General Electric Consumer Finance (GE Money) has made a three-year commitment worth USD 1.5 million to support FINCA’s (Foundation for International Community Assistance) Village Banking Campaign. Founded in 1984, FINCA’s Village Banking aims to reach 1 million of the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs by the end of 2010. During 2008, FINCA will use the first USD 500,000 installment of the funding to expand in Middle East, Africa, Eurasia and Asia. Continue Reading »

HSBC Amanah, the global Islamic banking division of HSBC group, has partnered with Islamic Relief, an international development and relief organization, to offer Islamic Microfinance in Pakistan. Islamic microfinance, just like Islamic banking, will provide financial services to devout Muslims in accordance with the Shariah, the Islamic law. HSBC Amanah will provide both training and funding for Islamic Relief’s microfinance projects, starting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Continue Reading »

Written by Kate Lauer, lawyer and a policy advisory consultant to Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), published in June 2008 as Number 13 of Occasional Papers, a publication of CGAP, 28 pages, available at http://www.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.4213/OccasionalPaper_13.pdf Continue Reading »

A partnership of big players seeks to franchise independently owned groceries throughout the Philippines. Founded in 2006, Hapinoy targets to open and/or convert 40,000 sari-sari stores by the end of 2008, by providing especially women borrowers a Hapinoy franchise. Continue Reading »

Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has granted provisional license to AccessBank Liberia Limited (ABL), a microfinance bank established in 2008, to operate as a commercial entity. AccessBank Liberia will open with an initial paid-in capital of USD 6 million, the minimum capital required by the CBL of banks operating in Liberia. AccessBank will focus on microfinance lending while also provide short and medium-term lending to small and medium enterprises. Continue Reading »

ACE INA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bermuda-based casual insurance company ACE Limited, announced that it will be making a three-year USD 720,000 grant to US based international development organization Freedom from Hunger (FFH). Established in 1946, FFH works in developing countries to provide self-help programs against hunger and poverty. The organization’s work is specifically targeted to those who live on USD 1 per day or less. FFH will use the ACE grant to bring microfinance and financial education to nearly 3 million Mexican women, through its Credit with Education program. Continue Reading »

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), a Pan African bank based in Togo, acquired a 75 percent stake in Kenya’s East African Building Society (EABS) Bank. The transnational changed the bank’s name to Ecobank Kenya Limited and appointed businessman Peter Kanyago as the new chairman. The Pandit family, founders and the single largest shareholders of EABS, will retain 25 percent representation in Ecobank Kenya Limited. Although the value of the deal was not disclosed, it was estimated to total USD 18,6 million (KES 1.3 billion). Continue Reading »

Dutch real estate investment company Annexum launched Dutch Microfund, a microfinance investment fund specifically targeted at the private and institutional investors. Dutch Microfund offers private investors the opportunity to invest in microfinance institutions (MFIs) directly or indirectly, through partners and mandates. The investment options are loan, equity and collateralized debt obligations (CDO). The average expected return is 7%-9% given a minimum investment of USD 1,561 (Euros 1000). Continue Reading »

Mercy Corps, a global relief organization, announced the creation of a ‘bank of banks’ (BoB), a commercial bank that will partner with other microfinance institutions (MFIs), in Indonesia. The MAXIS (Maximizing Financial Access and Innovation at Scale) program, developed by Mercy Corps to build BoB and provide technical asistance, received USD 19.4 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor initiative. The total capital supporting the creation of Indonesia’s first microfinance wholesale bank adds up to approximately USD 33 million, with funding from investors such as International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Hivos-Triodos Fund, a joint initiative of the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) and Triodos Bank, based in Netherlands. Continue Reading »

The Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international bank established in 1991 to support market economies and democracies in countries from central Europe to central Asia, will meet to discuss an increase in previously announced syndicated loan to Microfinance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA). Continue Reading »

St Thomas Co-operative Credit Union Limited (STCCU), a non-profit financial cooperative based in southeastern Jamaica, launched its Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) unit. The initiative is funded by Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), a five year technical assistance programme co-funded by the European Union and the Government of Jamaica. In addition to providing financial assistance, the unit will also provide technical assistance including micro-enterprise training programmes and business counselling. Continue Reading »

India’s largest government owned life insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), set a new target of selling 4 million micro insurance policies this year. In a speech given at the SKOCH Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Summit, LIC Chairman TS Vijayan said that two years ago, the corporation had sold 0.8 million micro insurance policies and this year, planned to increase its sales five fold. Continue Reading »