MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Savings Bank Institute (WSBI) Issues “Open Message” to Promote Access to Finance to Reach United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The World Savings Bank Institute (WSBI), an international banking association, has issued an open message promoting access to finance as a means to accelerate progress toward the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) Luxembourg’s Horizont Fund Invests in Microfinance Fund, European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE)

Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) Luxembourg’s Horizont investment fund, a mutual fund that invests in a variety of asset classes such as inflation-linked bonds, gold and microfinance, recently invested roughly three percent of its volume in the European Fund for Southeast Europe, an international organization that provides financial support to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in southeast Europe [1].

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Releases 2009 Benchmarking Report on Latin America and Caribbean Region

The nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) has released the 2009 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report in English and Spanish.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Australian Westpac Banking Corporation Offers Its Employees Matching Funds for Microfinance Loans

Westpac Banking Corporation, an Australian commercial bank, announced that it would begin to offer matching funds for loans made by its employees to poor entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region through the microfinance site http://www.goodreturn.org, which allows individuals to make loans to microentrepreneurs via microfinance institutions.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Chennai-based Microfinance Institution SMILE Receives $10m Investment from Developing World Markets

Developing World Markets (DWM), a US-based social investment fund manager, has made an INR 500 million (USD 10 million) investment in SMILE Microfinance Limited (SMILE), a Chennai-based microfinance institution (MFI).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Wall Street Journal Article Examines “Profit Versus Purpose” Debate in Microfinance Industry

A recent article featured on the Wall Street Journal website entitled “Microfinance’s Midlife Crisis” examines the underpinnings of the debate in the microfinance industry about profit versus purpose.

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Assessing the Role of Microfinance in Response to Climate Change, by Shardul Agrawala and Maëlis Carraro

By Shardul Agrawala and Maëlis Carraro, published by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), February 2010, 38 pages, available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.1.4705/02.pdf

This paper examines 22 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Bangladesh and Nepal to determine areas in which microfinance may be able to facilitate adaptation to climate change.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Elevar Equity, a Bangalore-based Private Equity Fund, Raises $70m for Microfinance-focused Fund for Investments in India, Mexico, the Philippines and Peru

Elevar Equity Advisors Private Limited (Elevar), a Bangalore-based private equity fund, has raised a USD 70 million fund that will invest in microfinance and other services in India, Mexico, the Philippines and Peru.

MICROCAPITAL PAPER WRAP-UP: Microfinance and Inequality, by Hisako Kai and Shigeyuki Hamori

Written by Hisako Kai and Shigeyuki Hamori, published by the Macrothink Institute in 2009, 12 pages, available at: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/rae/article/viewFile/304/183

This study analyzes cross-sectional data from 61 low-income countries to determine whether microfinance is associated with reduced income inequality.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution (MFI) Equity Valuations Rise in 2009 as Portfolio Quality Falls, Says Report by JP Morgan and CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor)

A new report by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and JP Morgan shows that despite the global financial crisis, microfinance institution (MFI) equity valuations continued to rise across all regions during 2009.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Alquity Investment Management to Launch Fund that will Support Microfinance Projects in Africa

Alquity Investment Management, founded in 2009 as part of the London- and Hong Kong-based Alquity Group, which also incorporates Smoothed Growth Investment Management (SGI-Management), will soon launch a fund invested in listed African equities.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) to Provide $12.1m to CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Technology Program to Promote Mobile Banking for the Low-Income Sector

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) will provide GBP 8 million, the equivalent of over USD 12.1 million, to the CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Technology Program.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microcredit Regulation Authority of Bangladesh to Make Public the Interest Rates Charged by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)

According to Leela Rashid, the director of operations of The Microcredit Regularity Authority (MRA) of Bangladesh, the organization will begin to make public the interest rates charged by microfinance institutions (MFIs).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sarona Asset Management Inc, a Canadian Asset Manager, Raises $12m for Sarona Frontier Markets Fund I LP

Sarona Asset Management Inc (Sarona), a Canadian asset manager with over USD 200 million of assets under management in developing countries around the world, has successfully completed the closing of its Sarona Frontier Markets Fund I LP, raising USD 12 million in investor commitments in the initial three-month fundraising window.