The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will loan the local-currency equivalent of USD 10 million to KazMicroFinance (KMF), a Kazakhstan non-banking financial institution, in an effort to increase access to credit for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas of the country [1].
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 3rd Latin American Forum on Social Performance: Responsible Finances and Development, June 3-4, 2013, Panama City
Event Name: 3rd Latin American Forum on Social Performance: Responsible Finances and Development
Event Date: June 3-4, 2013
Event Location: Continental Hotel, Via Espana and Ricardo Arias Street, Panama City, Republic of Panama
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: State Bank of Pakistan’s Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small, Rural Businesses Extends Loan Repayment Term to 5 Years
The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP’s) Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small and Rural Businesses (CGS), which aims to increase financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas via retail banks, reportedly will extend client loan terms from three years to five years in an effort to increase economic opportunities by facilitating the purchase of tractors and other agricultural tools.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PKF Chartered Accountants Advises Royal Bank Zimbabwe to Downscale to Microfinance Institution
PKF Chartered Accountants, the Zimbabwean member of UK-based businesses services firm PKF International, reportedly has advised Royal Bank Zimbabwe Limited, a defunct bank, to convert its commercial banking license to a microfinance institution (MFI) license, which carries lower capital requirements set by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), the country’s central banking institution.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF) Disburses Tranches of $1.8m in Loans to African Microfinance Institutions GRAINE of Burkina Faso, CAURIE of Senegal
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based nonprofit that provides financial services to microfinance institutions (MFI), recently notified MicroCapital that it disbursed the second of three tranches of a loan totaling XOF 244 million (USD 487,600) to the MFI Groupe d’Accompagnement à l’Investissement et à l’Epargne (GRAINE), which serves 40,000 women in Burkina Faso, primarily in remote areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MFTransparency Reveals Truth in Lending Tables Data Platform and Pricing Transparency Index
MicroFinance Transparency (MFTransparency), a US-based nongovernmental organization that provides information on microcredit products and their prices, recently revealed the Truth in Lending Tables (TILT) Data Platform that displays the interest rates and fees charged to 40 million microfinance clients of 429 institutions across 20 countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC to Loan $50m to BanBif of Peru to Support Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced that it would loan USD 50 million to Banco Interamericano de Finanzas (BanBif), a Peruvian commercial bank, in an effort to double the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) served by the bank by 2017.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF) Loans $370k to Microfinance Institution Chamroeun of Cambodia
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based nonprofit that provides financial services to microfinance institutions, recently notified MicroCapital that it approved a three-year, local-currency loan equivalent to approximately USD 370,000 to Chamroeun, a Cambodian microfinance institution.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Trico Charitable Foundation to Host 2013 Social Enterprise World Forum, October 2-4, 2013, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Event Name: 2013 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF)
Event Date: October 2-4, 2013
Event Location: Telus Convention Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) to Loan $6m to Mikrofin Banja Luka of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Inecobank of Armenia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), has recently disbursed a loan of EUR 4 million (USD 5.2 million) to Mikrofin Banja Luka of Bosnia and Herzegovina and AMD 375 million (USD 911,600) to Inecobank of Armenia [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Atlantic Bank of Belize Extend Effort to Improve Access to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises, Increase Portfolio to $35m by 2014
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Atlantic Bank, a Belizean bank majority-held by Sociedad Nacional de Inversiones, SA of Honduras, recently launched the second phase of a project with the aim of improving access to financial services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Belize with support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Online Fundraiser Kiva Discloses Delinquencies of Microfinance Institutions Alidé of Benin, FECECAV of Togo
Kiva, a US-based online microlending fundraiser, recently reported on delinquent payments due to Kiva by non-profit institutions L’Association de Lutte pour la promotion des Initiatives de Développement (Alidé) of Benin and Faîtière des Caisses d’Epargne et de Crédit des Associations Villageoises (FECECAV) of Togo.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Union Commit $25m to Kyrgyz Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (KyrSEFF)
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently launched the Kyrgyz Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (KyrSEFF), a USD 20 million credit line supporting energy efficiency projects for households and private enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: G20’s Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion Publishes Data on 192 Countries
The Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), which is mandated to carry out the financial inclusion action plan endorsed at the 2010 summit of the Group of 20 (G20) large economies, has released a set of “basic” financial inclusion indicators populated with data from 192 countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management Loans $13m from Dual Return Funds to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in South America, Eurasia Including FINCA Armenia
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an Austria-based firm that invests in microfinance and other sectors, recently notified MicroCapital that it loaned the equivalent of USD 13 million during April 2013 through two of the funds that it manages to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Peru, the Philippines, Russia and Tajikistan. Of this amount, USD 7.5 million was issued in local currency.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: U’yo’olché, Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (FMCN) Look to Carbon Credits to Finance Improved Cook Stoves to Reduce Emissions, Improve Living Standards, Promote Women’s Rights in Rural Mexico
U’yo’olché, a Mexican environmental non-governmental organization (NGO), and Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, A.C. (FMCN), a nonprofit funder of environmental efforts, are leading an initiative to provide improved cook stoves to families in rural areas of southern Mexico with the aim of reducing wood consumption, eliminating hazardous household smoke, decreasing the risk of accidents, minimizing household expenses and promoting women’s empowerment.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) to Loan $16m to ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank of Armenia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), has notified MicroCapital that it recently disbursed two loans totaling the equivalent of USD 16 million to Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia-Credit Agricole Bank (ACBA), a microfinance bank partially owned by French bank Credit Agricole.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Opens $112m in Credit Lines to Société Générale Expressbank, Sogelease Bulgaria for On-lending, Leasing to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to loan up to EUR 85 million (USD 111.5 million) to two units of French-based Société Générale Group to finance the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bulgaria.