Symbiotics Investment Group, a Swiss for-profit microfinance investment intermediary, recently disbursed a USD 10 million syndicated loan to Fundacion de la Mujer Bucaramanga, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Colombia. Continue Reading »

The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises), an initiative of the German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank that invests in financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, recently agreed to disburse a senior loan facility of USD 2 million to Palestine for Credit and Development, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Palestine’s West Bank that is known as Faten in Arabic. Continue Reading »

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a fund that seeks to foster economic development in southeastern Europe and parts of Central Asia, has made an equity investment of EUR 479,000 (USD 643,000) in Kreditimi Rural I Kosoves LLC (KRK), a microfinance institution based in Kosovo. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently announced plans to donate USD 1.96 million to the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO), a Barbados-based company that was established in 2011. Continue Reading »

Austria-based asset management company Absolute Portfolio Management (APM) recently announced that it has disbursed the equivalent of USD 5 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America through its two Dual Return-Vision Microfinance funds in early 2013. Continue Reading »

US-based financial service provider Citigroup recently informed MicroCapital that it has issued a local-currency loan equivalent to USD 2 million to Tamweelcom, a Jordanian nonprofit microfinance institution (MFI), to support the growth of its loan portfolio. Continue Reading »

The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise), an initiative of the German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank that provides debt and equity to financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), announced that it has agreed to loan USD 20 million to Bank Audi, a private bank headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in MENA. Continue Reading »

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, reportedly approved a loan of USD 20 million to be disbursed to establish a government-run Microfinance Development Program in Russia, for which the Russian government will budget USD 40 million. Continue Reading »

The nonprofit AlHuda Center for Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) has signed an agreement with VisionFund AzerCredit, a non-bank financial institution in Azerbaijan and subsidiary of US-based NGO VisionFund International, to conduct market research in urban areas of Azerbaijan regarding the demand for Islamic microfinance. Continue Reading »

Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), an organization that offers financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and social business projects in Africa and Eurasia, recently approved a three-year loan to Azerbaijani MFI FinDev in local currency equivalent to USD 666,000. Continue Reading »

Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based organization that offers financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and social business projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia, has recently loaned Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (Komida), an Indonesian MFI, the local-currency equivalent of USD 751,000 with a three-year term. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the US-based World Bank Group, and the private-sector office of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multilateral mechanism established by the G20 group of 20 large economies, have announced that each of the organizations will invest USD 5 million in Root Capital, a US-based nonprofit social investment fund. Continue Reading »

MicroEnsure, a UK-based microinsurance subsidiary of US-based nonprofit Opportunity International, recently announced that it will be partnering with Meteo Rwanda, the country’s meteorological agency, in order to provide weather index insurance (WII) to small-scale Rwandan farmers. Continue Reading »

ResponsAbility Social Investments, a Swiss investment company, recently made a loan of USD 1.5 million to Al Majmoua, a nonprofit microcredit organization also known as the Lebanese Association for Development. Continue Reading »

In December 2012, Dual Return-Vision Microfinance and Dual Return-Vision Microfinance Local Currency, two funds managed by Austria-based asset management company Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), disbursed a total equivalent to USD 11.75 million in loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide, including MFIs in Latin America and Africa. Continue Reading »

Global Partnerships (GP), a nonprofit investor based in the US city of Seattle, Washington, has launched a partnership with Friendship Bridge, a US-based nonprofit microfinance institution that provides rural Guatemalan women with microcredit loans as well as business and preventive health education. Continue Reading »

Tagit, a Singaporean mobile technology company, reportedly has partnered with Vietnamese mobile payment provider Smartlink to launch a mobile banking service that will link the customers of 51 financial institutions and insurance providers. Continue Reading »

Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) Micro Credit Limited, the microfinance arm of Sri Lankan financial service provider LOLC, has received a five-year syndicated loan of USD 55.5 million. Continue Reading »