Fundacion para el Desarrollo Socioeconomico Rural (FUNDESER), a nonprofit Nicaraguan microlender, plans to launch a public bond issue in April 2013.
Category: Latin America & Caribbean
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.
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.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Microinsurance Product Development for Microinsurance Providers;” by Michael J. McCord; published by Microfinance Centre, Microinsurance Centre, International Fund for Agricultural Development
By Michael J. McCord; published by the Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, the Microinsurance Centre and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); 2012; 124 pages; available at: http://www.ifad.org/ruralfinance/wrmf/manual.pdf
In this manual, Mr. McCord proposes a “systematic new-product development process” for the microinsurance market.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Mobile Money Americas Conference & Expo, April 15 – 17, 2013, Mexico City, Mexico
Event Name: Mobile Money Americas Conference & Expo 2013
Event Date: April 15 – 17, 2013
Event Location: Westin Santa Fe, Mexico City, Mexico
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) to Invest $2.5m in Equity in Microfinance Institution FONDESA of the Dominican Republic as it Seeks to Become a Regulated Entity
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the US-based IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) Group, reportedly has approved a USD 2.5 million equity investment in El Fondo para el Desarrollo, Inc. (FONDESA), a nonprofit microfinance institution in the Dominican Republic. The investment is intended to help FONDESA acquire status as a regulated microfinance institution under the new name Banco de Ahorro y Crédito FONDESA (BANFONDESA).
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.
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: Citigroup Launches Citi Mobile Collect in the Dominican Republic
The US-based financial service provider Citigroup reportedly has made its Citi Mobile Collect payment program available in the Dominican Republic.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Donate $2m to Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO) of Barbados, Insurer to Haiti’s Fonkoze
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently announced plans to donate USD 1.96 million to the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO), a Barbados-based company that was established in 2011.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Austria’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $5m to MFIs in Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay
Austria-based asset management company Absolute Portfolio Management (APM) recently announced that it has disbursed the equivalent of USD 5 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America through its two Dual Return-Vision Microfinance funds in early 2013.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Property Microinsurance in Colombia, Portfolio Reviews for Microfinance Funders, Microfinance Rating Comparability
“MILK Brief #18: Doing the Math with Property Microinsurance in Coastal Colombia;” by Barbara Magnoni and Derek Poulton; published by Microinsurance Centre; October 2012; 2 pages; available at: http://www.microinsurancecentre.org/milk-project/milk-docs/doc_details/914-condensed-milk-18-doing-the-math-with-property-microinsurance-in-coastal-colombia.html
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Scotiabank of Canada to Extend Microcredit in Mexico
Scotiabank, a Canada-based bank, reportedly expects to increase the number of microloans it extends to consumers and small businesses in Mexico, in amounts ranging from CAD 300 (USD 297) to CAD 3,000 (USD 2,970).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Peru Passes Law Enabling Mobile Payment System for General Use, Government-to-Person Payments
The government of Peru reportedly has passed a law governing a new electronic payment system that allows residents to make payments and money transfers via mobile phones.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Invest $10m in Root Capital for Farmers in Africa, Latin America
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the US-based World Bank Group, and the private-sector office of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multilateral mechanism established by the G20 group of 20 large economies, have announced that each of the organizations will invest USD 5 million in Root Capital, a US-based nonprofit social investment fund.
MICROCAPTIAL BRIEF: Microfinance Network FINCA International Opens Data Processing Center in US
The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) International, a U.S.-based nonprofit microfinance network with 10,000 employees in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia, reportedly has opened its “Americas’ Data Center” which will process data for the organization’s headquarters in the US city of Washington, DC, and its Latin American subsidiaries [1].
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance; Financial Inclusion in Russia; Life Microinsurance in Mexico
“A Guide to Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance;” by Robert Peck Christen, Kate Lauer, et al; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); October 2012; 120 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/publications/guide-regulation-and-supervision-microfinance