MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ResponsAbility Investments Loans $10m to Kompanion Bank of Kyrgyzstan

ResponsAbility Investments AG, a Swiss company specializing in investments in areas such as fair trade, recently informed MicroCapital that it has agreed to loan the equivalent of USD 10 million to Kompanion Bank Closed Joint Stock Company, an organization in Kyrgyzstan whose business comprises more than 90 percent microfinance, according to the US-based nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange. The facility is made up of a mixture of USD and KGS and will be released in tranches. The first of the tranches, totaling USD 3.3 million, was released on March 7, 2016. Kompanion Bank, whose main business is providing group microenterprise loans, is a former microfinance company that received a banking licence in 2016. As of 2014, it had approximately USD 103 million in assets, a gross loan portfolio of USD 81 million, 115,000 borrowers and zero deposits.

By Imke Herholdt, Research Associate

About responsAbility Investments AG (responsAbility)
Founded in 2003, responsAbility Investments AG is a Swiss investment company whose products aim to enable investors to earn a financial return while assisting people in emerging markets to access information and services in sectors such as microfinance, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing, fair trade and independent media. As of March 2016, responsAbility reported total assets under management of approximately USD 3 billion. responsAbility is backed by Swiss financial institutions and a social venture capital company as founders and shareholders including Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen Schweiz, Swiss Re, Bank Vontobel AG as well as George Avenue. Among other entities, responsAbility Investments manages responsAbility Participations AG, a public limited investment company that was founded in 2012. ResponsAbility Participations’ shareholders include German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and unspecified pension funds and Swiss banks.

About Kompanion Bank Closed Joint Stock Company (Kompanion Bank CJSC)
Kompanion Bank CJSC was formed in 2004 through the consolidation of five microcredit agencies in Kyrgyzstan. It was awarded a banking licence in 2016 by the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic. It has a network of 122 offices in the country, approximately USD 103 million in assets, a gross loan portfolio of USD 81 million, 115,000 borrowers and zero deposits as of 2014. Solidarity group loans makes up to 91 percent of its portfolio and its other products include secured and unsecured individual loans as well as loans to small businesses. Kompanion’s shareholders are Mercy Corps (65 percent), The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) (17.5 percent) and Triodos (17.5 percent) as of the institution’s equity raise in February 2015.

Sources and resources

[1] Information provided directly to MicroCapital by responsAbility Investments AG
[2] Microfinance Information Exchange
[3] MicroCapital Universe Profile: responsAbility Investments AG

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