The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the monetary authority of six Caribbean nations including Antigua and Barbuda, in partnership with the Antigua Barbuda Investment (ABI) Bank, a private bank founded in 1990, recently hosted a 20-week entrepreneurship course in the country of Antigua and Barbuda aimed at helping aspiring entrepreneurs to improve their presentation and business plan development skills. Continue Reading »

The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), a government bank specializing in serving farmers and fishermen, has announced that it will partner with Smart Hub, a subsidiary of Filipino telecom Smart Communications, to offer a new e-payment channel called “BayadLoad” to allow household workers or their employers to make mandatory government contributions using their mobile phones. Continue Reading »

Oxigen, an India-based payment solutions provider, has announced a new mobile money transfer service called OxiCash, which is intended to provide poor people with a “mobile wallet” for receiving funds and transferring money between bank accounts. Continue Reading »

Event Name: 2013 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF)

Event Date: October 2-4, 2013

Event Location: Telus Convention Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Continue Reading »

Dr Yaw Gyima-Larbi, the head of microfinance and banking supervision at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), reportedly has announced that the central bank has granted final operating licenses to 171 financial institutions. Continue Reading »

Telenor Group, a telecommunications company based in Norway, and Societe Generale, a France-based financial institution, have agreed to purchase KBC Banka, the Serbian unit of KBC Group, a Belgium-based financial institution, for an undisclosed price. Continue Reading »

“Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012: Differing Behavior Across Subregions;” by Maria Luisa Hayem; published by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF); 2013; 27 pages; available at http://www5.iadb.org/mif/HOME/Knowledge/tabid/426/idPublication/78709/language/en-US/Default.aspx

This report from the US-based Multilateral Investment Fund provides an analysis of remittances received across national borders by people in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Continue Reading »

A recent report from Bangladesh’s Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA), a Bangladeshi agency charged with licensing and supervising microfinance institutions (MFIs), reportedly indicates that as of June 2012, the end of the last fiscal year, Bangladeshi MFIs have disbursed approximately BDT 211 billion (USD 2.7 billion) in microcredit since such data has been tracked. Continue Reading »

Habib Bank Limited (HBL), a Pakistani commercial bank, has implemented a new branchless banking service, HBL Express. Continue Reading »

The Jamaican Minister of Finance and Planning, the Hon. Dr. Peter Phillips, reportedly announced in the House of Representatives that the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), a government-owned development bank, will commit JMD 2 billion (USD 20 million) to the micro- and small business sector during fiscal year (FY) 2013/2014, which ended March 31, 2014. Continue Reading »

Accion, a US-based provider of microenterprise loans and business training in 31 countries, has announced that its Accion Venture Lab, which provides seed capital and management support to financial inclusion startups, has invested an aggregate of USD 10 million in five startup companies that deliver financial services to poor people around the globe. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), a US-based nonprofit, recently announced plans to release a feature on its MIX Market website in 2013 that will allow users to search for “validated social data” from microfinance institutions (MFIs) and filter out those not reporting such data. Continue Reading »

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), has recently disbursed a loan of EUR 4 million (USD 5.2 million) to Mikrofin Banja Luka of Bosnia and Herzegovina and AMD 375 million (USD 911,600) to Inecobank of Armenia [1]. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Atlantic Bank, a Belizean bank majority-held by Sociedad Nacional de Inversiones, SA of Honduras, recently launched the second phase of a project with the aim of improving access to financial services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Belize with support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Continue Reading »

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a multilateral institution financing development efforts in Latin America, recently released an article arguing that psychometric testing can be used by financial institutions (MFIs) to reduce defaults on loans by 20 to 40 percent, increase profits by 15 to 30 percent and reduce operational costs associated with traditional credit evaluation and due diligence by approximately 60 percent. Continue Reading »

Kiva, a US-based online microlending fundraiser, recently reported on delinquent payments due to Kiva by non-profit institutions L’Association de Lutte pour la promotion des Initiatives de Développement (Alidé) of Benin and Faîtière des Caisses d’Epargne et de Crédit des Associations Villageoises (FECECAV) of Togo. Continue Reading »

The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently launched the Kyrgyz Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (KyrSEFF), a USD 20 million credit line supporting energy efficiency projects for households and private enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic. Continue Reading »

Triodos Bank, a for-profit financial institution based in the Netherlands, has launched two new investment funds, the Sustainable Pioneer Fund and the Sustainable Equity Fund. Continue Reading »