The European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending bank of the European Union; the World Bank Group, a family of five organizations that provide leveraged loans and grants to developing countries; and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution headquartered in London, recently launched a new joint international financial institution (IFI) action plan that is intended to rekindle growth in Central and South-Eastern Europe by supporting private and public sector initiatives including infrastructure, corporate investment and local financial sectors.
Category: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
SPECIAL REPORT: Alalay Sa Kaunlaran Incorporated (ASKI) of the Philippines Takes $127k European Microfinance Award for Innovation in Food Security
The fourth European Microfinance Award, which focused this year on food security, has been awarded to Alalay Sa Kaunlaran Incorporated (ASKI) of the Philippines for its work serving people in rural areas with traditional financial services as well as community development efforts. Executive Director Rolando Victoria of ASKI, who is pictured at the right, stated that, “The motivation at the time [of our founding] was credit…. Now we were able to install a hanging bridge…linking farmers to markets.” Another way that ASKI has assisted its clients is by linking groups of customers with major buyers. A signature achievement was working with government partners to connect small-scale growers of onions and cassava with fast-food restaurant chain Jollibee Foods Corporation, which reported sales of PHP 44 billion (USD 1 billion) during the year ending June 2012. Mr Victoria reported that one of the challenges ASKI had to overcome was convincing farmers of the value of having a guaranteed customer with a price set in advance, even if market prices might turn out to be higher after the harvest. The award was presented as part of European Microfinance Week, which closes in Luxembourg on November 16.
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Platform Remittances Action Group, GIZ, PHB Development Release Handbook: “Financial Literacy for Remittances and Diaspora Investments”
This afternoon, the Remittances Action Group of the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) met to share member experiences, plan future action steps and announce the release of the “Financial Literacy for Remittances and Diaspora Investments” handbook. The document, which is the first of three planned outputs to be completed by the group, was published by German bilateral development agency GIZ, with participation from PHB Development, a Belgium-based consulting firm, and e-MFP, which is a Luxembourg-based membership organization. As the handbook was released as a compact disc and on paper, it is not available online other than via the above link as of today. Details on the other proceedings of the meeting, such as the other planned outputs of the Remittance Action Group and news from action group members, are slated for publication by MicroCapital in a separate brief.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Lends $70m to Garanti Bank of Turkey, Hipotekarna Banka of Montenegro, Bai Tushum of Kyrgyz Republic
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution based in London, recently extended a USD 60 million credit line to Garanti Bank, a Turkish private bank, to develop small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owned by women.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Daiwa Securities of Asia to Issue Microfinance Bond in South Africa, Turkey
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, will issue a microfinance bond to Japanese retail and institutional investors in an effort to expand financial access for poor people in South Africa and Turkey.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $453k to Opportunity Microcredit Romania
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based investment fund that mobilizes capital for microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently informed MicroCapital that it has loaned the local-currency equivalent of USD 453,000 to Opportunity Microcredit Romania (OMRO), a Romanian MFI that is a member of the US-based Opportunity International network.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: isePankur.com Now Connecting Lenders From Across Europe With Borrowers in Estonia
IsePankur, an Estonian online lending platform allowing individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises to borrow and lend to each other, recently began allowing anyone within the European Union to loan as little as EUR 5 (USD 6.40) to individuals and organizations in Estonia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Dual Return-Vision Microfinance Fund Invests $3.2m in FINCA Russia, AzerCredit of Azerbaijan, Bank Constanta of Georgia, Mikrofin of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH (APM), an Austrian investment company that specializes in microfinance and asset management, recently disbursed USD 3.2 million in loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina through a microfinance investment vehicle that it manages, the Dual Return-Vision Microfinance Fund.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Western Union, ICICI Bank, MasterCard Unveil Prepaid Card in India
Western Union, a US-based financial services and communications company; ICICI Bank, a commercial bank in India;and Mastercard, a global payments and technology company recently launched the Western Union- ICICI Bank Prepaid Card in India.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banks in Mongolia Back Movable Collateral Reforms in Effort to Boost Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Lending
The Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA), a nonprofit association of financial institutions in Mongolia; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank Group; and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution headquartered in London, recently hosted a roundtable event to deliberate on lending reforms with respect to broadening access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other borrowers in Mongolia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation Aims to Boost Entrepreneurship in Romania with $10m Loan to Patria Credit
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank Group, recently agreed to loan RON 36.6 million (USD 10.3 million) to Patria Credit, a non-banking microfinance institution in Romania, with the goal of enhancing access to finance for micro- and small-scale entrepreneurs in Romania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oxfam, City of London, Symbiotics Invest $1.6m in Xac Leasing of Mongolia through Small Enterprise Impact Investing Fund (SEIIF)
Oxfam UK, a UK-based charity, City of London and Symbiotics, a Swiss microfinance investment intermediary, recently launched a joint initiative known as the Small Enterprise Impact Investing Fund (SEIIF). SEIIF is intended to deliver measurable social as well as financial returns to its stakeholders by investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through financial intermediaries operating in developing countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Convenes Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee
The Reserve Bank of India, the country’s financial regulatory authority, recently announced the inauguration of a financial inclusion advisory committee (FIAC) under the chairmanship of the bank’s Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Luxembourg Directorate for Development and Cooperation, European Investment Bank, Appui au Développement Autonome Unveil $5.2m Microfinance Project, MicroMED Tunisia
The Directorate for Development and Cooperation (Lux-Development), an agency of the government of Luxembourg, and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union’s lending institution, recently unveiled MicroMED Tunisia, a EUR 4 million (USD 5.2 million), five-year initiative intended to aid the development of the microfinance sector in Tunisia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Appui au Developpement Autonome, BSB, Confederation des Institutions Financieres Partner on Microinsurance in West Africa
Appui au Developpement Autonome (ADA), a Luxembourg-based nonprofit organisation, recently partnered with Confédération des Institutions Financières (CIF), a Burkina-Faso-based association of six West African savings cooperatives, to implement microinsurance projects across five countries in West Africa.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution AccessBank of Azerbaijan Launches Credit Cards
AccessBank, a microfinance bank in Azerbaijan, began offering credit cards to its customers on October 10, 2012.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ResponsAbility Social Investments Loans $1.5m to AccessBank Tanzania, $1.3m to EKI of Bosnia and Herzegovina
ResponsAbility Social Investments, a Swiss investment company, recently informed MicroCapital that it has loaned USD 1 million through the responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund (rAGMF), one of the microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) it manages, to AccessBank Tanzania, a commercial bank established as part of Germany’s AccessHolding in 2007.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Microfinance Microscope 2012; Impact of Financial Access in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Economic Opportunities and Financial Outcomes of Microfinance
“Global Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment 2012;” by the Economist Intelligence Unit; published by The Economist; 72 pages; available at: http://www5.iadb.org/mif/en-us/home/knowledge.aspx?idPublication=64206