The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently announced it will loan a total of USD 13.5 million and provide related advisory services to three microfinance institutions in Myanmar.
Search Results for: myanmar
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Myanmar Finance International Borrows $2m from Maybank, Symbiotics for Microfinance
Myanmar Finance International Limited (MFIL), a microfinance institution owned by Myanmar Investments International Limited (MIIL), Myanmar Finance Company Limited (MFCL) and the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), recently announced that it has secured a local-currency loan facility worth USD 1 million from Switzerland-based Symbiotics.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF) Loans $6m to Proximity, BRAC, Vision Fund for Microlending in Myanmar
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending loans totaling the following amounts in phases over three years: the euro equivalent of USD 2.96 million to Myanmar’s Proximity Finance; the euro equivalent of USD 1.60 million to BRAC Myanmar; and the euro equivalent to USD 1.37 million to VisionFund Myanmar.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Expand Lending to Myanmar
C-Quadrat Asset Management, an arm of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance funds in May issued a loan in Myanmar for the first time.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Lending $5m to Accion’s Early Dawn Microfinance to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Myanmar
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, recently agreed to loan Myanmar-based Early Dawn Microfinance Company Limited USD 5 million. Dawn lends to low-income women in living in urban and peri-urban areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Advans Myanmar Disburses First Group Microfinance Loan from Branch in Amarapura
The Advans Group, which operates a network of 10 microfinance institutions from offices in France and Luxembourg, recently opened the first branch of Advans Myanmar in the city of Amarapura. Advans Myanmar is offering loans of up to MMK 1 million (USD 740) to groups of three to six traders and salaried workers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dragon Capital, Ruby Hill Launching Microfinance Institution in Myanmar
Dragon Capital Group, a Vietnam-based investment company with operations in Asia and Europe, and Ruby Hill Financial, a Myanmar-based financial services provider, recently announced that they are launching a microfinance institution called Ruby Hill Microfinance in the city of Yangon, Myanmar. Ruby Hill Financial
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UN’s Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) Provides $10m to The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX) to Subsidize Third-party Lending in Local Currency to Microfinance Institutions in Myanmar
The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX), which is based in the Netherlands, recently raised USD 10 million from the UN-managed Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) to reduce the cost of foreign-exchange hedging for “impact lenders” funding microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Myanmar. TCX provides this hedging service, absorbing the currency-exchange risk on the loans, so the lenders can commit US dollars while the MFIs access funding denominated in kyat. Via multiple microloan repayment cycles over three years, the MFIs are expected to gain sufficient liquidity from the LIFT-supported facility to fund
SPECIAL REPORT: The Impact of Finance on the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam
This
discussion of supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) centered on (1) building systems to boost institutions’ confidence in lending to the sector; and (2) the non-financial needs of MSMEs.
Gerald Sun, Vice President, Head of Sales for Commercial Payments Asia/Pacific at MasterCard Worldwide, said “the banks have trouble making a risk assessment cheaply enough. They lend to big organizations based on their income. For SMEs [small and medium enterprises], they revert to looking at assets as they would for consumer lending. The bank can value a house or car, but not a ton of fertilized chicken eggs.” MasterCard is addressing this issue by
SPECIAL REPORT: Evolving Regulations Obscure the Future of Microfinance in Myanmar
Paul 
Luchtenburg, who serves as coordinator for the UN Capital Development Fund in Myanmar, described several of the contrasts in the microfinance industry in Myanmar at European Microfinance Week Thursday. Five years into civilian rule, Mr Luchtenburg says “I’ve never seen a government work so hard. You go to a meeting and the results go up the leadership chain that night…. There’s this rapid push for development.” To accept deposits, institutions must pay at least 10 percent per year and be deemed “sustainable” by the government. However, lending rates are capped at 2.5 percent per month, a level that all of the panelists agreed was too low, especially for serving rural areas. Rommel Caringal, the CEO of the local unit of US-based VisionFund, said, “The inconsistency is causing big problems, but
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Infoteria, Tech Bureau Transfer Myanmar-based BC Finance’s Microfinance Data to Private Blockchain
Two Japanese firms, Infoteria Corporation, which specialises in the development of extensible markup language (XML) software, and Tech Bureau Corporation, which operates a bitcoin exchange platform, recently announced that they have transferred loan and deposit account information from BC Finance, a microfinance institution based in Myanmar that is wholly owned by Bagan Capital, to a private blockchain database.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Invests $7.5m in Debt, Equity in Microfinance Institution Maha Agriculture of Myanmar
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently invested USD 6 million in debt and USD 1.5 million in equity in Maha Agriculture Public Company Limited, a microfinance subsidiary of Myanma Awba Group <http://www.awba-group.com/>, an agrochemical fertilizer company in Myanmar.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) Donates $4.5m to World Vision Myanmar for Microfinance Lending, Savings
The Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund, a Myanmar-based multi-donor trust fund, recently has donated a three-year USD 4.5 million grant to three organizations affiliated with US-based NGO World Vision, to aid approximately 100,000 people in gaining improved access to financial services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Acquires 15% Equity Stake in Myanmar-based Microfinance Institution (MFI) Fullerton Finance for $1.2m
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to increase economic growth in developing countries, recently announced that it has made an equity investment of USD 1.2 million in Fullerton Finance (Myanmar) Company Limited, a microfinance institution (MFI) that lends to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and low-income individuals in Myanmar.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Base of Pyramid Asia (BOPA) Raises Equity Stake in Alliance for Microfinance in Myanmar (AMFIM) from 33% to 49%
Base of Pyramid Asia (BOPA), a Singapore-based equity investor in small microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Asia, recently purchased an additional equity stake of 16-percent in Alliance for Microfinance in Myanmar (AMFIM), a deposit-taking microfinance institution (MFI) that was launched in Myanmar in 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC to Advise Government of Myanmar on Regulation; Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs); Financial Inclusion; Microfinance
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to increase economic growth in developing countries, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Commerce of Myanmar.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Thailand’s JMT Network Services Establishes JP Finance Co Ltd to Offer Microfinance in Myanmar
JMT Network Services Public Company Limited, a debt collector and loan provider in Thailand under Jay Mart Public Company Limited, recently announced that the organization and unnamed partners aim to establish a joint venture, JP Finance Co Ltd.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion, Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), Triodos to Acquire Myanmar’s Dawn Microfinance for $7m
Accion, a US-based microfinance NGO; Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership that aims to promote growth in developing economies; and Triodos Investment Management, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Triodos Bank, have announced plans to invest a total of USD 6.85 million in Dawn Microfinance, a Myanmar-based microfinance institution (MFI).