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 »

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 »

The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to loan up to EUR 85 million (USD 111.5 million) to two units of French-based Société Générale Group to finance the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bulgaria. Continue Reading »

The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently launched an energy efficiency credit line valued at USD 100 million to be on-lent via local private banks to benefit individual Russian households, housing associations, management companies, maintenance service providers, condominiums and energy service companies (ESCOs). Continue Reading »

ProCredit Bank Bulgaria, a microfinance institution (MFI) and member of Germany’s ProCredit Holding, recently launched a housing lending program for clients purchasing homes and refinancing existing home loans. Continue Reading »

DemirBank, an Azerbaijani commercial bank that lends to small and medium-sized enterprises, recently announced that customers have the opportunity to repay loans at automated teller machines (ATMs) with their bank cards. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international finance institution headquartered in London, plans to provide a financing facility of EUR 150 million (USD 197 million) to Isbank, a Turkish commercial bank. Continue Reading »

Kiva, a US-based online microlending fundraiser, and Moldovan microfinance institution (MFI) Microinvest have agreed to terminate their six-year partnership for undisclosed reasons. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international finance institution headquartered in London, has provided a loan of EUR 15 million (USD 19.2 million) to UniCredit Serbia, a subsidiary of the Italy-based financial services company UniCredit, to expand lease financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a London-based multilateral financial institution, plans to allocate EUR 12 million (USD 15.4 million) to Kosovo Sustainable Energy Projects (KoSEP), an EBRD framework intended to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy investments by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the residential sector. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral financial institution based in London, plans to invest up to USD 20 million in the Da Vinci Private Equity Fund II, which invests in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the financial infrastructure sector in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which is composed of the former Soviet republics. Continue Reading »

AccessBank, a for-profit microfinance institution based in Azerbaijan, recently received a loan of USD 4.2 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, that will provide 30 percent of the financing required to renovate its new headquarters in Baku.  Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a London-based multilateral financial institution, intends to loan EUR 30 million (USD 39 million) to the Serbian branch of UniCredit Bank, an Italy-based financial group with operations in 22 countries, for on-lending to private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia. Continue Reading »

Event Name: Mobile Money in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Region

Event Date: March 14, 2013

Event Location: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Headquarters, London, United Kingdom Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a London-based multilateral financial institution, is planning to extend the equivalent of USD 200 million in Turkish lira to the Turkish Sustainable Energy Finance Facility (TurSEFF), which offers credit lines for banks to use to fund investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Continue Reading »

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a microfinance investment vehicle launched by German development bank KfW Entwicklungsbank, has informed MicroCapital that it recently disbursed an AMD 400 million (USD 974,000) loan to open joint stock corporation Araratbank of Armenia, a bank that primarily provides financial services to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. Continue Reading »

By Ralph De Haas, Heike Harmgart, Britta Augsburg and Costas Meghir, published by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, November 2012, 8 pages, available at: http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/research/economics/publications/specials/bosnia_mircofinance.pdf

This report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) describes a randomized field experiment in Bosnia and Herzegovina analyzing the effects that a lack of credit may have on entrepreneurship and poverty. Continue Reading »

Aspekt, a Macedonia-based information and communication technology company, has signed a deal to install its microfinance software for MicroFinS-DBS, a limited liability company based in Serbia that provides microloans. Continue Reading »