Credito Real’s Swiss Bond Comes Due as Traders Brace for Default

Over the past decade, Credito Real SAB was the rising star of a booming new business in Mexico: cutting small loans -- and charging double-digit interest rates -- to the millions of traditionally unbanked all across the country.

Now, with its cash hoard shrinking, Credito Real faces a moment of truth. It either pays off 170 million Swiss francs ($184 million) of bonds due by the end of Wednesday, or goes the way of a smaller peer in the non-bank lending industry that has already fallen into default. Investors are bracing for the worst, having pushed the price of the ...