activity as sovereign or non-sovereign? Or; Does the DFI disclose the activity as public sector or private sector?0.5 / 1

Sector

Score: 0.25 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the sector of the activity?0.25 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the sub-sector of the activity?0 / 0.5

Investment instrument

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the investment instrument of an activity?0.5 / 1

Project costs

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the total investment cost?0.17 / 0.33
Does the DFI disclose the DFI commitment for the investment?0.17 / 0.33
Does the DFI disclose the disbursement for the investment?0.17 / 0.33

Funding source

Score: 0.25 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the source of funding for the investment?0.25 / 1

Client

Score: 0.25 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the name of the client?0.25 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a description of the client? (non-sovereign only)0 / 0.5

Contacts

Score: 0.25 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose a relevant DFI contact?0.25 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a relevant client contact?0 / 0.5

E&S risk category

Score: 0 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the environmental and social (E&S) risk category of the activity?0 / 1

Progress dates

Score: 0.5 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the date of activity disclosure?0.13 / 0.25
Does the DFI disclose the approval date of the activity?0.13 / 0.25
Does the DFI disclose the signature date of the activity?0.13 / 0.25
Does the DFI disclose the last update date of the project data?0.13 / 0.25

Impact Management

14 / 25
About component

The ways in which a DFI predicts, measures, and evaluates the impacts of their investments. At the organisation level, this includes an impact measurement approach. At the project level, this includes activity indicators/metrics and results.

Impact measurement approach

Score: 5 out of 5
Does the DFI publish a methodology explaining its approach to impact measurement?1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI indicate which standards/initiatives it is aligned to?1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI explain its approach to determining additionality? (non-sovereign only)1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI explain its approach to determining impact attribution?1.25 / 1.25

Sector / country strategy

Score: 3 out of 3
Does the DFI publish sector or (multi-)country strategies?3 / 3

Evaluations

Score: 3 out of 3
Does the DFI have a policy on the evaluation of investments?1.5 / 1.5
Does the DFI disclose the evaluations that it conducts?1.5 / 1.5

Additionality statement (non-sovereign only)

Score: 0 out of 2
Does the DFI identify the development additionality of its investment? Or; Does the DFI identify the financial additionality of its investment?0 / 2

Activity indicators / metrics

Score: 3 out of 6
Does the DFI disclose results indicators for the activity?1.5 / 3
Does the DFI disclose metrics, definitions and/or methodologies for the indicators?1.5 / 3

Results

Score: 0 out of 6
Does the DFI disclose baseline data for identified indicators?0 / 2
Does the DFI disclose a target value for the indicators?0 / 2
Does the DFI disclose an actual/current value for the indicators?0 / 2

ESG & Accountability to Communities

6.5 / 30
About component

The ways in which a DFI predicts, mitigates, and communicates the ESG aspects of their activities. At the organisation level this includes E&S global disclosure policy and E&S community disclosure policy. At the project level this includes E&S plans and assessments, and assurance of community disclosure.

E&S global disclosure policy

Score: 2.5 out of 5
Does the DFI have a policy on early disclosure of investments?0 / 0.83
Does the DFI clearly articulate what E&S documentation will be disclosed for medium and high-risk projects?0 / 0.83
Does the DFI disclose the E&S policies/standards it applies (e.g. IFC Performance Standards or in-house policies) for its investments?0.83 / 0.83
Does the DFI have a policy that specifies when a document should be translated and in which language?0 / 0.83
Does the DFI disclose an explanation of project risk categorisation?0.83 / 0.83
Does the DFI disclose a list of investment exemptions?0.83 / 0.83

E&S community disclosure policy

Score: 2 out of 4
Does the DFI have a community disclosure policy?1 / 1
Does the policy require early disclosure to project-affected people?0 / 1
Does the DFI clearly articulate what E&S documentation will be disclosed to project-affected people for investments?0 / 1
Does the DFI have a free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) policy?1 / 1

IAM global disclosure documentation

Score: 0 out of 2
Does the DFI disclose the availability of the Independent Accountability Mechanism (IAM) on its website?0 / 1
Does the DFI IAM have a publicly available registry that publishes results, responses, or findings?0 / 1

IAM community disclosure policy

Score: 0 out of 2
Does the DFI require clients to disclose the availability of the IAM to project-affected people where appropriate? Or; Does the DFI state that it will disclose the availability of IAM to project-affected people?0 / 2

PGM community disclosure policy

Score: 2 out of 2
Does the DFI require clients to disclose the availability of the project-level grievance mechanism (PGM) to project-affected people where appropriate? Or; Does the DFI state that it will disclose the availability of the PGM to project-affected people?2 / 2

