Microsoft Corporation, a US-based technology firm, and MasterCard, a US-based financial services corporation with operations in 210 countries, have announced a partnership through which they will seek to enhance information technology, communication and payments for small-scale merchants in Mexico.
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Grants $1.5m to Développement international Desjardins (DID) for Microfinance Operations in Central, West Africa
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an agency of the United Nations, has chosen to prolong the mandate originally given in 2013 to Développement international Desjardins (DID), a nonprofit member of the Canada-based Desjardins Group, with a grant of USD 561,000 for microcredit in Cameroon.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s West Bengal State Offers MSMEs $8k via Unsecured “Micro Business Credit Cards,” Funded by $32m from State Bank of India
The government of the Indian state of West Bengal recently secured INR 2 billion (USD 32 million) from the government-owned State Bank of India to fund “Micro Business Credit Cards” for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Advans Tunisie Launches Microfinance Operations in Tunis
Advans SA, a Luxembourg-based venture capital company, has announced the launching of operations by its ninth affiliated microfinance institution, Advans Tunisie.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Advans SA Purchases 8.4% of Shares of Cambodian MFI Amret, Becomes Majority Shareholder; FMO Increases Stake to 19.9%
Advans SA, a Luxembourg-based venture capital company, has become the majority shareholder of Amret, a Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI), upon approval by The National Bank of Cambodia of its purchase of 8.4 percent of the shares of Amret.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Ghana Raises Microfinance Institution Capital Requirement to $263k
During the next three months, the Bank of Ghana, the country’s central bank, reportedly will raise the minimum capital requirement for microfinance institutions (MFIs) to GHS 1 million (USD 263,000).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) Increases Presence in Cameroon, Indonesia with $22m Equity Investment in Bank Mayora, Advisory Agreement with Advans Cameroun
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group focused on private sector development, recently made an equity investment of USD 22 million in Indonesia-based Bank Mayora to support its services for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bangladeshi Government Takes Interim Control of Grameen Bank
The Grameen Bank, a microfinance institution in Bangladesh, is being run by government-appointed board members as of February 2015.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group Loans $100m for MSMEs via Central Bank of Tunisia, Partner Banks
The World Bank Group’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) recently loaned USD 100 million to the government of Tunisia to benefit micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Deutsche Bank Announces Closing of $50m Social Enterprise Fund “Essential Capital Consortium” (ECC)
Germany-based Deutsche Bank’s Global Social Finance Group, which specializes in socially responsible investing, recently announced the closing of a five-year, USD 50 million Essential Capital Consortium (ECC) social enterprise fund.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to Loan $60m for Affordable Housing in Tanzania
The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group has approved USD 60 million in new financing to be disbursed by the International Development Association (IDA), a lending arm of the World Bank, to support its ongoing Housing Finance Project (HFP) in Tanzania, which seeks to support affordable housing in the urbanizing country by providing “medium- and long-term liquidity to lenders.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loaning $2.5m to La Fayette Microfinance Bank, Nigerian Member of Advans Network
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is investing NGN 400 million (USD 2.5 million) in La Fayette Microfinance Bank, one of eight members of the Advans Network of microfinance institutions, which is based in Luxembourg and managed by Horus Development Finance of France.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank al Etihad Borrowing $20m from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Micro, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Jordan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral financial institution, has agreed to open a credit line of USD 20 million for Bank al Etihad, a Jordanian provider of financial services to both large and small organizations, for on-lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loans $9m – Part in Local Currency – to FINCA, AccessBank for MSMEs in Tajikistan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral financial institution that operates in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa, has expanded its support for on-lending for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Tajikistan with multi-currency loans to FINCA Tajikistan (FINCA TJK) and AccessBank Tajikistan (AccessBank) in amounts equivalent to USD 4 million and USD 5 million, respectively.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat Asset Management, Formerly Absolute Portfolio Management, Loans $2.5m for Microfinance in Benin, Cambodia, Georgia
During February 2015, Austria’s Absolute Portfolio Management disbursed loans totaling USD 2.5 million to unspecified microfinance institutions in Benin, Cambodia and Georgia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Government to Allocate $319m to Create Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank (MUDRA) to Prioritize Microfinance Lending to Members of Scheduled Castes, Tribes
The Indian Government has announced plans to allocate INR 200 billion (USD 319 million) for a new bank to be known as The Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank (MUDRA).
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Assessment of Deutsche Bank’s VG Microfinance Fund, SMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean, Bridging the Entrepreneurship Gender Gap
“VG Microfinance – Invest Nr. 1 GmbH Fund Assessment Study;” by Rocio Cavazos and Melanie Meslay; 2015; 33 pages; available at https://www.db.com/usa/content/en/vg-microfinance-invest-1.html
This study presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis of VG Microfinance-Invest Nr. 1 GmbH, a fund launched by Germany’s Deutsche Bank in 2007 with the support of the German government’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW) that provided subordinated debt to 21 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 15 different countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loans $2.3m to UniCredit Bank Banja Luka of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Part of $23m Advisory, Financing Package for Women-led SMEs in the Balkans
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, has partnered with UniCredit Bank Banja Luka (UB), the unit of Italy’s UniCredit Group that operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to launch EBRD’s “Western Balkans Women in Business” program with a EUR 2 million (USD 2.3 million) credit provided to UB.