ACCESS Development Services, a nonprofit offering consulting services to microfinance institutions (MFIs), has released its “State of the Sector Report 2010,” (not yet available online) which questions whether MFIs are responsible lenders, citing “supernormal” profits for Indian MFIs compared to Indian commercial banks. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the microfinance data clearinghouse, recently argued that microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world have increased their commitment to transparency in social performance based on a surge in applications to the MIX’s 2010 Social Performance Reporting Awards, which acknowledge openness in reporting. Continue Reading »

The World Microfinance Forum Geneva recently hosted a debate on issues related to corporate governance and its importance in managing crises in microfinance. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Center (MFC) for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, an international network of approximately 100 microfinance institutions (MFIs), and the Polish Partnership for Financial Education, which is a program of MFC’s Partnership for Financial Education for Vulnerable Adults (FEVA), have introduced a training module for low-income families in Poland entitled “Debt Management.” Continue Reading »

The Institute for Financial Management Research (IFMR) Mezzanine Finance Private Limited (IFMR Mezz), a microfinance investment arm of the nonprofit IFMR, has provided funds worth INR 10 million (approximately USD 221,000) to Saija Finance Private Limited, a non-banking finance company providing microfinance services in northern India, in the form of unsecured, subordinated debt. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Center (MFC) for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, an international network of approximately 100 microfinance institutions (MFIs), has concluded the second meeting of a policy working group for its Financial Education Program (FEP) for Low-Income Households in Uzbekistan. Continue Reading »

Intellecap, a social-sector advisory firm with offices in India and the US, has released a white paper analyzing the events leading up to the ongoing microfinance lending crisis in Andhra Pradesh, a state on the southeastern coast of India. Continue Reading »

The proceedings of the 6th International Microinsurance Conference that took place on November 9-11, 2010, in Manila, Philippines, have been published by its organizers, the Munich Re Foundation, a nonprofit founded by German reinsurer Munich Re, and the Microinsurance Network, a for-profit organization that promotes the development of microinsurance products through information sharing and stakeholder organization. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, recently announced that it will provide an equity investment of USD 15 million in Lok II, a venture capital fund investing primarily in microfinance. Continue Reading »

Written by Dilip Ratha, Sanket Mohapatra, and Ani Silwal, published by The Migration and Remittances Team of the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group (DECPG) in April 2010, 18 pages, available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1110315015165/MigrationAndDevelopmentBrief12.pdf

The Migration and Remittances Team of the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group (DECPG), an organization providing information and analysis on global economic trends, has published a paper entitled “Outlook for Remittance Flows 2010-2011.” Continue Reading »

Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Kolkata, India, has decreased its annual interest rate on loans from 24 percent to 19.1 percent on a reducing balance. Continue Reading »

The Credit Information Bureau in Tajikistan has been launched by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank; the National Bank of Tajikistan, the country’s central bank; and the Swiss government as part of the Azerbaijan-Central Asia Financial Markets Infrastructure Advisory Services Project, which is funded by the Swiss government. Continue Reading »

The World Bank Group, a group of five organizations with a mission to improve living standards for people in the developing world, has published the fourth iteration of its Remittance Prices Worldwide database. Continue Reading »

Africa Capital and Business Support (ACBS) Limited, a Nigerian financial intermediary, has secured USD 400 million in funds for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nigeria. Continue Reading »

Kashf Foundation, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Pakistan, and Kashf Microfinance Bank, a full-service microfinance bank founded by the Kashf Foundation in 2008, have signed an agreement to begin setting up savings kiosks at Kashf Foundation branches. Continue Reading »

Written by Karel Janda and Barbora Svárovská, published by the Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University in Prague, 2009, 35 pages, available at:

http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.41460/Investing%20into%20Microfinance%20Investment%20Funds.pdf

This paper aims to measure the performance of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) in terms of risk and returns to investors. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, will provide a USD 30 million loan to Banco Patagonia S.A., a commercial bank in Argentina, to lend to farmers and small and medium-sized agribusinesses. Continue Reading »

BlueOrchard Finance, a Swiss asset management company, will provide a USD 5 million loan from its Dexia MicroCredit Fund (DMCF) to the Belarusian Bank for Small Business (BBSB), a bank that focuses on micro- and small enterprises. Continue Reading »