A donor-capitalized insurance facility, Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO), has been developed by a syndicate of stakeholders in an effort to empower Haiti’s microentrepreneurs to protect themselves against the economic aftermath of natural catastrophes. Continue Reading »
The World Bank Group, a Washington, DC-based group of five institutions with a mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world, has published a book titled “Protecting Mobile Money Against Financial Crimes”. The book was written as a guide to delivering mobile banking services to unbanked customers in rural areas [1]. Based on fieldwork in eight markets including Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and Zambia and research in more than ten countries, the book suggests approaches to mitigate the risks associated with mobile money [1]. Continue Reading »
AccessBank, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Azerbaijan, has received the first tranche of USD 10 million as part of a USD 20 million syndicated loan from Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership that aims to promote developing economies, and Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB), the development bank of Austria. The three-year syndicated loan was organized by FMO with participation from OeEB, with each institution contributing USD 10 million. The loan will be directed to financing micro- and small businesses in Azerbaijan. Continue Reading »
The European Progress Microfinance Facility, which seeks to enable microfinance institutions (MFIs) within the European Union (EU) to increase lending to entrepreneurs by issuing guarantees, loans and equity financing to MFIs, has signed an agreement to supply Bulgarian MFI Mikrofond AD with an undisclosed amount of funding [1]. Mikrofond AD was established in 1999 with the goal of financing Bulgarian entrepreneurs who do not have access to the traditional banking system. As of 2010, Mikrofond reports 10 branches and having disbursed 9,000 loans with a total value of BGN 57 million (USD 41.3 million). Continue Reading »
The Smart Campaign, a global initiative to improve accountability regarding client protection in the microfinance industry, has released proposed revisions to its “Client Protection Principles”, the campaign’s framework is intended to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) practice good ethics and smart business, as well as a guidance document created to act as a bridge between the principles and practice. Continue Reading »
Shahid Khandker and Hassan Zaman, senior economists at the World Bank, recently reviewed published studies such as The World Bank’s 2008 Poverty Assessment and the records of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), a government-backed microfinance funder, an effort to determine the role that microfinance has played in the economic development of Bangladesh since the 1970s. Continue Reading »
BlueOrchard Private Equity Fund (BOPE Fund), an investment vehicle of Switzerland-based, commercial microfinance intermediary Blue Orchard, has announced its first distribution to investors. The USD 7.5 million distribution comes three years after the fund’s first close and includes proceeds from a partial exit from indirect shareholding in TenGer Financial Group, the single owner of XacBank, a Mongolian community development bank and microfinance institution (MFI). BOPE Fund remains a direct shareholder of TenGer Financial Group which reported total assets of MNT 322 billion (USD 256 million). Continue Reading »
Founder and chief executive officer Alex Counts of the Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit, recently expressed his concern in an open letter over the removal of Dr Muhammad Yunus as managing director of Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi microfinance institution (MFI) that manages total assets of USD 1.4 billion [1]. Continue Reading »
Barclays, a London-based international financial services provider, recently announced its commitment to the ‘Business Call to Action” (BCtA) initiative, a global initiative that aims to support the private sector in meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Continue Reading »
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Event Name: Developing Inclusive Financial Systems: The CGAP Course for Funders of Microfinance, “How Can Funders Support Microfinance Effectively?”
Event Date: April 22 – April 29, 2011
Event Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
In an email exchange with US-based newspaper The Wall Street Journal, Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Muhammad Yunus has been asked for his thoughts on efforts by the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the central bank of Bangladesh, to remove him from his position as managing director of Grameen Bank [1] [2] [3]. Continue Reading »
Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF), the nation’s central banking authority, has announced plans to take microfinance expos to the outer rural islands Fiji in an effort to raise awareness of microfinance and promote greater financial inclusion. Continue Reading »
Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited, a subsidiary of UK-based Standard Chartered PLC, has closed a PKR 600 million (USD 6.95 million), two-year loan to Tameer Micro Finance Bank Limited, a licensed commercial bank that provides microfinance services in Pakistan. As of December 31, 2008, Tameer has total assets of USD 29.1 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 11.5 million and 43,000 active borrowers. Continue Reading »
London-based news agency Reuters recently reported that since the October 2010 passage of legislation by the state government of Andhra Pradesh in response to the turmoil in the microfinance sector there, funding still remains an issue for microlenders. This is despite efforts by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, to ease the liquidity crunch. According to Reuters, the issues of mission drift among for-profit players – putting short-term profits ahead of sustainability – and an uncertain regulatory outlook have contributed to the funding shortage [1]. Reuters also states that domestic lenders exercising extra caution when lending to Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) further deter foreign investors [1]. Continue Reading »
A new Focus Note from CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) examines the “global regulation of the use of banking agents by microfinance institutions (MFIs) and the issues regulators face in censoring the safe and scalable use of agents [1].” Continue Reading »
Compartamos Banco, a Mexico-based microfinance institution (MFI), has announced that it plans to acquire an 82.7-percent stake in Financiera Creditos Arequipa SA (Financiera Crear), a Peruvian MFI, for USD 63 million. This acquisition is the first in Compartamos Banco’s expansion into international markets that was announced in MicroCapital stories dating back to April 2010. Continue Reading »
The latest edition of Health Policy and Planning, which is published by the Oxford Journals division of Oxford University Press, includes a paper that examines the benefits of integrating microfinance with health protection services and makes recommendations intended to inform policy and program design for expansion of the practice. The paper can be found at http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/02/21/heapol.czr014.abstract Continue Reading »
PlaNet Finance, a French nonprofit, is inviting students to submit applications for the University Meets Microfinance (UMM) Scholarship Programme. Continue Reading »
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