The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in collaboration with United States Agency for International Development (AID), has announced the award of its “First to Market” prize of USD 2.5 million to Jamaica-based mobile operator Digicel and its Canadian partner bank ScotiaBank as part of the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI), a competition created by the US-funded Haiti Integrated Finance for Value Chains and Enterprises (HIFIVE) in June 2010 to encourage partnerships between mobile operators and banks to launch mobile money programs.
Category: Latin America & Caribbean
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Invests $20m in Banco Triângulo SA (Tribanco) to Support Lending to Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Brazil
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is making a USD 20 million equity investment in newly issued common shares of Banco Triângulo SA (Tribanco), a Brazilian bank that primarily serves small businesses. IFC’s investment in Tribanco supports a partnership that began six years ago when IFC provided USD 25 million in funding to the bank.
MICROCAPITAL PAPER WRAP-UP: Do Multiple Financial Services Enhance the Poverty Outreach of Microfinance Institutions?, by Koen Rossel-Cambier, Published by Centre Emile Bernheim and Solvay Brussels School
By Koen Rossel-Cambier, published by Centre Emile Bernheim and Solvay Brussels School, December 2010, 41 pages, available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m/template.rc/1.9.49256/
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund Makes Local-Currency Debt Investment Worth $1.6m to Fondo Esperanza of Chile and Haitian Credit Unions Caisse Populaire Marigot, Caisse Populaire Kotelam, Caisse Populaire Fraternite
In January 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided MicroCapital with data pertaining to debt and equity investments made during 2010 via the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). The investments are covered by MicroCapital in three separate briefs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Makes $4m in Equity Investments in Solutiones de MicroFinanzas SA (Microserfin) of Panama, Banco ProCredit Honduras, enConfianza Microfinanciera of Mexico and $3.5m in Loans to Fondo de Desarrollo Regional (Fondesurco) of Peru, IFD Sembrar Sartawi of Bolivia
In January 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided MicroCapital with data pertaining to debt and equity investments made during 2010 via the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). The investments are covered by MicroCapital in three separate briefs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and Social Entrepreneurship Program (PES) of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Make $3.6m Debt Investment in Cooperativa Mixta Mujeres Unidas Limitada (COMIXMUL) of Honduras, Fondo de Desarrollo Comunal (FONDECO) of Bolivia, Fundacion de Apoyo Comunitario y Social del Ecuador (FACES), Alternativa Solidaria Chiapas (ALSOL) of Mexico
In January 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided MicroCapital with data pertaining to debt and equity investments made during 2010 via the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). The investments are covered by MicroCapital in three separate briefs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Social Investments of Switzerland Makes Loans Totaling $13m to Banco Continental of Paraguay, Financiera Confianza of Peru
responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital that it invested the equivalent of USD 13 million in two microfinance institutions (MFIs) in South America.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mexican Microfinance Lender Financiera Independencia Acquires Apoyo Economico Familiar (AEF) of Mexico, Apoyo Financiero Incorporated (AFI) of California
Financiera Independencia, a Mexican microfinance lender with MXN 8.6 billion (the equivalent of USD 703 million) in assets, recently announced that it will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Apoyo Economico Familiar (AEF), a Mexican provider of unsecured personal loans with MXN 951 million (the equivalent of USD 77.6 million) in total assets, and purchase a 77-percent ownership stake in Apoyo Financiero Incorporated (AFI), a microfinance lender serving the unbanked Hispanic community in San Francisco, California.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Loans $8m to Cooperativa Mixta Mujeres Unidas Limitada (COMIXMUL) of Honduras, Apoyo Integral of El Salvador, Mutual Cartago de Ahorro y Prestamo (MUCAP) of Costa Rica, Fondo de Desarrollo Local (FDL) of Nicaragua
responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital that it invested a total of USD 8 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Arranges $22m Syndicated Loan to Banco Pichincha of Ecuador for Housing, Microfinance, SME Lending
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a multilateral finance organization established in 1959 that is based in the United States and operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, extended a USD 22 million syndicated loan to Banco Pichincha, an Ecuadorian commercial bank.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fundacion Microfinanzas BBVA Acquires Microfinance Institution (MFI) Financiera Confianza of Peru
Fundacion Microfinanzas BBVA, a nonprofit business created in 2007 as a subsidiary of multinational bank BBVA of Spain, has announced the acquisition of Financiera Confianza, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Peru.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Makes Debt Investments Worth $5m in Contactar of Colombia, FODEMI of Ecuador, FINCA Mexico and Edpyme Raiz of Peru
responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital that it made five investments totaling USD 5.3 million in four microfinance institutions (MFI) in Mexico and South America.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Credito (FENACOAC) of Guatemala Partner to Launch Savings Guarantee Fund
The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), a US-based global trade association for credit unions, and the Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Credito (FENACOAC), an association of credit unions and cooperatives in Guatemala, have partnered to launch Mi Cooperativa (MICOOPE) Savings Guarantee Fund, a private deposit insurance institution aiming to serve FENACOAC holders of savings and share accounts in Guatemala.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Microfinance Latin América 2011, Lima, Peru, January 25-27, 2011
Event Name: Microfinance Latin América 2011
Event Date: January 25 – January 27, 2011
Event Location: Novotel, Lima, Peru
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Confederación de Cámaras Industriales de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (CONCAMIN) and Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Partner To Launch Web-Based Toolkit for Mexico
The International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Confederación de Cámaras Industriales de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (CONCAMIN), a group of organizations designed to promote the development of Mexico’s manufacturers and entrepreneurs; and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, a technological university in Monterrey, Mexico, have partnered to launch the SME Toolkit Integrapyme in Mexico, a web-based toolkit that has been used since 2006 in other countries to assist managers of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: As Microfinance in Peru Continues to Grow, BBVA Continental to Acquire Financiera Confianza
The Daily Finance newspaper of the US reports that Peru’s highly competitive microlending market has helped drop interest rates while increasing average loan size, which stands at USD 1,300 as of 2009, an increase from approximately USD 1,000 in 2006, according to the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the microfinance information clearinghouse.
MICROCAPITAL PAPER WRAP-UP: Microfinance and Gender: Is There a Glass Ceiling in Loan Size? By Isabelle Agier and Ariane Szafarz, published by Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and Universite Libre de Bruxelles
By Isabelle Agier and Ariane Szafarz, published by Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and Universite Libre de Bruxelles, March 2010, 37 pages, available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1573872
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Eyeing International Expansion, Mexican Microfinance Bank Compartamos Banco Directs Shares to Holding Company
Mexican microfinance bank Compartamos Banco recently announced that it plans to transfer its shares into the newly created holding company Compartamos SAB through an exchange offer.