The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, has provided a grant of USD 925,000 to the Republic of Sudan to be invested in the Agricultural Bank of Sudan Microfinance Initiative (ABSUMI), a creation of the government-owned Agricultural Bank of Sudan.
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF) Loans $1.3m to Microfinance Institution Mitra Bisnis Keluarga (MBK) Ventura of Indonesia
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based organization that provides financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and social businesses, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has disbursed a local-currency loan equivalent to USD 1.3 million to Mitra Bisnis Keluarga (MBK) Ventura, an Indonesian MFI that provides capital to low-income women on the island of Java. The terms of the loan have not been released.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Anne Hastings of Fonkoze Outlines Framework for National Mobile Money Systems
Anne Hastings, CEO of Haitian microfinance institution Fonkoze Financial Services, recently summarized the challenges outlined by a panel hosted by the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTC), a US-based NGO that promotes financial inclusion through mobile banking, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2013. The panel discussed the benefits and challenges of making the transition from cash to electronic payments.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) to Host 38th Annual Conference “Connecting Global Finance”, September 18-19, 2013, Luxembourg
Event Name: IOSCO 2013 38th Annual Conference: Connecting Global Finance
Event Date: September 18-19, 2013
Event Location: Nouveau Centre de Conferences, Luxembourg
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Microfinance at The Margin: Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina”; by Ralph De Haas, Heike Harmgart, Britta Augsburg and Costas Meghir; published by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
By Ralph De Haas, Heike Harmgart, Britta Augsburg and Costas Meghir, published by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, November 2012, 8 pages, available at: http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/research/economics/publications/specials/bosnia_mircofinance.pdf
This report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) describes a randomized field experiment in Bosnia and Herzegovina analyzing the effects that a lack of credit may have on entrepreneurship and poverty.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CAF Development Bank of Latin America, Codespa Foundation Study Possible Trust Fund for Rural Producers in Ecuador
CAF Development Bank of Latin America, a Venezuela-based multilateral financial institution that was formerly Corporacion Andino de Fomento, is partnering with Codespa Foundation, a Spanish non-governmental organization that works with poor communities in developing countries, to undertake a feasibility study for the creation of a trust fund that would provide microfinance services to small-scale producers in rural Ecuador.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) Donates $360k to Fundacion para el Desarrollo Socioeconomico Rural (FUNDESER) of Nicaragua to Support Transition to Regulated Status Under SIBOIF
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the US-based IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) Group, recently disbursed a grant of USD 362,000 to Nicaraguan nonprofit microfinance organization Fundacion para el Desarrollo Socioeconomico Rural (FUNDESER) to support the microlender in the process of becoming regulated by the country’s Superintendency of Banks and Other Financial Institutions, which is known by the Spanish acronym SIBOIF.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Disburses $10m Syndicated Loan to Fundacion de la Mujer Bucaramanga of Colombia
Symbiotics Investment Group, a Swiss for-profit microfinance investment intermediary, recently disbursed a USD 10 million syndicated loan to Fundacion de la Mujer Bucaramanga, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Colombia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Loans $3m to Arnur Credit to Support Micro- and Small Enterprises in Rural Kazakhstan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in London, has agreed to provide a local-currency loan in an amount equivalent to USD 3 million to Arnur Credit, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Kazakhstan, for on-lending to micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) in rural areas of the country.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Banking on Change Partnership for Financial Inclusion in Africa; Findings on Financial Inclusion in Nigeria; Snapshot of Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean
“Banking on Change: Breaking the Barriers to Financial Inclusion;” published by Plan UK, Barclays and Care International UK; January 2013; 28 pages; available at: http://www.careinternational.org.uk/research-centre/microfinance/251-banking-on-change-breaking-barriers-to-financial-inclusion
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation Loans $29m to Center-Invest Bank to Support Small Businesses in Southern Russia
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has agreed to loan RUB 900 million (USD 29 million) to Center-Invest Bank, a Russian private bank, to increase lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in southern Russia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microinsurance Network Expects Industry to Double, Reaching 1b Customers by 2020
The Microinsurance Network, a nonprofit membership organization in Luxembourg that aims to expand access to insurance services for low-income people around the world, has stated that it expects the global microinsurance industry to double its reach by 2020 to serve 1 billion customers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: One Woman Initiative, Opportunity International Partner to Raise $50m for Microloans to Women
The One Woman Initiative (OWI), a US-based organization that focuses on empowering women, has come under the umbrella of Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit organization with a focus on microfinance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion’s Center for Financial Inclusion Report on “Financial Inclusion 2020”: Microfinance Must Adjust to Aging World Population
The Center for Financial Inclusion, a branch of US-based nonprofit Accion that promotes universal access to financial services, has released a report that suggests potential implications for financial inclusion as birthrates decrease and life expectancies increase in the developing world.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME Loans $2m to Microfinance Institution Palestine for Credit and Development
The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises), an initiative of the German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank that invests in financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, recently agreed to disburse a senior loan facility of USD 2 million to Palestine for Credit and Development, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Palestine’s West Bank that is known as Faten in Arabic.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: WAM-NY Offers Professional Development Scholarships for Female Microfinance Practitioners
Women Advancing Microfinance New York (WAM-NY), a chapter of WAM International, a global network that supports women in microfinance, is accepting applications through March for its 2013 scholarship program.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, John Deere Partner to Provide Farming Equipment in the Ukraine
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in London, and Raiffeisen Bank Aval, a subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International, have partnered to issue loans to Ukrainian farmers so that they can purchase farming equipment from a third partner in the project, US-based agricultural machinery provider John Deere.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Yes Bank to Create Fund for Small Businesses in India
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has partnered with Yes Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Mumbai, to establish a fund to support small businesses in northeast India.