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: responsAbility Social Investments of Switzerland Loans $11.3m to PRASAC, Thaneakea Phum Cambodia Limited (TPC) of Cambodia, LOLC Micro Credit Limited (LOMC) of Sri Lanka
responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital that it made seven investments totaling USD 11.3 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Asia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Turkish Grameen Microcredit Program (TGMP) Reaches $47m In Total Loans to Entrepreneurs In Turkey Since 2003
The Turkish Grameen Microcredit Program (TGMP), a microcredit project of the US-based Grameen Foundation, announced that it has disbursed approximately TRY 73 million (USD 46.9 million) in unsecured loans to approximately 42,000 women since its founding in 2003.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: KDDI Invests $22m in Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC) to Develop Global Mobile Payment Platform
KDDI Corporation, a Japanese telecommunications company that was established in 1984, has partnered with Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC), a provider of financial solutions based in Washington DC, to jointly develop a global mobile payment platform.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UK, Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Set Sights on India with Shanti Microfinance Fund
A number of UK and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, including Brent Hoberman, founder of Lastminute.com, and venture capitalist John Hummer, one of the early investors in Napster, have gathered to back Shanti Microfinance, a not-for-profit microfinance fund founded and headed by Sheetal Mehta Walsh, who was till recently the Director of Venture Capital Relations at computing giant Microsoft.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in India Take Legal Action Against Yes Bank for Loan Recall
Several microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India announced that they will be taking legal action against Yes Bank, a private-sector bank headquartered in Mumbai, for recalling loans totaling several billion rupees (the equivalent of tens of millions of US dollars).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Development Bank (AfDB) Launches Migration and Development Fund (MDF), Taking Proposals for Projects Relating to Remittances, Local Investment
African Development Bank (AfDB), a development finance institution established in 1964 that gives loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, recently launched the Migration and Development Fund (MDF) to support development projects in Africa.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Farz Foundation Hosts First National Islamic Microfinance Conference 2011, Lahore, Pakistan, January 29, 2011
Event Name: First National Islamic Microfinance Conference 2011
Event Date: January 29, 2011
Event Location: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Lahore, Pakistan
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Rating Agency Crisil Downgrades Five Indian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
Crisil, a credit rating agency based in Bangalore, India, has downgraded its rating of five Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs), citing low debt collections in Andhra Pradesh.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Belgian Incofin Investment Management Makes $ 2.21m Equity Investment in Indian Microfinance Institution (MFI) Hope Microcredit
Incofin Investment Management, a firm based in Belgium, recently made an INR 100 million (approximately USD 2.21 million) equity investment in Indian microfinance institution (MFI) Hope Microcredit, which is based in Kerala.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Makes $1.8m Local-Currency Loan to Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (Komida) of Indonesia and Thaneakea Phum Cambodia (TPC), Chamroeun Microfinance of Cambodia
Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in Luxembourg in 2008 as a partnership between Credit Agricole SA, a French retail bank, and Grameen Trust (GT), a nonprofit microfinance organization based in Bangladesh, extended three local-currency loans equivalent to a total of USD 1.8 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Southeast Asia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Nigerian State of Ondo and Bank of Industry (BOI) Disburse $13m to Microfinance Scheme
The government of the Nigerian state of Ondo disbursed NGN 2 billion (approximately USD 13 million) to create the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, which will provide wholesale funding and refinancing liquidity for microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), MasterCard Foundation Announce Branchless Banking Partnership with MTN Ghana, Mobile Transactions of Zambia
Recently, Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), a microenterprise resource center based in Washington, DC, and the MasterCard Foundation, a Canadian foundation with approximately USD 2.9 billion in assets, announced that they have chosen MTN Ghana Mobile Money and Mobile Transactions of Zambia to participate in their Consumer Education for Branchless Banking (CEBB) program.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Provides $76m Loan to Bancpost to Support Lending to Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Romania
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is providing a EUR 58 million (USD 76.3 million) loan to Bancpost, a universal bank established in Romania in 1991, for lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $90m to Patria Credit of Romania and Orient Express of Russia for Microfinance and Small Business Lending
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution headquartered in London, made two loans worth USD 90 million to support microfinance in Romania and the Russian Far East.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP) of Kenya Licensed to Take Deposits
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Kenya’s central banking authority, recently granted Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP), a nonprofit financial institution established in Kenya in 1999, a license that will allow SMEP to take deposits from the public.
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.