Event Name: International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance

Event Date: April 5 – April 6, 2011

Event Location: Quatre Bornes, Mauritius Continue Reading »

MFTransparency, a US-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) that aims to provide information on credit products and pricing, and Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in Luxembourg in 2008, recently announced that the two outfits have partnered to host the West African Transparent Pricing Workshop on March 3, 2011, in Dakar, Senegal. The event will bring together representatives of microfinance institutions (MFIs), microfinance networks, government officials and financial regulators for a one-day training workshop to promote pricing transparency standards followed by a half-day conference on current topics in West African microfinance markets. Continue Reading »

A Rwandan taskforce consisting of officials from the justice, local government and internal security ministries, as well as the National Bank of Rwanda (often abbreviated to the French acronym BNR) and the directorate of Public Prosecution, has reportedly blamed the national police force for delays in the recovery of RWF 7.2 billion (USD 12 million) from microfinance borrowers who have failed to repay their loans. So far, RWF 22 million (USD 36,700) of the outstanding funds has been collected. Continue Reading »

Advans SA, a microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) registered in Luxembourg, recently announced the launch of Advans Bank Tanzania in Dar es Salaam. As reported by MicroCapital in November, 2010, the new microfinance institution (MFI) will offer products such as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), savings accounts in local and foreign currencies and domestic money transfers. Continue Reading »

ACCION Microfinanças, a microfinance institution (MFI) operating in Brazil as a subsidiary of US-based nonprofit ACCION International, recently disbursed its first loan. Officially established in December 2010, ACCION Microfinanças aims support to poor people and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Amazon region through access to microcredit. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank Group, a multilateral development finance organization based in Washington, DC, recently provided Bank South Pacific (BSP) Rural, a subsidiary of the privately-owned commercial bank BSP, a USD 771,000 “performance-based” grant through the Pacific Microfinance Initiative, a joint effort between the Australian government and IFC, to bring electronic banking services to small business owners in Papua New Guinea. Continue Reading »

The Farz Foundation, an Islamic microfinance institution (MFI) based in Pakistan, recently hosted the first National Islamic Microfinance Conference in Lahore, Pakistan, in an effort to develop solutions for the microfinance industry in Pakistan. Continue Reading »

Event Name: Victoria Microcredit Conference

Event Date: March 4 – March 5, 2011

Event Location: Victoria, British Columbia Continue Reading »

Event Name: Microfinance Investment Summit Africa

Event Date: April 5 – April 7, 2011

Event Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Continue Reading »

Event Name: Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) Americas Conference and Expo

Event Date: March 21 – March 24, 2011

Event Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently honored Obioma Liyel-Imoke, the first lady of Cross River State and founder of microlender Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realization (POWER), with the Best Support First Lady for Women Empowerment award for the second consecutive year at the country’s fifth Annual Microfinance Conference and Entrepreneurial Award Ceremony. Continue Reading »

Agora Microfinance Partners LLP, a London-based outfit that invests equity in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Asia and Africa, will launch the Agora Microfinance Fund in early 2011. The microfinance investment vehicle will be the first microfinance investment fund managed by Agora Microfinance Partners, which currently invests via Mauritius-based investment vehicle Moringaway. Continue Reading »

Women’s World Banking (WWB) Center for Microfinance Leadership, an organization that provides technical and advisory services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) affiliated with WWB, and the Aresty Institute for Executive Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business recently partnered to host the second annual Advanced Leadership Program, a multi-day course focusing on trends and best practices in the microfinance industry. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank Group, a multilateral development finance organization based in Washington, DC, recently disbursed a syndicated loan equivalent to USD 45 million to Banco Industrial do Brasil (BIB), a commercial bank based in São Paulo, Brazil, with the intent of increasing financing initiatives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a trade association of Indian microfinance lenders, has set up a committee to investigate claims that SKS Microfinance, a for-profit microfinance institution (MFI); SHARE Microfin, a regulated non-banking finance company (NBFC); and Spandana Sphoorty, another for-profit MFI, took advantage of clients through the use of mutual benefit trusts (MBTs) to converting the institutions into for-profit entities. Continue Reading »

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), an internet and telephone service provider based in Islamabad, recently reached an agreement with the licensed banking arm of Pakistani microfinance institution (MFI) National Rural Support Program (NRSP), NRSP Microfinance Bank, to provide the central and branch offices of the bank with internet connections and bank surveillance. Continue Reading »

A new book from Asian Development Bank (ADB)—Rural Finance in Poverty-Stricken Areas in the People’s Republic of China—pushes for reforms in China’s rural finance industry, including its microfinance industry, that it argues would help small businesses and alleviate poverty. Continue Reading »

A group of 40 global investors in the microfinance industry, including US retirement planning firm TIAA-CREF and several microfinance investment vehicles (MIV), recently launched a set of guiding principles for investing in the microfinance industry at the Responsible Finance Forum in The Hague, Netherlands. The initiative – titled “Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance” – is reportedly the brainchild of Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, and a core group of Dutch investors, including; Triodos, a microfinance investment vehicle (MIV); Goodwell, a for-profit social investment outfit; Oikocredit, a cooperative investment fund; PGGM, an investment and pension firm; and SNS Asset Management, an institutional investment group. The group and Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima developed the principles together with CGAP and the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a network of international investors created to promote the practice of responsible investing. Continue Reading »