Pranab Makherjee, Finance Minister of India, has asked insurance agencies to provide more microinsurance services to people living in rural areas. He made this request when speaking at an inaugural ceremony for the Insurance Institute of India, formerly known as The Federation of Insurance Institutes. Continue Reading »
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is working with the Japanese government, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Commonwealth Secretariat, a voluntary association of 54 countries which share goals in democracy and development, to train bankers in the Caribbean on sustainable small and medium-sized banking strategies. Continue Reading »
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is loaning USD 3 million to Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia (ACBA) Leasing, which was originally established by IFC. Continue Reading »
The Microinsurance Network held its first member meeting in Germany on June 2-3, 2010. Continue Reading »
The US Agency for International Development (USAID)-Tijara, an economic growth organization with a five-year mandate to promote private sector growth and employment in Iraq, has released a statement announcing the establishment of Iraq’s 100th microfinance branch location. Continue Reading »
Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, two states in southern India, have mandated that non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) register under local moneylending laws, but The Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC), an NFBC in India, has challenged this mandate in Supreme Court [1]. Continue Reading »
Vastushodh Projects Private Limited, a real estate development company in India, is pairing up with The Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC) to provide housing for the urban poor. MHFC has total funds of INR 22.5 million (USD 483,000) and total share capital INR 22 million (USD 473,000) as of March 2009 [1]. The organizations are setting up a micro township located in Yevat, a village in the Pune district of Maharashtra, located in southwestern India. Continue Reading »
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a regional development bank headquartered in Manila, the Philippines, which in 2007 approved USD 10.1 billion in loans [1], is providing a USD 3 million grant to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to offer services to female entrepreneurs in India. The grant will target women who have “outgrown traditional microfinance support, but who are unable to access more conventional bank financing – the so called ‘missing middle’ group of the small enterprise sector” [3]. Continue Reading »
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a loan of USD 200 million to be given to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for lending to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India. Continue Reading »
The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has signed an agreement that will support Indonesian workers who have migrated to Malaysia for work. Continue Reading »
The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) has partnered up with Sanabel, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Arab microfinance [1], and CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), an independent policy and research center housed at the World Bank Group [2], to release the Arab Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report for 2009 [3]. Continue Reading »
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has released a report called “Doing Business in the East African Community 2010.” The report examines business regulations in five East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda [1]. Continue Reading »
The Freedom from Hunger Research Team in Davis, California has released an opinion piece in an effort to mediate the two sides of an argument regarding the influence of microfinance. Continue Reading »
As a response to skepticism of the success of microfinance in a study done by economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, and Cynthia Kinnan, six organizations released an open letter citing the advantages of microfinance. Continue Reading »
Fullerton India Credit Company Limited (FICCL), a non-banking finance company (NBFC) in India [1], is adding microfinance services to its repertoire [2]. Its parent company, Angelica Investment Limited, is located in Singapore [2], yet the company chose India as its first market for microfinance because of the country’s large underserved population. Continue Reading »
Equity Bank (EB), a microfinance institution (MFI) turned commercial bank in Kenya [1], has signed a KES 4 billion (USD 50.9 million) [2] loan agreement with the China Development Bank (CDB), a state-owned lending institution which targets national development in China [3]. Continue Reading »
Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu, Director-General of Niger State Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Microfinance Agencies, has announced that the number of microfinance banks (MFBs) in Niger, the largest state by area in Nigeria, is expected to grow from 11 to 31 by the middle of 2010. According to Mr Aliyu, this will employ between 300 and 500 college graduates in the state. Over CFA 1.5 billion (USD 2.8 million) in total have been disbursed for the creation of these new banks by the local governments. Included in this amount is CFA 30 million (USD 56,000) given interest-free to 18 microcredit cooperatives for consulting services as well as for advocacy and outreach efforts across the state. Local subdivisions of the state government have spent over CFA 260 million (USD 490,000) towards renovating the bank offices. Continue Reading »
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