The Bank of Industry (BOI), which was established by the Nigerian government to promote the industrial sector in Nigeria, recently announced plans to establish a microcredit fund to assist microentrepreneurs in an effort to promote financial inclusion and reduce the risks associated with the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) industry.
Category: Risks
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Azerbaijan Microfinance Association Proposes Guarantee Fund for Agricultural Credits
The Azerbaijan Microfinance Association (AMFA), a trade group of 28 microfinance institutions, recently announced that it will explore the possibility of creating a guarantee fund to insure up to 80 percent of an entrepreneur’s agricultural loan.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Financial Inclusion and the Linkages to Stability, Integrity and Protection: Insights from the South African Experience,” published by CGAP
Published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); November 2, 2012, 47 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/I-SIP%20Report_1.pdf
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: National Association of Microfinance Banks of Nigeria to Launch Money Market Operation in 2013
The National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), a trade group of microfinance banks in Nigeria, announced that the Microfinance Money Market Operation (MMMO) is in its final stages of completion and will be launched by the first quarter of 2013.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Estimate: 90% of Nigerian Microfinance Clients Commit Fraud to Obtain Loans
The National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) South West Zone, a chapter of Nigerian trade group NAMB, recently hosted a capacity building program on combatting fraud and forgery committed by staff and management of microfinance banks (MFBs).
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Opal Financial Group to Host “Alternative Investing Summit,” December 2-4, 2012, California, USA
Event Name: Alternative Investing Summit
Event Location: Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, California
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fonkoze, Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO), Make Insurance Payout to Haitian Women After Hurricane Sandy
Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO), a reinsurance company based in Barbados that provides tropical storm and earthquake reinsurance to microinsurance schemes, is due to make a payout of an undetermined amount to Fonkoze, a Haitian microfinance institution, to help its borrowers, who are largely female microentrepreneurs, recover from Hurricane Sandy, which struck the country in November.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Ghana Warns of False Advertising by Microfinance Institutions Medlorm Microfinance, African Guarantee Trust, AbbeyCash Microfinance, Swift Financial Services
The Bank of Ghana (BOG), the regulatory and supervisory body with authority over financial institutions in the country, is warning customers of the following Ghanaian microfinance institutions (MFIs) falsely claiming to be licensed by BOG in Ghana: Medlorm Microfinance Limited, African Guarantee Trust, AbbeyCash Microfinance Limited and Swift Financial Services.
SPECIAL REPORT: Panel: Seeking Diversification, Microfinance Investors Often Reap Annual Returns of 4%
On Friday, November 16 at European Microfinance Week, a conference hosted by the Luxembourg-based European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), Sebastian von Stauffenberg, the CEO of US-based microfinance rating agency MicroRate, said of the larger investment community, “People outside of our microfinance bubble speak another language – if we don’t speak their language, the whole trickle-down effect [of increased investment in microfinance] does not occur.” Mr von Stauffenberg was speaking as part of a panel on microfinance investment that also included Sebastien Juhen of Swiss microfinance investor BlueOrchard Finance, who said that microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) should work to improve their communication to investors regarding the risks of investing in microfinance including how investment managers address these risks.
SPECIAL REPORT: Responsible Microfinance Implementation Action Group Looks to Boost Usage of Existing Tools, Distributes Template of Covenants for Investors to Attach to Loans to Microbanks
At the European Microfinance Week conference today in Luxembourg, representatives of the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) Action Group on the Implementation of Responsible Microfinance led a discussion on its work. The group presented graphics compiling existing social performance tools such as social audits and the publication of pricing data via the US-based nonprofit Microfinance Transparency. One of the suggested steps for microbanks embarking on the process of evaluating its social performance is to make a public commitment through an effort such as the Smart Campaign, which is backed by US-based nonprofit Accion, or the Global Appeal for Responsible Microfinance, which is promoted by a set of institutions led by Oxus Group, an initiative of French NGO Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED).
SPECIAL REPORT: Sanjay Sinha of M-CRIL Calls Overexuberant Growth “Recipe for Disaster” at European Microfinance Week Opening
This morning, following a day of member meetings, the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) opened its eighth European Microfinance Week, which is themed “Combining Strength, Delivering Results” and aims to address the loss of confidence in many circles that microfinance benefits poor people. In the opening plenary session, Sanjay Sinha, managing director of India’s Micro Credit Rating International Limited (M-CRIL), said that, “Moderate growth is good for inclusion. Rampant growth, which is what we had for a long time in India, is a recipe for disaster…. In order to reduce growth, we need to temper the egos of the promoters of microfinance institutions (MFIs). And we all know we need to dampen the expectations of investors – I’m talking mainly of the Indian commercial banking sector.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lack of Law and Order Causes Microfinance Institution (MFI) Ujjivan of India to Put Lending Operations on Hold in Parts of Bihar
Ujjivan Financial Services, a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI), recently put its lending operations on hold in the districts Vaishali and Muzaffarpur in the Indian state of Bihar after an October attack on its customer relations officer, Achchhe Lal Prasad.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MiCRO, Fonkoze of Haiti to Make Insurance Payout to Women Microentrepreneurs in Wake of Tropical Storm Isaac
Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO), a reinsurance company based in Barbados, is due to make a payout of an undetermined amount to Fonkoze, a Haitian microfinance institution, to help female microentrepreneurs recover from Tropical Storm Isaac, which struck the country in August.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank Issues Partial Credit Guarantee of $2.4m to Microfin of Uruguay
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based finance institution that provides funding to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other sectors, recently issued a partial credit guarantee of UYU 51.4 million (USD 2.41 million) to Microfin, a microfinance institution (MFI) that provides support to SMEs in Uruguay.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Backs Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest (CERSAI) of India
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, and the government-owned Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest (CERSAI) of India, are developing a database of collateral used to secure loans.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bangladesh to Establish Deposit Insurance Fund for Microfinance Institutions
The Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) of Bangladesh will reportedly create a security fund for the benefit depositors of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the country.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Microfinance Banana Skins 2012: The CSFI Survey of Microfinance Risk;” by David Lascelles and Sam Mendelson; published by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI)
By David Lascelles and Sam Mendelson, published by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, July 2012, 50 pages, available at: http://www.citigroup.com/citi/microfinance/data/news120628.pdf
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Financial Advisors on Sustainable Investing; Risk Management in Microfinance; Supply-Side Financial Inclusion Data
“Gateways to Impact: Industry Survey of Financial Advisors on Sustainable and Impact Investing;” published by Calvert Foundation; June 2012; 14 pages; available at: http://www.gatewaystoimpact.org/images/gatewaystoimpact.pdf