Alibaba Group Holding Limited, a Chinese internet and e-commerce company, recently launched Ant Financial Services Group, a microfinance arm to consolidate all six of Alibaba’s affiliated entities Alipay, an online payment tool; Alipay Wallet, a mobile payment application; Yu’e Bao, a USD 93 billion money market fund; Zhao Cai Bao, a platform that allows individuals and small businesses directly borrow from investors; Ant Micro, a microfinance provider and MY Bank, an affiliated private bank.
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Releases 2014 Financial Access Survey (FAS)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a US-based organisation that is part of the United Nations, has released the results of its 2014 Financial Access Survey (FAS), a publication that provides data and analysis on financial inclusion around the world.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Call for Applicants for $227k Ashden International Sustainable Energy Awards Open until November 4, 2014
Ashden, a UK-based nonprofit established in 2001 that promotes the use of sustainable energy, has issued a call for applicants for the 2015 Ashden International Awards, which will recognize development programs with a focus on reducing carbon emissions and increasing access to sustainable energy.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Project Concern International (PCI) to Target 250,000 Additional Women Through Women Empowered (WE) Initiative
Project Concern International (PCI), a US-based non-governmental organization (NGO), recently announced that it plans to scale up the operations of its Women Empowered (WE) initiative by providing approximately 250,000 women, in addition to the 230,000 women it currently serves, with tools and training for their businesses.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Funds Advisory Services for Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Morocco
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based financial institution that operates in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa, recently began funding advisory services to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Morocco.
SPECIAL REPORT: Over-indebtedness, Microfinance and Environment Award, Conflict Zones at e-MFP’s European Microfinance Week
MicroCapital: Please describe one of the key issues to be covered this year at European Microfinance Week.
Christoph Pausch: The question of over-indebtedness is still the major risk for the sector, as identified in the most recent Banana Skins survey. We had a very successful plenary last year exploring the issue from a research perspective. This year, we’re taking a very different approach by bringing CEOs of leading microfinance institutions (MFIs) from three countries – Bangladesh, Morocco, and Mexico – to discuss how they’ve been dealing with the issue. Each of these countries has had a different experience, with Bangladesh having successfully averted a potential crisis by slowing market growth (as described in an excellent paper by Stuart Rutherford and Greg Chen). Morocco was one of the original “microfinance crisis” countries during 2008 and 2009, and the MFIs there have had an interesting experience in resolving the problems from that period. Finally, Mexico is a major market with serious concerns regarding over-indebtedness, and MFIs there are working to avert a potential crisis.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $15m to Eskhata Bank of Tajikistan to Fund Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has announced that it will loan the equivalent of USD 15 million to Eskhata Bank, a commercial bank in Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $2m to Al Majmoua of Lebanon for On-Lending to Small Businesses, Female Entrepreneurs
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has announced that it will loan USD 2 million to Al Majmoua, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization (NGO) that is also known as the Lebanese Association for Development.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Launches $807m Long-Term Rural Credit Fund
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), a development bank in India that formulates certain credit and banking policies, recently announced the launch of the long-term rural credit fund, which will provide INR 5,000 crores (USD 807 million) for refinancing agricultural loans disbursed by cooperative banks and regional rural banks (RRBs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Nations Global Compact, Gate Global Impact Launch Gateway 2.0 to Fund Socially Responsible Projects
The United Nations (UN) Global Compact, an initiative to encourage businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and Gate Global Impact (GGI), a US-based regulatory-compliant electronic marketplace that focuses on impact investing, have launched Gateway 2.0, a website enabling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) listed on the UN Global Compact Social Enterprise Hub to access financing for sustainable and “socially responsible” projects [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank Group (WBG) Issues Joint Statement on Climate Finance
A group of multilateral development finance institutions, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG), recently issued a joint statement on climate finance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $3m to Muganbank of Azerbaijan for On-Lending to Corporates, Individuals for Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Projects
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, is loaning USD 3 million to Muganbank, a financial institution that offers retail and corporate banking services in Azerbaijan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Syndicates Loans Totaling $60m to BBVA Paraguay to Fund Small, Medium-sized Enterprises
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group that offers financial services to businesses and governments in developing countries with the aim of increasing economic growth, has announced that it will loan a total of USD 60 million to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Paraguay (BBVA Paraguay), a subsidiary of the Spanish financial services group BBVA.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), HelpAge USA Launch Research Initiative on Financial Inclusion of Older Adults in Colombia
The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), an affiliate of US-based nonprofit Accion, and HelpAge USA, an affiliate of UK-based NGO network HelpAge International, have launched a research initiative on the financial inclusion of older adults in developing countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Loans $609k to Juhudi Kilimo of Kenya
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based investor in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social businesses, recently notified MicroCapital that it has disbursed a three-year, local-currency loan equivalent to EUR 482,000 (USD 609,000) to Juhudi Kilimo, a for-profit microlender in Kenya [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Invests $1.68m in Palestine’s Faten, in Azerbaijan’s Viator, in Bangladesh’s Grameen Danone
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a provider of financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has granted loans of EUR 739,000 (USD 937,000) to Faten, a microfinance institution based in the West Bank in Palestine; EUR 702,000 (USD 890,000) to Viator, an Azerbaijani microfinance organization; and a loan, which can be converted into equity, of EUR 240,000 (USD 304,000) to Grameen Danone Foods Limited, a social business in Bangladesh that sells food products containing nutrients that are generally lacking from the regional diet.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Lending $1.5m to Chamroeun Microfinance of Cambodia, Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (Komida) of Indonesia, Tuba Rai Metin (TRM) of Timor-Leste
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based investor in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social businesses, recently notified MicroCapital that it is disbursing local-currency loans totalling the equivalent of EUR 1.2 million (USD 1.5 million) to three MFIs in South-East Asia: Chamroeun Microfinance, a Cambodian MFI that offers savings, loans and microinsurance, will receive EUR 507,000 (USD 634,000) over a three-year period; Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (Komida), an Indonesian MFI, will receive EUR 370,000 (USD 463,000) over a four-year period; and Tuba Rai Metin (TRM), a nonprofit MFI that serves women and small businesses in Timor-Leste, will receive EUR 299,000 (USD 374,000) over three years [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s PNB Housing Finance Borrows $50m from International Finance Corporation (IFC) for Mortgages for Low-Income Families
PNB Housing Finance Limited (“PNB Housing”), a subsidiary of the India-based, government-controlled Punjab National Bank (PNB), recently accepted a loan of USD 50 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the US-based World Bank Group.