The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently loaned approximately MDL 39 million (USD 2.4 million) to Microinvest, a microlender in Moldova. Microinvest offers collateral and collateral-free loans for business, agriculture, housing, vehicles and consumption. These loans range in size from MDL 2,000 (USD 120) to MDL 4 million (USD 240,000), with terms of 3 months to 7 years. Microinvest has a portfolio of MDL 1.9 billion (USD 114 million) outstanding to 35,000 clients as of 2020. About two thirds of these customers live in rural areas, and the male-female ratio is even.
Microinvest is majority held by Balkan Financial Sector Equity Fund. The Romania-based Banca Transilvania Financial Group was seeking regulatory approval to acquire Microinvest as of February 2020, but this transaction has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
GCA Foundation was established in 2008 by Credit Agricole, a French retail bank, in partnership with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank. The organization seeks to reduce poverty by providing funding and technical assistance to microfinance institutions and other social businesses. As of July 2020, GCA Foundation had commitments of EUR 92 million (USD 109 million) outstanding to 82 partners in 40 countries in Africa and Eurasia. These partners serve approximately 8.6 million customers, of whom 85 percent are women and 78 percent live in rural areas.
Sources and Additional Resources
Direct contact with GCA Foundation
GCA Foundation press release
https://www.gca-foundation.org/en/media-room/#the-grameen-credit-agricole-foundation-makes-a-new-investment-in-moldova
Microinvest homepage
https://microinvest.md
Previous MicroCapital news on Banca Transilvania acquisition of Microinvest
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-banca-transilvania-acquiring-microinvest-microfinance-institution-in-moldova/
Banca Transilvania homepage
https://www.bancatransilvania.ro
Did you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at http://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.
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