Uganda’s Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Directorate (CIID) reportedly has indicated that mobile money fraud comprises the largest number of cases lodged with its economic crimes unit.
Category: Africa
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Online Microfinance Fundraiser Wafaa Provides Interest-Free Loans to Muslims
Wafaa, a UK-based online microfinance platform, allows individuals to loan as little as USD 20 to fund interest-free loans to poor Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Silatech Sponsors Financial Literacy Training Course Expected to Benefit 1,000 Credit Officers in Sudan
Silatech, a Qatar-based social enterprise that aims to increase employment and entrepreneurship among youth in the Middle East and North Africa, recently delivered a three-day Financial Literacy Training of Trainers course to 20 instructors from the Sudan Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (SABFS), a Sudanese technical university.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Millicom, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, US Agency for International Development Offer Financial Literacy Training, Loans to Rwandan Women to Become Tigo Mobile Money Agents
Millicom International Cellular, a Luxembourg-based telecommunications company also known as Tigo; the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, a UK-based charity promoting women’s entrepreneurship; and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a US government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, have partnered to assist 4,000 women in Rwanda to become Tigo mobile money agents.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Threatens to Shut Down Microfinance Banks That Fail to Meet International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) During 2013
Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission, an independent regulatory body, reportedly has warned microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country that they risk being shut down in 2013 if they do not adhere to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a set of standards meant to harmonize accounting practices globally.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Ghana Shuts Down 7 Microfinance Companies For Failure to Obtain Licenses
Dr. Henri Kofi Wampah, governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), reportedly has announced the closure of seven microfinance companies for failing to obtain operating licenses from BoG, the country’s central bank.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) Opens Membership to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
The 43-member Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) reportedly has revised its constitution to make membership available to deposit-taking microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FirstRand Bank of South Africa Receives $300m Line of Credit from African Development Bank (AfDB)
The African Development Bank (AfDB), a multilateral institution that provides loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, recently approved a seven-year line of credit in the amount of USD 300 million to FirstRand Limited, a financial service provider based in South Africa that operates in seven African countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Moroccan Government Projects Microcredit Will Create 2 Million Jobs Over 10 Years, Extension of Microfinance Tax Exemption Proposed
The Moroccan government recently forecasted that microcredits will create two million permanent jobs over the next 10 years, a doubling of the previous forecast of one million jobs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government Hopes Zimbabwe Microfinance Wholesale Facility Can Lower Microfinance Institution Interest Rates That Reportedly Hit 40% Monthly
At the recent launch of the Zimbabwe Microfinance Wholesale Facility (ZMWF), a vehicle that offers wholesale funds to financial intermediaries, Norman Mataruka, registrar of banking institutions for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), reportedly claimed that microfinance institutions (MFIs) charge interest rates as high as 40 percent per month, negatively impacting key economic drivers – micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CBZ Bank, Econet Wireless Partner to Offer Mobile Banking in Zimbabwe
CBZ Bank, a retail bank operating in Zimbabwe, recently partnered with the local affiliate of Econet Wireless, a telecommunications operator headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, to allow CBZ customers to access their bank accounts through mobile phone transactions.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Launching Business Edge Training Program in South Sudan
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank Group, recently agreed to expand its Business Edge training program, which was launched in 2002, to South Sudan in an effort to aid small businesses within the country.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Small Business Banking Network Hosts Conference on Financing Women Entrepreneurs in Africa, February 18-19, 2013, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Event Name: Advancing Women Entrepreneurs: Financing Women-Led Businesses
Event Date: February 18-19, 2013
Event Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Century Deposit Taking Microfinance (DTM) of Kenya Seeking Funds to Launch Agribusiness Fund
Century Deposit Taking Microfinance (DTM), a microfinance institution (MFI) established in 2012 in Kenya, is seeking investors to allow it to launch a fund with a focus on agribusiness.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): Telecommunications Company May Have Violated Mobile Banking Regulations
A large telecommunications company, which has not been identified, is reportedly under investigation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) because of its work with two Nigerian banks on establishing mobile banking services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Diamond Bank of Nigeria Introduces ‘Diamond-in-Motion’ Mobile Banking Truck
Diamond Bank Public Limited Company (PLC), a commercial bank in Nigeria, recently launched “Diamond-in-Motion”, a mobile banking service truck that will allow customers to open new accounts, pay bills and use a automated teller machine (ATM) as well as make deposits and withdrawals.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Trends in Cross-Border Funding for Microfinance; Microinsurance Among Microcredit Groups in Tanzania; Asian Development Bank Interventions Fail to Reach Enough Poor People
“Current Trends in Cross-Border Funding for Microfinance;” by Estelle Lahaye and Ralitsa Rizvanolli; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); December 2012; 4 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Brief-Current-Trends-in-Cross-Border-Funding-for-Microfinance-Nov-2012.pdf
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: West African Banks Asked to Lower Interest Rates by Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO in French)
At a recent conference held in Dakar, Senegal, a representative of the Central Bank of West African States (also known by the French acronym BCEAO) asked West African banks to decrease the interest rates they charge borrowers.