US-based asset manager and investment bank Developing World Markets (DWM) has recently announced that it has expanded and redesigned its proprietary social scorecard to align it with the Impact and Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS), an initiative of the US-based nonprofit Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) to create a common framework for defining, tracking and reporting the performance of for-profit investment intended to solve social and environmental problems [1]. Continue Reading »

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a microfinance investment fund incorporated in Luxembourg, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made debt investments totaling EUR 6.5 million (USD 8.7 million) in two banks to support micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs): Mikrofin Banja Luka (Mikrofin) of Bosnia and Herzegovina and ProCredit Bank Macedonia [1]. Continue Reading »

The Luxembourg Fund Labeling Agency (LuxFLAG), a microfinance institution vehicle (MIV) certification organization, has recently granted the LuxFLAG Microfinance Label, which reassures investors that MIVs actually invest in the sector, to four MIVs for the first time: Microfinance Enhancement Facility SA SICAV-SIF, Selectum SICAV-SIF, Etimos Fund SICAV-SIF and Dual Return Fund SICAV-SIF Vision Microfinance Local Currency. Continue Reading »

Triodos Investment Management, a Netherlands-based manager of four microfinance investment funds, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has invested an undisclosed amount of funds in the following five microfinance institutions (MFIs): DemirBank of Azerbaijan; First Microfinance Bank – Tajikistan (FMFB-TJK) and Arvand, both of Tajikistan; Arnur Credit of Kazakhstan; and Kompanion Financial Group Microfinance Closed Joint Stock Company (Kompanion) of Kyrgyzstan [1]. Continue Reading »

Several members of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of market-based solutions to social and environmental problems, together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, have created the African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF), which is intended to boost Africa’s agriculture sector. Continue Reading »

Christofferson, Robb and Company (CRC), a private UK- and US-based money manager, is working to raise USD 400 million for a new “capital release fund” that will allow banks and financial institutions in developed countries to reduce the amount of capital that must be set aside against losses from their loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. Continue Reading »

BNP Paribas, a financial service provider based in France, recently made loans totaling the equivalent of USD 1.9 million to two microfinance institutions (MFIs): Fundación Espoir (Espoir) of Ecuador and Amret Company Limited (Amret) of Cambodia [1]. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, will loan RWF 3 billion (USD 5 million) to the Rwandan subsidiary of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group, a publicly-traded financial services company, to expand its mortgage finance program and for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Continue Reading »

Published by Symbiotics Research and Advisory; August 2011; 34 pages; available at http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m//template.rc/1.9.53112 Continue Reading »

Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH, an Austrian investment company that specializes in microfinance, recently reported that the Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance Local Currency, a sub-fund of Absolute’s Vision Microfinance that provides loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) exclusively in local currencies, made debt investments totaling the equivalent of USD 1.5 million in unnamed MFIs in Colombia and the Dominican Republic [1]. Continue Reading »

responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss investment company that manages four microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made debt investments totaling the equivalent of USD 2.5 million in microfinance institutions Asian Credit Fund LLP of Kazakhstan, Bank Eskhata (Eskhata) of Tajikistan and XacLeasing, a sister company of Mongolian microfinance institution XacBank [1]. Continue Reading »

The Tuninvest-Africinvest Group, a Tunisia-based private equity company that invests in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), recently announced the closing of its Maghreb Private Equity Fund III (MPEF III) with approximately EUR 96 million (USD 134 million) in capital commitments. Continue Reading »

responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss for-profit company that operates four microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made debt investments of USD 13.5 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) Equity Bank of Kenya and VisionFund Cambodia. Continue Reading »

LeapFrog Investments, a US-based private equity fund focusing on microinsurance activities, will invest USD 15 million in the Shriram Group, an India-based provider of financial services to low-income individuals, to help the organization expand its offering of microinsurance and savings products for up to 10 million clients. Continue Reading »

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution based in the United Kingdom, has agreed to make a three-year loan of KGS 180 million (USD 4 million) in Kompanion Financial Group Microfinance Closed Joint Stock Company, a Kyrgyz microfinance institution (MFI). Continue Reading »

Incofin Investment Management, a private Belgian company that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs) through six investment funds, has recently made debt investments totalling the equivalent of USD 8.75 million in four African MFIs: Promotion of Rural Initiative and Development Enterprises Limited (PRIDE Tanzania); Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria; Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) of Ghana; and First Allied Savings and Loans Limited (FASL), also of Ghana. Continue Reading »

According to a recent story in the Nigeria-based newspaper This DayLive, the Lagos chapter of the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), a trade group of microfinance banks (MFBs) in Nigeria, has established the “NAMBLAG Trust Fund.” Continue Reading »

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral financial institution, has launched the Spanish language “Microfinance in Latin America” blog in an effort to explore the role of microfinance in financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. Continue Reading »