ResponsAbility Investments AG, a Switzerland-based asset manager specializing in impact investments in developing countries, recently sold its entire equity position in Mibanco, a microfinance bank in Peru, to Credicorp Limited, a banking institution with subsidiaries operating mainly
Category: Latin America & Caribbean
MICROFINANCE EVENT: M2Banking & Fintech Latam; August 7 – 9, 2018; San Francisco, California, USA
Event Summary: With the goal of fostering “collaboration and co-development opportunities in the fintech [financial technology] sector between Silicon Valley and Latam and US Hispanic companies,” this event will cover topics such as mobile commerce, investing in fintech firms and digital
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BBVA Colombia Borrows $150m from IFC for Housing Lending, Expects Government to Subsidize Mortgage Rates
BBVA Colombia, a unit of Spain’s Grupo Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), is borrowing USD 150 million from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to on-lend for housing. This comes as the government of Colombia is considering a plan to “reduce prices on the acquisition of housing loans for the middle class through subsidies to mortgage interest rates.”
Oscar Cabrera Izquierdo, the Executive President of BBVA Colombia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: KKR Planning $1b Global Impact Fund to Invest in Green Energy, Education, Environmental Firms
KKR, a private equity firm that manages USD 168 billion as of 2017, reportedly is looking to raise USD 1 billion for a Global Impact Fund that would invest in medium-sized enterprises involved in fields such as education, renewable energy and other environmental issues. The fund’s goals would be to earn market returns while supporting work toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. One source indicates the managers would disburse roughly 10 investments of USD 50 million and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Loans $50m to Caja de Compensacion de Asignacion Familiar (CCAF) Los Heroes of Chile for Lending to Low-income Workers, Retirees
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently agreed to issue a five-year loan of USD 50 million to the Chilean nonprofit Caja de Compensacion de Asignacion Familiar (CCAF) Los Heroes. In Chile, cajas de compensacion, which form part of the nation’s social security system, are the only institutions authorized to provide payroll loans.
Marcelo Castellanos, IFC Manager for the Financial Institutions Group in Latin America and the Caribbean, explained that this is the “first
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IDB Establishing “Retirement Savings Laboratory” to Test Behavioral, Technology Interventions to Encourage People in Latin America, Caribbean to Save
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a member of the US-based IDB Group, recently announced that it is launching a Retirement Savings Laboratory to pilot-test and evaluate approximately 15 methods for encouraging “low-income and independent workers” to save for retirement. The goal is to get 400,000 people to begin saving “through interventions based on behavioral economics and the use of new technologies.” Further, according to Carmen Pagés, the chief of the Labor Market Division of IDB, “IDB wants to generate reliable evidence, through rigorous impact
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $31k to Palmis Eneji, Franchiser of Energy-efficient Cookstove, Solar Lamp Sales in Haiti
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently informed MicroCapital that it is lending approximately USD 31,000 to Palmis Eneji, a social business in Haiti that uses a franchise model to sell lighting and cooking appliances via
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD) Borrowing $45m from IDB for SMEs in Farming Value Chains, Improving Impact Measurement
The Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD), a US-based funder of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently secured a seven-year loan of USD 45 million from the private-sector member of the US-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, IDB Invest.
