“Raising Capital: Evaluating the Current Mindset of Investors Globally and Their Attitude to Microfinance as an Asset Class” was a panel discussion topic at the recent Global Microfinance Investment Conference which was held in New York. The conference was attended by a variety of participants in the microfinance sector: microfinance investors, representatives of microfinance institutions (MFIs), bankers, lawyers and researchers. Continue Reading »

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has eased requirements on the cash reserve requirement (CRR) of microfinance institutions (MFIs), exempting deposits of one year and longer. Also, time liabilities of one year and longer have been exempted for the maintenance of the statutory liquidity requirement (SLR). SBP has made these amendments with the intention of encouraging MFIs to seek out long-term deposits and be better able to use their financial resources for onward lending. Continue Reading »

Dr Ike Abugu, President of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), has called the lack of skilled workers employed in microfinance as the reason why he feels microfinance has been unable to impact the economy and fulfill its promise. Dr Abugu commented, “The kind of people that went into microfinance was spillover from the commercial banks so they still had this banking mentality. They did not have the skills, knowledge and expertise to run microfinance banks.” Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has added AMD 255 million (USD 650,000) to its investment in ARARATBANK, an Armenian bank that provides banking services primarily to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). EBRD’s additional investment is part of ARARATBANK’s total capital increase of AMD 1 billion (USD 2.6 million), where EBRD’s percentage ownership will remain at 25 percent plus one share. Continue Reading »

According to a recent study entitled “The Landscape of Microinsurance in Africa” published by the Microinsurance Innovation Facility of the International Labour Office (ILO) 2.1 percent of Africa’s 700 million working poor have insurance coverage. The study found that, assuming a feasible insurance coverage level of five percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the potential size of the microinsurance market would be USD 25 billion, as compared to the current market size of USD 257 million. Continue Reading »

The government of Jamaica has announced it will provide JMD 750 million (USD 8.3 million) in loans to support microenterprises, which would bring the total funds available to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), through both the public and private sector, to JMD 6.7 billion (USD 75 million), according to Jamaican Commerce Minister, Karl Samuda. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided Bank BGZ, a Polish bank that offers financing primarily to rural entrepreneurs, with a EUR 50 million (USD 63 million) credit line for on-lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in rural areas. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a EUR 1 million (USD 1.3 million) loan to LandesLease, an Albanian leasing company, to expand its services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Continue Reading »

Event Name: Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) 2010 Annual Meeting

Event Date: June 28 – July 2, 2010

Event Location: Kursaal Bern Congress and Culture Centre, Bern, Switzerland

Event Website: http://www.sptf.info/page/2010-annual-meeting

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events Continue Reading »

Event Name: 2010 MFC Annual Conference – Post-Crisis Microfinance: What Is the Responsible Way Forward?

Event Date: May 26 – May 28, 2010

Event Location: Ramada Plaza Astana, Astana, Kazakhstan

Event Website: http://www.mfc.org.pl/conference2010/

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events Continue Reading »

LeapFrog Investments, an international for-profit microinsurance fund, recently announced its final close raising USD 25 million for a total fund size of USD 137 million for investments in Africa and Asia. Continue Reading »

Event Name: 2010 Mobile Money Summit

Event Date: May 24 – May 27, 2010

Event Location: InterContinental Rio Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Event Website: http://www.mobilemoneysummit.com/index.shtml

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events Continue Reading »

Mark Coffey has been named the chief investment officer of Global Partnerships (GP), a Seattle-based non-profit that supports microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America. Continue Reading »

Written by Xavier Reille, Christoph Kneiding, Daniel Rozas, Nick O’Donohoe and Frederic Rozeira de Mariz, published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), March 2010, 40 pages, available at: http://www.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.42531/OP16R.pdf

The authors of the paper aim to provide the investor community with benchmarks for the valuation of microfinance assets using two datasets, one being a sample of 200 private equity transactions between 2005 and 2009, the other being data on eight publicly listed low-income financial institutions (LIFIs). Continue Reading »

The Asian Development Bank, a Manila-based regional development bank, has agreed to loan three Uzbekistani banks a total of USD 50 million and provide a grant of USD 600,000 to grow their financing to micro- and small enterprises (MSEs). The three commercial banks receiving the credit line are Ipak Yuli Bank (IYB), HamkorBank and Agrobank. HamkorBank and Agrobank will each receive USD 20 million, and the remaining USD 10 million will go to IYB. The banks are matching the loan amount from ADB with their own resources on a one-to-one basis. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory organization of 35 Indian microfinance companies, has asked Microfinance Transparency (MFTransparency), a US-based non-governmental organization that aims to disseminate accurate and comparable microfinance product cost information, to post on its website information on the interest rates charged by as many of the microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India as possible. Continue Reading »

The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has announced that a program to create microfinance units within commercial banks is progressing smoothly and that the program should be fully operational by the end of the year. Continue Reading »

In a recent article, Akin Ogunbiyi, the managing director of an insurance provider in Nigeria, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, spoke about the future for microinsurance in Nigeria. Continue Reading »