MICROCAPITAL STORY: Société Générale de Banque Jordanie Lends $2.8m to Tamweelcom of Jordan

Société Générale de Banque – Jordanie has announced a loan of JOD 2 million (USD 2.8 million) to microfinance institution (MFI) Tamweelcom of Jordan, backed by a USD 846,000 guarantee from Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Ltd, a for-profit venture that provides capacity building and financing to Arab MFIs.

The news comes on the heels of a EUR 4 million (USD 5.9 million) loan the MFI received from the Spanish government in February.

Grameen-Jameel is a partnership of the U.S.-based microfinance non-profit Grameen Foundation and the Abdul Latif Jameel Group, a Saudi conglomerate, launched in 2003 and incorporated in Cyprus in March 2007 to tackle poverty through microfinance in the Middle East and North Africa. Its nine active partner institutions as of the first quarter of 2007 had a total loan portfolio of USD 148.0 million. Grameen-Jameel does not report financial data and ratings to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse.

Société Générale de Banque – Jordanie came about as a result of Société Générale de Banque – Lebanon’s purchase of a Jordanian bank in 1999. As of year-end 2006 (financial statements), the bank had JOD 162.8 million in total assets, of which JOD 96.3 million was attributed to direct credit facilities. Return on assets was 2.01 percent and its debt-equity ratio was 545.76 percent.

Tamweelcom was founded as the Jordan Micro Credit Company in 1999. As of year-end 2007, it had total assets of USD 13.4 million, with a gross loan portfolio of USD 11.6 million. Its debt-equity ratio is 189.20 percent, and it counts more than 31,000 active borrowers. According to rating agency Planet Rating’s March 2007 assessment, Tamweelcom is rated an A-.

By Stephen Son

Additional Resources:

Microfinance Gateway: “Grameen-Jameel Secures More than $15 million in Financing for Microfinance in Jordan and Morocco”

MicroCapital.org article, February 7, 2008: “NEWS WIRE: Jordan: Spain’s Agency for Cooperation and Development Extends $13m to National Microfinance Bank (NMB) and Micro Credit Company (Tamweelcom)”

MIX Market: Profile for Tamweelcom

Société Générale de Banque – Jordanie: Financial Statements 2006

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