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 »

“Banking on Change: Breaking the Barriers to Financial Inclusion;” published by Plan UK, Barclays and Care International UK; January 2013; 28 pages; available at: http://www.careinternational.org.uk/research-centre/microfinance/251-banking-on-change-breaking-barriers-to-financial-inclusion Continue Reading »

The US-based financial service provider Citigroup reportedly has made its Citi Mobile Collect payment program available in the Dominican Republic. 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 »

“MILK Brief #18: Doing the Math with Property Microinsurance in Coastal Columbia;” by Barbara Magnoni and Derek Poulton; published by Microinsurance Centre; October 2012; 2 pages; available at: http://www.microinsurancecentre.org/milk-project/milk-docs/doc_details/914-condensed-milk-18-doing-the-math-with-property-microinsurance-in-coastal-colombia.html Continue Reading »

Scotiabank, a Canada-based bank, reportedly expects to increase the number of microloans it extends to consumers and small businesses in Mexico, in amounts ranging from CAD 300 (USD 297) to CAD 3,000 (USD 2,970).
Continue Reading »

The government of Peru reportedly has passed a law governing a new electronic payment system that allows residents to make payments and money transfers via mobile phones. 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 »

The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) International, a U.S.-based nonprofit microfinance network with 10,000 employees in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia, reportedly has opened its “Americas’ Data Center” which will process data for the organization’s headquarters in the US city of Washington, DC, and its Latin American subsidiaries [1]. Continue Reading »

“A Guide to Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance;” by Robert Peck Christen, Kate Lauer, et al; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); October 2012; 120 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/publications/guide-regulation-and-supervision-microfinance 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 »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, reportedly has disbursed a loan of DOP 195 million (USD 4.8 million) to Asociacion La Nacional de Ahorros y Préstamos, a microfinance institution in the Dominican Republic, to increase its mortgage lending for housing and loan financing for small and medium-sized enterprises. Continue Reading »

Banco G&T Continental, a commercial bank based in Guatemala, recently received a loan of USD 100 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Capitalization Fund, a unit of World Bank Group Member IFC. This loan is intended to help the bank expand services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama. Continue Reading »

Event Name: 4th Latin America Microinsurance Summit

Event Date: March 18 – March 21, 2013

Event Location: Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel and Towers, Mexico City, Mexico Continue Reading »

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral financial institution, recently announced a call for proposals to increase the inclusion of people with disabilities as financial sector clients and workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. The competition is open to public and private financial institutions from IDB’s 48 member countries to propose projects to be carried out in Latin America and the Caribbean. Proposals will be voted on by the public, and the ideas with the most votes will receive grants of up to USD 50,000 to assist with their implementation. Proposals that focus on gender equality will be given priority. Continue Reading »

Belgian microfinance fund manager Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM) recently loaned USD 1 million to Fundación para el Desarrollo Socioeconómico Rural (FUNDESER), a Nicaraguan nongovernmental organization (NGO), through a fund it manages, the Rural Impulse Fund II. Continue Reading »