Summary of E&S risks

Score: 0 out of 2
Does the DFI disclose a summary of E&S risks for an activity?0 / 1
Are E&S standards triggered by the project identified?0 / 1

E&S project plans / assessments

Score: 0 out of 4
Does the DFI disclose the minimum E&S documentation for the risk categorisation?0 / 1.33
Does the DFI disclose what E&S documentation was produced for the activity?0 / 1.33
Does the DFI disclose all identified E&S documents that were produced for the activity?0 / 1.33

Assurance of community disclosure

Score: 0 out of 6
Does the DFI state if disclosure of the activity to projected-affected people was required?0 / 0.75
If yes, then: Does the DFI state the date of community E&S disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state the place of community E&S disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state the method of community disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state what documentation was disclosed?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI identify the language of disclosure to project-affected people?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state if the presence of a project grievance mechanism was disclosed and the method it was disclosed?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state if the presence of an independent accountability mechanism was disclosed and the method it was disclosed?0 / 0.75

Beneficial ownership (non-sovereign only)

Score: 0 out of 2
Does the DFI identify the main shareholders of the client company?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose a beneficial ownership statement?0 / 1

IAM global disclosure

Score: 0 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the presence of the IAM on the DFI project page?0 / 1

Financial Information

3.25 / 15
About component

This information provides details on the financial performance of DFIs and the structuring of investments. At the organisation level, this includes audited financial reports. At the project level, this includes currency of investment, mobilisation, and concessionality

Financial reports / statements

Score: 1 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose audited financial reports/statements?1 / 1

Climate finance methodology

Score: 1 out of 1
Does the DFI publish a methodology explaining its approach to calculating climate finance?1 / 1

Repeat investment (non-sovereign only)

Score: 0 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose whether an investment is a repeat investment?0 / 1

Currency of investment

Score: 0.25 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose the currency that the investment is made in?0.25 / 1

Co-financing

Score: 0 out of 1
Does the DFI disclose whether investment has co-financers or guarantors?0 / 0.33
If there are co-financers, does the DFI disclose the identity of the co-financers?0 / 0.33
And, does the DFI disclose the amount of financing provided by each co-financer?0 / 0.33

Concessionality (non-sovereign only)

Score: 1 out of 2
Does the DFI disclose how much of the DFI investment amount was concessional?0.5 / 1
Does the DFI disclose why concessional finance was necessary?0.5 / 1

Mobilisation (non-sovereign only)

Score: 0 out of 3
Does the DFI disclose how much private finance was mobilised?0 / 3

Instrument-specific disclosure (non-sovereign only)

Score: 0 out of 1
Equity - Share of equity: does the DFI disclose what percentage of the client company was purchased through the investment?0 / 0.5
Debt - Loan tenor: does the DFI disclose what is the length of the loan?0 / 0.5

Climate finance

Score: 0 out of 4
Does the DFI disclose whether an investment includes climate finance?0 / 0.8
If the investment includes climate finance: Does the DFI disclose whether it is mitigation and/or adaptation climate finance?0 / 0.8
Does the DFI disclose the amount of climate finance for the investment?0 / 0.8
Does the DFI disclose the amount of mitigation and/or adaptation finance for the investment?0 / 0.8
Does the DFI disclose a rationale for why climate finance has been counted?0 / 0.8

Financial Intermediary Sub-investments

0.63 / 10
About component

This information relates to the ways in which investments in FIs are used. At the organisation level, this includes FI sub-investment policy. At the project level, this includes private equity fund sub-investments and FI (bank) sub-investments.

FI sub-investment policy

Score: 0 out of 3.75
Does the DFI have a policy for disclosing qualifying sub-investments?0 / 1.25
Is the DFI policy for disclosing qualifying sub-investments in line, or more comprehensive, than the DFI Transparency Tool?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI define use of funds for FIs (banks) at organisational level?0 / 1.25

Private equity fund sub-investments

Score: 0 out of 2.5
Does the DFI disclose private equity fund sub investments?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose private equity fund sub-investments satisfying the DFI Transparency Tool?0 / 1.25

FI (bank) use of funds

Score: 0.63 out of 1.25
Does the DFI disclose use of funds for FIs (banks) at project level?0.63 / 1.25

FI (bank) sub-investments

Score: 0 out of 2.5
Does the DFI disclose FI (banks) qualifying sub-investments according to their policy?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose FI (banks) sub-investments in line with the DFI Transparency Tool?0 / 1.25
DFI

DFI Transparency Index 2025

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