LAAD will use the fund to invest in SMEs active in “all stages of production, storage, technology and commercialization” in Chile, Colombia,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lafise Bancentro of Nicaragua Borrowing $75m for Mortgages, SMEs, Green Energy Projects from IFC, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID)
Lafise Bancentro, the Nicaraguan member of Panama-based Grupo Lafise, recently agreed to accept a loan package arranged by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to fund housing loans as well as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for purposes including reducing energy usage or accessing clean energy sources. The package includes USD 50 million from IFC and USD 25 million from Austria-based OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), an affiliate of the 14-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Of the total package, USD 42.5 million is senior debt with a term of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MetLife Foundation Donates $5.4m to Accion to Boost Microfinance Customer Capabilities in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Myanmar
MetLife Foundation, the philanthropic unit of US-based insurer MetLife, recently agreed to donate USD 5.4 million to US-based microfinance NGO Accion for an effort called Building Financial Capabilities and Strengthening Institutions through Customer-Centered Innovations. The project includes: (1) partnering with the Microfinance Centre, a Poland-based nonprofit network, to create and share tools for financial service providers to use in identifying and addressing client barriers to “financial well-being;” (2) identifying and partnering with six financial institutions in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Lending $15m to Jamaica for Microfinance Credit Guarantees, SME Fund
The World Bank recently agreed to lend USD 15 million to the Development Bank of Jamaica to support micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises via partial credit guarantees and an SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) fund. Galina Sotirova, the World Bank country manager for Jamaica, described the program as an effort to “…diversify and expand financing mechanisms for small businesses to promote entrepreneurship and job creation.” The objectives includes raising USD 10 million from private funders and guaranteeing
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MFIs in Bolivia, Vietnam Borrow $11.5m from C-Quadrat Dual Return Vision Microfinance Fund
Two microfinance institutions (MFIs) – one in Bolivia and one in Vietnam – recently borrowed a total of USD 11.5 million from the Dual Return Vision Microfinance fund, an offering of C-Quadrat Asset Management, which is a unit of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat. The identities of the MFIs and the amount each borrowed remain confidential. C-Quadrat Asset Management did tell MicroCapital that
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fundacion BBVA MicroFinanzas Continues Buying Equity in Microfinance Institution Financiera Confianza of Peru with responsAbility Transaction
Fundacion BBVA MicroFinanzas, which was launched by Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) in 1998, recently added to its shareholding in Financiera Confianza, a Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI) by purchasing the stake held by Switzerland-based responsAbility Investments. Although the size and price of the holding, which responsAbility began building in 2008, remains confidential, responsAbility reports that it earned “over three
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Achieving SDGs by Supporting SMEs, Engaging Youth in Financial Services via Social Media, Effects of Financial Education on Credit Card Usage
“SMEs and SDGs: Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” by Maria Teresa Zappia and Lisa Sherk, published by BlueOrchard, November 2017, 28 pages, available at http://www.blueorchard.com/smes-sdgs-supporting-small-medium-enterprises-achieve-sustainable-development-goals-insights-blueorchard-survey/
In this report, the authors explore how improving the business climate for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), may help achieve many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 guiding principles intended to help combat poverty, protect the environment, and encourage economic and political stability.
Ms Zappia and Ms Sherk surveyed financial institutions that lend to SMEs in the Caucasus, Central and South America, East Asia and
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Index of Women Entrepreneurs; Investing in Affordable Housing; Comparing Impact, Traditional Investment Returns
“Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2017,” published by Mastercard, March 2017, 31 pages, available at https://newsroom.mastercard.com/eu/files/2017/03/Report-Mastercard-Index-of-Women-Entrepreneurs-2017-Mar-3.pdf
This tool is intended to measure the evolution of women’s participation in business around the world. The authors apply a set of 37 indicators to data from 54 economies to explore the variations in: (1) women’s advancement; (2) knowledge assets and financial access; and (3) supporting entrepreneurial conditions. One of the primary women’s-advancement indicators is the percentage of CEOs and managers that are women in a given country. Six of the top 10 performers are upper-middle-income countries, with Canada and New Zealand being the only
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Invest in Ecuador, 13 Other Countries
C-Quadrat Asset Management, a unit of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, disbursed the equivalent of USD 40 million during December to 15 microfinance institutions (MFIs) from its Dual Return Vision Microfinance funds. The MFIs, whose identities remain confidential, span 14 countries. One is a cooperative located in
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Cracking the Nut Conference; June 12 – 13, 2018; Antigua, Guatemala
Event Name: Cracking the Nut Conference 2018
Event Date: June 12 – June 13, 2018
Event Location: Antigua, Guatemala
Summary of Event: This conference will focus on how technology can improve agricultural microfinance for poor people in rural areas. It includes a technology fair as well as sessions on the themes “Introducing Technologies
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mexico’s Adobe Capital Raises $21m to Finance Small, Medium-sized Enterprises in Latin America
Adobe Capital, the venture-capital unit of Mexico-based New Ventures, recently raised USD 21 million for its second investment vehicle, Adobe Mezzanine Fund (AMF) II, which is intended to finance