Written by Michael Bauer, Julie Chytilová, and Jonathan Morduch, published by the Financial Access Initiative in December 2009, 47 pages, available at: http://financialaccess.org/sites/default/files/Behavioral%20Foundations%20of%20Microcredit%20-%20Bauer%20Chytilova%20Morduch%2012-18-09.pdf

This paper examines behavioral effects of time discounting and risk aversion as they relate to the acquisition of microcredit. Continue Reading »

Written by Karel Janda and Barbora Svarovska of Charles University in Prague, MPRA Paper Number 19486, December 2009, published by the Munich Personal RePEc Archive (MPRA), available here: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m//template.rc/1.9.41395 Continue Reading »

SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance institution, recently chose desktop virtualization software SoftXpand to meet its computing needs. Continue Reading »

The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, the charitable arm of the U.S.-based financial services company, has provided a USD 3 million grant to Bankers Without Borders (BwB), a volunteer program of the Grameen Foundation based in the U.S. that supports microfinance and technology initiatives related to finance in low-income countries. Continue Reading »

Spandana Sphoorty Innovative Financial Services Limited, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Hyderabad, India, has raised funds by placing INR 25 crore, the equivalent of over USD 5.3 million, worth of commercial paper with an unnamed mutual fund. Continue Reading »

MFTransparency, founded in July of 2008 as part of a global initiative to promote transparent pricing in the microfinance industry, has launched a blog to complement its website. Continue Reading »

MicroVest Capital Management recently announced the closing of MicroVest II with USD 60 million in commitments. Continue Reading »

Lok Capital LLC, a venture fund focused on the microfinance sector in India, recently announced an equity investment in RuralShores Business Services Private Limited, which provides outsourced data entry services to businesses within India and abroad. Continue Reading »

According to a recent article in The Business Times, a daily Singaporean newspaper, “Asia’s institutional and private investors have yet to warm to the microfinance sector, despite its prominence in the region and its resilience as an asset class this past downturn.” Continue Reading »

Kenyan microfinance institutions (MFI) are struggling to recover from a two-year slump caused by severe drought, the global financial crisis and post-election violence. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the microfinance information clearinghouse, has released its January 2010 issue newsletter in English, Spanish and French. Continue Reading »

ES Global, a consulting firm that focuses on social investing and micro- and small enterprise development, has created a wiki for post-crisis management support to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Haiti. Continue Reading »

The Indian government is planning to reintroduce a microfinance bill to Parliament that would significantly impact the regulation of the rapidly growing microfinance industry, which has reportedly been growing at almost 52 percent per year for the last three years in terms of client outreach. Continue Reading »

By Zoran Stanisljevic, based on his interview with Christina Leijonhufvud, Managing Director of the Global Social Sector Finance Group at JP Morgan, published by MicroCapital.org, December 2009, 5 pages, available at http://www.microcapital.org/downloads/whitepapers/Diligence.pdf Continue Reading »

The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the trade union of United States Major League Baseball players, recently pledged USD 100,000 to Esperanza International, an organization that aims to alleviate poverty with social programs and microcredit, to aid in the reconstruction of Haiti. The donation will come from the MLBPA’s Players Trust, a fund created by the MLBPA. Continue Reading »

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an agency of the United Nations established to eradicate rural poverty in developing countries, and the Nigerian Federal Government have created a microfinance fund worth NGN 6.1 billion (the equivalent of USD 40 million). The funds will be distributed to rural farmers in 12 Nigerian states by microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the form of microloans. Continue Reading »

The Australian government has agreed to provide AUD 2 million (the equivalent of USD 1.8 million) over the next three years to the Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP), a program established with the intent of increasing access to financial services among low-income households in the Pacific Islands. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Company (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, has signed a long-term agreement with Mexico’s Sistema Integral de Abasto Rural, known as Mi Tienda, to help the distribution center expand its operations to provide owners of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with microcredit, insurance, and other financial services. IFC has agreed to provide the equivalent of USD 2.5 million in equity financing to support the expansion. Continue Reading »