The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently indicated that it intends to lend USD 25 million to Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Leasing, “the largest subsidiary of Yapi Kredi Bank.”
Category: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroFinanza Rating Announces Client Protection Certifications, Ratings in Asia, LAC
During May 2017, Italy’s MicroFinanza Rating (MFR), under license from the US-based Smart Campaign, determined that Kyrgyzstan’s Kompanion Bank and FINCA Pakistan have complied with the certification standards derived from the Smart Campaign’s seven client protection
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 7th Annual Central Asian & Caucasus Microfinance Forum; October 26-27, 2017; Tbilisi, Georgia
Event Name: 7th Annual Central Asian & Caucasus Microfinance Forum
Event Date: October 26 – 27, 2017
Event Location: Tbilisi, Georgia
Summary of Event: The theme of this year’s forum is “Microfinance Goes Digital: the Opportunities and Challenges in the Caucasus and Central Asia.” The event will focus on funding policy, social responsibility and how financial technology
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Green for Growth Fund Loans $22m to UniCredit Bank Serbia for Renewable Energy Projects
The Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a Luxembourg-based facility investing in environmental efforts, recently announced it will loan EUR 20 million (USD 21.9 million) to UniCredit Bank Serbia, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit Group, to “reduce carbon dioxide emissions” by on-lending the funds to enable
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD, TaiwanICDF Loan $44m to Romania’s Banca Transilvania for Residential Energy Efficiency
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently announced that it will disburse a loan of EUR 40 million (USD 44 million) to Banca Transilvania, a Romania-based bank, in order to improve energy efficiency in residences in the country. The funds will come from the Green Economy Financing Facility
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vision Microfinance Funds of C-Quadrat Loan $45m in Countries Including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Nicaragua
C-Quadrat Asset Management recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds loaned a total approximately equivalent to USD 45 million during April to unidentified providers of financial services in a range of countries including Cambodia, Nicaragua and Tajikistan as well as – for the first time –
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Uzbekistan Liberalizes Lending Rules for Microenterprises in Remote Areas, in Regions of High Unemployment or Lacking Established Legal Status
The government of Uzbekistan recently announced that it will allow small-scale entrepreneurs to access loans of up to 20 times country’s monthly minimum wage of UZS 149,775 (USD 40) “without the establishment of legal entit[ies].”
MICROFINANCE EVENT: “Horizon 2037: Fair Finance for All” – 20th Microfinance Centre (MFC) Annual Conference; May 24-26, 2017; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Event Name: “Horizon 2037: Fair Finance for All” – 20th Microfinance Centre (MFC) Annual Conference
Event Date: May 24 – May 26, 2017
Event Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Extends Credit of $20m QNB Finansbank of Turkey for On-lending to Agricultural Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a microfinance investment vehicle led by German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), recently announced that it has provided an additional senior loan to QNB Finansbank, a Turkey-based commercial bank, in the amount of USD 20 million. QNB plans to use the funds to expand its agricultural lending in rural Turkey. In support of the transaction, EFSE is offering QNB
MICROFINANCE EVENT: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) Present Impact Investment for Development Summit 2017; March 21-23; Yerevan, Armenia
Event Name: Impact Investment for Development Summit 2017
Event Date: March 21-23, 2017
Event Location: Yerevan, Armenia
Conference Organizers: The conference is jointly organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD). TEDxYerevan, Impact Hub Yerevan, European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), Impact Alpha and @lliance serve as organizing partners.
Summary of Event: This summit will cover “sustainable” development financing methods with the goal of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $18m in Eurasia, Latin America, Zambia
C-Quadrat Asset Management, an arm of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds loaned a total approximately equivalent to USD 17.5 million to unidentified providers of financial services in Cambodia,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Advise Microfinance Institution (MFI) Agency for Finance of Kosovo (AFK) on Agricultural Services
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to increase economic growth in developing countries, recently announced that it will advise the Agency for Finance (AFK), a microfinance institution (MFI) in Kosovo, on lending strategy and methods to finance the development of the country’s agricultural sector.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroFinanza Rating Issues 10 Institutional, Social Ratings
During February 2017, Italy-based MicroFinanza Rating issued “microfinance institutional ratings” to the following institutions, all with stable outlooks: Indonesia’s Komida, which was assigned a grade of BB; Albania’s NOA, which earned a BBB; Haiti’s ACME, which was assigned a BB+; Vietnam’s Anh Chi Em (ACE), which got a BB-; and two institutions that each received an A-,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Garanti Leasing Borrowing $26m from EFSE to Finance Micro-, Small Enterprises in Turkey
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a microfinance investment vehicle domiciled in Luxembourg, recently announced it is lending EUR 25 million (USD 26.5 million) to Garanti Leasing, a subsidiary of Turkey-based Garanti Bank, to facilitate increased support for micro- and small enterprises in Turkey. Garanti Leasing plans to utilize half
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Syndicates $44m in Debt from BIB, Incofin, MicroVest, Symbiotics for KazMicroFinance (KMF) of Kazakhstan
KazMicroFinance (KMF), a microfinance institution operating in Kazakhstan, recently borrowed USD 44 million syndicated by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in an effort to enable KMF to expand its lending to small businesses. Of the total, IFC is providing USD 5 million
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Lends $2m to VisionFund’s SEF International for Micro-, Small Enterprises in Armenia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently announced that it has loaned AMD 970 million (USD 2 million) to Armenia’s SEF International to support the microfinance institution’s (MFI’s) lending to micro- and small businesses. SEF, which offers
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loaning $5m to FondiBESA for Rural MSMEs, Farmers in Albania
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in the United Kingdom, recently announced that it will loan USD 5 million for rural micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and individual farmers in Albania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Loans $29m to El Salvador’s Fedecredito for On-lending to Cooperatives, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Partner Mikrokreditna Fondacija for Agricultural Microenterprises
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently announced two loans to support the provision of financial services to people with low incomes in El Salvador and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FMO is lending USD 24 million to