Event Name: Impact Investing Conference
Event Dates: May 12, 2016
Event Location: Namur Premises, Luxembourg-Hamm
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Lends $17m to Finansbank of Turkey, Half for Micro-, Small Enterprises
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently extended a loan facility totalling EUR 15 million (approximately USD 17 million) to Finansbank A.S., a Turkish subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece Group, a financial conglomerate based in Athens.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Teranga Capital Launches Fund for Small Growing Business in Senegal
Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), a France-based family of investment funds that supports “socially responsible” entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, recently announced the inauguration of its third fund, Teranga Capital (TC).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Afluenta Raises $8m in Series B Equity Funding from International Finance Corporation, Elevar for Peer-to-Peer Lending in Latin America
Afluenta, an Argentina-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, recently announced it closed a series B funding round totaling USD 8 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to increase economic growth in developing countries, and Elevar Equity, a “development-focused” private equity fund based in India.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: MFI Client Satisfaction and Consumer Protection in Peru; Mobile Microfinance Users Predicted to Triple by 2020; Mobilizing Savings Through Agency Banking
“Voice of the Client: An analysis of client satisfaction and consumer protection across four microfinance institutions in Peru,” by J. Foelster, A. Pierantozzi, M. Pistelli; published by the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) in collaboration with Hivos People Unlimited; February 2016; 31 pages; available at: http://www.themix.org/sites/default/files/Voice%20of%20the%20Client%20Peru_0.pdf
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Stellar, Oradian Set Up Payment Transfer Network Among Rural Nigerian Microfinance Institutions
Stellar, a US-based nonprofit technology provider, and Oradian, a Croatia-based software developer serving financial organizations in West Africa, are setting up a “payment transfer network” to connect rural Nigerian microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Luxembourg Fund Labeling Agency (LuxFLAG) Provides Microfinance Label to GLS Alternative Investments-Mikrofinanzfonds (GLSMIKA), Renews Labels for 14 Investment Funds
The Luxembourg Fund Labeling Agency (LuxFLAG), a Luxembourg-based nonprofit organization that certifies the operations of investment vehicles that support microfinance and environmental initiatives, recently announced it granted its Microfinance Label for the first time. The fund is promoted by German bank Gemeinschaftsbank für Leihen und Schenken (GLS).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) to Distribute Funds from Government-Backed Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) Microloan Program via Rural Banking Members of Perbarindo
Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), a state-owned bank in Indonesia, recently signed an agreement with Perbarindo, an Indonesian association of rural banks, to support the government-backed microloan program Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) channeling “subsidized loans” to micro- small and medium-sized enterprises.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to Invest up to $200m in Equity in LeapFrog Investments
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, recently committed to investing up to USD 200 million in equity in Leapfrog Investments, a for-profit private equity fund based in Mauritius.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Completes $153m Syndicated Loan to Sri Lanka’s Commercial Leasing & Finance (CLC)
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently served as lead arranger and facility agent to finalize a USD 153 million senior secured syndicated loan for Sri Lanka’s Commercial Leasing & Finance (CLC).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: French Insurer AXA Ups Commitment to Microinsurance, Increasing Equity Stake in UK’s MicroEnsure to 46%
MicroEnsure, a UK-based, for-profit microinsurance company founded by US-based NGO Opportunity International, recently announced that AXA Group, a French insurance and asset management company, will pay an undisclosed sum to increase its equity stake in the organization to 46 percent from an unspecified level.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: European Microfinance Network (EMN) to Host 13th Annual Conference “Who, What and For Whom? Shaping European Microfinance,” June 16-17, 2016, Warsaw, Poland
Event Name: 13th Annual EMN Conference “Who, What and For Whom? Shaping European Microfinance”
Event Dates: June 16-17, 2016
Event Location: Novotel Warszawa Centrum Hotel, Warsaw, Poland
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s Sa-Dhan, Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) Revise Code of Conduct
Sa-Dhan, an India-based association of 214 microlenders and other financial institutions, and the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a trade association of 48 Indian microfinance lenders, recently launched a revised code of conduct.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fondazione Giordano Dell’Amore, European Microfinance Network Accepting Applications for $54k Microfinance Good Practices Award Through February 14, 2016
Fondazione Giordano Dell’Amore, an Italian foundation that supports microfinance, and the European Microfinance Network, a Belgian nongovernmental organization (NGO), recently announced the eighth annual edition of the Microfinance Good Practices Europe Award, a series that aims to increase awareness about microfinance as a tool for alleviating poverty and promote the sharing of good practice among microfinance organizations in Europe.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $5m to Opportunity Bank Serbia for On-Lending to Micro-, Small Enterprises; Low-Income Households in Rural Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it will loan EUR 5 million (USD 5.4 million) to Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a branch of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, to improve access to finance for micro -and small enterprises (MSEs) and low-income households in rural areas of Serbia.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Mapping Pathways Out of Poverty; Marketing Insurance to Women; Sustaining Financial Inclusion in the Philippines
“Mapping Pathways out of Poverty: The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report, 2015;” published by the Microcredit Summit Campaign; December 2015; available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/library/mapping-pathways-out-poverty-state-microcredit-summit-campaign-report-2015
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) Loan $3m in Local Currency to Tajikistan’s Eskhata Bank for Environmental Projects
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, and the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), an initiative of various international development institutions that offers donations and preferential-rate loans for projects in developing countries, jointly have provided a local-currency loan equivalent to USD 3 million to Eskhata Bank, a commercial bank in Tajikistan that focuses on microfinance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Pledges $27m in Loans, Financial Advisory Services to Small, Medium-sized Enterprises via International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) Global SME Finance Facility
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to increase economic growth in developing countries, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands recently announced that the Dutch government has pledged USD 27 million to IFC’s “Global SME Finance Facility,”[1] a credit line that provides funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).