by Julia Korn -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Elizabeth Littlefield, Former CEO of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), Confirmed As President and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)

The United States Senate has confirmed President Barack Obama’s nomination of former CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Littlefield, to head the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a US government development organization working in 150 countries with a portfolio of USD 13 billion.

by Zoran Stanisljevic -

MEET THE BOSS: Discussions on Developing a Global Credit Ratings Framework for Microfinance Institutions: Interview with Damian von Stauffenberg, Founder and Chairman of MicroRate

Damian von Stauffenberg is the founder of MicroRate, a rating agency specializing in microfinance.  Mr. von Stauffenberg founded MicroRate in 1997 and served as its CEO until 2009.  Through its Latin American and African subsidiaries, MicroRate has conducted over 400 ratings of microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. 

Mr. von Stauffenberg previously worked for 25 years at the World Bank and its private sector affiliate, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).  He has been president of Seed Capital Development Fund (SCDF), chairman of the investment committee of ProFund, chairman of the executive committee of MicroVest and a member of the executive committee of the Latin American Challenge Investment Fund (LA-CIF).

by Christopher Maggio -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Approves $10m Credit Guarantee for Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI), a Commercial Bank in Chile, for Lending to 80,000 Small Entrepreneurs

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which provides multilateral financing in Latin America and the Caribbean, has approved a USD 10 million credit guarantee as part of a program from Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI), a Chilean commercial bank, to provide loans to 80,000 small entrepreneurs [1,2,3]. The program will be carried out by BCI Nova Banca Emergente, BCI’s microfinance arm [1]. BCI will utilize credit histories and background information from some of its corporate clients that have microentrepreneurial client bases [1]. It will also utilize new management and credit technologies including electronic payments and online collection [1]. Additionally, the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), an autonomous fund administered by the IDB, has provided a USD 600,000 grant to BCI to support training for lending staff [1]. The program will focus on Santiago, the Chilean capital, where an estimated one million people are unbanked [1].

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US President Obama Nominates CGAP CEO Elizabeth Littlefield for Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Presidency

President Barack Obama has announced that he will nominate Elizabeth Littlefield to become President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Ms Littlefield is currently a Director of the World Bank and the CEO of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a multi-donor organization created to help build a the microfinance industry. Ms. Littlefield previously worked with JP Morgan, where she was the Managing Director of the Emerging Markets Capital Markets Division. She has served on the executive board of Women’s World Banking, Profund, Africa International Financial Holding, the Mastercard Foundation, the Calvert Foundation, and E&Co. Littlefield is a graduate of Brown University and also attended Ecole Nationale de Sciences Politiques in Paris.

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Tell It Like It Is! Transcript of Peter Marchetti, Co-Founder of FDL (Local Development Fund) of Nicaragua, Addressing IDB Conference in Bolivia (in English and Spanish)

In his award speech at the Interamerican Development Bank’s (IDB) Eighth Gathering of Microenterprises in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, on October 6 – October 7, 2005, Peter Marchetti, Co-Founder of FDL (Local Development Fund) of Nicaragua made the following comments (Spanish version below):

It is an honor for me to be here once again, in Bolivia, the capital of microfinance in Latin America. A warm welcome/salute to all of you from Nicaragua and in the name of the FDL. As a Jesuit priest, I salute particularly FONDECO, our sister institution in Santa Cruz. Congratulations to all the professionals of the FDL and of the Institute of Investigation of Nitlapan. In particular, to those who co-founded it with me there is now 15 years, to Arturo Grigsby, and to Carlos Barrios. Also to the second generation of the FDL, to Julio Flores, Eberth Hernandez and Elizabeth Campos, who have worked so hard all these years, and who have contributed to the professionalism of these institutions, and to their roots in so many places all over Nicaragua.

by Mary Fu -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC Co-Arrange USD 40 Million for Mibanco in First International Syndication in Latin American Microfinance

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, a subsidiary of Wachovia Corporation, have co-arranged a USD 40 million syndicated financing agreement for Mibanco (Banco de la Microempresa S.A.), a leading private commercial microfinance bank in Peru. As the first international syndication for a microfinance institution in Latin America, this transaction will allow Mibanco to offer longer loan maturities to its clients, as well as reach more rural customers.

by Amy Rennison -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: A Leading Group of Microfinance Players, including Microrate, Global Partnerships, ACCION International, the Calvert Foundation and Calmeadow, Create The FX Consortium, A Foreign Exchange Risk Mitigation Service

The FX Consortium has been founded by a group of leading players in the US microfinance industry to provide a “Foreign Exchange Risk Mitigation Service”. Its aim is to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) that want to use complex financial processes, such as hedging, to manage their hard currency foreign debt obligations.

by the MicroCapital Team -

Mexican Microfinance Investment Bank Compartamos Will Sell Shares at $0.42 Each, for a Total of $15.25 Million.

Compartamos was founded in 1990 to provide microfinance services to the Mexican population as employment generated by microenterprises outpaced job growth in the formal economy. It became “fully functional and self-sufficient in 1997,” and is now a Non Banking Financial Institution (Sociedad Financiera de Objeto Limitado). Compartamos is a member of the ACCION International and Microfinance Networks. Investors include the Accion Gateway Fund, the International Finance Corporation, Oikocredit, ProFund International, S.A., the Triodos Fair Share Fund and the Triodos-Doen Foundation. Annual figures last updated December 31st, 2004 on the MIX Market, an information clearinghouse for microfinance recognized as the standard by MicroCapital, stated Total Assets of $125,140,019, and a Gross Loan Portfolio of $101,023,790 distributed among of 309,637 Active Borrowers. Compartamos does not offer savings accounts. For the same 2003-2004 period the company posted a Debt / Equity Ratio of 154.63%, an ROA of 18.2% and Profit Margins of 40.44%. Further details about the deal are not publicly available.