ASA International, a holding company managed and partially owned by ASA, one of Bangladesh’s largest NGOs, has announced it will use USD $150 million of equity raised from foreign investors to expand commercial lending outside Bangladesh. Continue Reading »
Source: Intellecap. Continue Reading »
Source: The MicroFinance Capital Market (MFDAQ). Continue Reading »
A new player to India’s microfinance space, Chennai-based Equitas has announced it will enlist the assistance of private equity firms to secure the organization’s second round of funding. Equitas hopes to raise USD 12.5 million from two private equity firms over a two-month period to establish additional branch offices in India’s southern region. Continue Reading »
Earlier this year, the Centrale de Communications Luxembourg (CCLux), a subsidiary of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, began listing the Luxembourg Fund Labelling Agency (LuxFLAG) Microfinance Label as a searchable classification on its online Consultation Portal. For users of CCLux, this means that they can now quickly and easily identify microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) which have been approved by LuxFLAG. Continue Reading »
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will partner with Britain’s Standard Chartered Bank, a commercial bank, by investing USD 45 million for bank-issued credit-linked notes, which will allow the bank to increase lending to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Africa and Asia.
PlaNet Finance United Arab Emirates (PlaNet Finance UAE), a branch of the global non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides technical assistance and consulting to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in close to 60 countries, held a golf tournament entitled “Tee Off Against Poverty” on April 23rd at the Wadi by Faldo course of the Emirates Golf Club (EGC) in Dubai in an effort to increase awareness about microfinance amongst international financial firms and other global corporations, according to a press release on ArabianBusiness.com. Continue Reading »
Social Capital Markets 2008: Where Investors & Entrepreneurs Converge
October 13-16, 2008, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California
The creators of xigi.net, an interactive database containing “information about people, organizations and investment offerings in social enterprise, microfinance, housing, fair trade, cleantech, nonprofit facilities and many other sectors,” will hold an event titled “Social Capital Markets 2008″ (SoCap08) to gather social entrepreneurs, investors, and organizations to discuss and learn about pertinent issues to the nascent social capital industry. As the conference web site states, microfinance will be directly addressed during the event and the agenda will include speakers from the global microfinance constituency. Additionally, SoCap08 will be comprised of entrepreneur-focused tracks and investor-focused tracks, the latter of which will include “Microfinance Investing.” Continue Reading »
Authored by Nigar Pirmamedova, the Chief Accountant and Financial Manager for the Azerbaijan Micro-finance Association (AMFA), a Baku-based institution with 22 member organizations, in partnership with the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX), released January 2008, nine pages, available at http://www.mixmbb.org/Publications/002-REG/EASTERN%20EUROPE%20AND%20CENTRAL%20ASIA%20(ECA)/04-Azerbaijan%20Benchmarking%20Reports/Azerbaijan%20Benchmarking%20Report%202006.pdf Continue Reading »
The Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) is a proposed new business vehicle in the United States which Americans for Community Development (ACD), a Washington DC-based coalition of organizations promoting the model, claims “combines the best features of a for-profit Limited Liability Company (LLC) with the socially beneficial aspects of a nonprofit.” Continue Reading »
Written by Ray Rahman and Saif Shah Mohammed of MF Analytics Ltd., a US financial services house focused on microfinance and small-and-medium enterprise (SME) that participated in the world’s first microfinance securitization, released March 2007 by MF Analytics, 22 pages, available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.com/redirect.php?mode=link&id=45785
Background & Risks
In August 2006, the world’s first securitization of micro-credit receivables, known as BRAC Micro Credit Securitization Series I, was secured. It signaled the birth of the Micro-Credit Backed Security (MCBS), a new instrument seen as a source of funding for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and designed to be relatively safe for investors. The project partnered MF Analytics with BRAC (Building Resources Across Communities), Bangladesh’s largest non-governmental organization (NGO), which operates an MFI and programs for healthcare, education, and social advocacy.
Co-authored by Gil Crawford, CEO of MicroVest, a Washington, DC-based private microfinance investment firm, and Lauren Clark, the Communications Manager for MicroVest, released July 2007 as Volume 10-Number 1 of Microenterprise Development Review, a publication of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 11 pages, available at http://www.microvestfund.com/docs/microenter_dev_%207-16-07.pdf
On March 10-11, 2008, ACCION International and Credit Suisse held the third Cracking the Capital Markets conference on microfinance investment. The conference brought together hedge fund managers, institutional and private investors, leading rating agencies, and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to discuss the challenges, successes, and future of microfinance investments. The first and second articles of this series can also be found on the MicroCapital website.
As a follow up to a presentation at last year’s conference, Nicolas Krauss presented an update to an initial study on the correlation of microfinance to other emerging markets investments. In addition, he discussed whether the correlation (or lack there of) position microfinance as an attractive investment for portfolio diversification. Presentations from this panel can be found here. Continue Reading »
As posted by MicroCapital on Thursday, Reliance Capital of India, a publicly-traded financial institution offering a wide range of services and reporting March 2007 total assets of USD 1.5 billion, announced a new microfinance initiative on March 3rd beginning with the financing of two microfinance institutions (MFIs) based in Gujarat state. As stated in the press release, MAS Financial Services Limited (MFSL) and Vardan Trust received the first checks and Reliance Capital plans to continue the first phase of the initiative in Maharashtra state before expanding nation-wide at an undetermined date. Mr. K. V. Srinivasan, the Deputy CEO of Reliance Consumer Finance—a division of Reliance Capital offering loans for a variety of products—expressed that the methodology of the initiative will be to lend to MFIs which will then on-lend to individuals, self help groups (SHGs), and other joint liability microfinance structures. SHGs are unions of individuals, usually connected by geographical location, which organize to take advantage of the financial services that can be utilized from their collective assets. Continue Reading »
PODER PHILANTHROPY FORUM
MARCH 11-12, 2008, GUSMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, MIAMI, FLORIDA
PODER Magazine, a monthly publication written for business and political elite focusing on the growing influence of Latin America and the US Hispanic community, announced on Tuesday that it will be hosting, along with its partners, a Philanthropy Forum designed to encourage increased collaboration by gathering global practitioners and scholars as well as to foster innovation in private and corporate philanthropy in the region. According to the PR Newswire release, co-sponsoring partners include the City of Miami, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Foreign Policy magazine, Georgetown University, Impremedia, the Inter-American Development Bank, Miami Dade College, the Miami Herald Publishing Company, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (Knight Foundation), Synergos.org, and Univision. Continue Reading »
MicroCapital will review the conclusions from last year’s conference in preparation for the upcoming third annual Microfinance Cracking the Capital Markets conference in May, 2008. The conference was summarized in a 16-page publication written by Rekha Reddy and is part of ACCION’s InSight series, available here. The conference was hosted by ACCION International and sponsored by Credit Suisse. ACCION is a private, non-profit microfinance organization founded in 1961 that specializes in global micro-enterprise loans, business training, and other financial services. Continue Reading »
In a press release, Standard and Poor’s Ratings Service (S&P) announced that it intends to launch a pilot ratings program for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will sponsor the pilot program and will work closely with the S&P throughout the process. Continue Reading »
Rating reports are for sale as of January 7, 2008 Continue Reading »
RSS 1.0
Blogs that Link Here
