In August 2010, BlueOrchard Finance, a Swiss commercial microfinance intermediary which manages 6 microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), loaned PEN 4.27 million (the equivalent of USD 1.53 million) to the Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI) Confianza, which provides loans, insurance and fund transfer services, and USD 1 million to the Ecuadorian MFI Fundacion para el Desarrollo Microempresarial (D-Miro).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BlueOrchard Finance Loans $1.77m to Peruvian Microfinance Institution (MFI) EDPYME Alternativa
In August 2010, BlueOrchard Finance, a Swiss based commercial microfinance intermediary which manages 6 microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), announced that it loaned PEN 4.94 million (the equivalent of USD 1.77 million) to the Peruvian microfinance institution EDPYME Alternativa, a microfinance institution (MFI) founded in 1993.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BancABC Chief Confident About Outlook of Zimbabwean Economy, Eyes Civil Servants as for Microfinance Clients
Doug Munatsi, CEO of BancABC, a commercial bank based in Botswana that also provides microfinance services, recently expressed his confidence about the economy of Zimbabwe at a meeting in Gaborone, where the bank’s interim financial results were released.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Managing Director of Ghanaian Area Rural Bank Apex Cautions Against Fraud by Interns
Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of the Area Rural Bank Apex Bank (ARB Apex Bank), an umbrella organization of rural and community banks (RCBs), some of which provide microfinance services, warned against individuals who might do significant financial damage to banks under the disguise of interns at a meeting of its member rural banks on September 11, 2010.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bhagwan Chowdhry Argues that Microcredit, MicroInsurance Spread Risks for Communities in Developing World
An article written by Dr Bhagwan Chowdhry, professor of finance and faculty director of the UCLA Anderson School [2], appeared on the Huffington Post on September 8, 2010 making the case that microcredit and microinsurance are effective ways of spreading risks in the developing world.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Non-bank E-Money Issuers: Regulatory Approaches to Protecting Customer Funds; by Michael Tarazi and Paul Breloff; Published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor)
By Michael Tarazi and Paul Breloff, published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), Focus Note 63, July 2010, 12 pages, available at: http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.45715/
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Department of Agriculture of the Philippines Orders Release of $2.3m for Microfinance Activities in Areas Stricken by El Niño Drought
The Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, which is responsible for promoting prosperity in the country’s farming communities, recently ordered the release of PHP 100 million (the equivalent of USD 2.27 million) for microfinance activities in areas affected by an El Niño-induced drought.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance India 2010 Awards to be Presented at The Microfinance India Summit, November 15, 2010
Access Development Services, an Indian nonprofit organization that offers consulting services to microfinance institutions (MFIs), and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Limited, an international banking group, will present the Microfinance India Awards 2010 at the Microfinance India Summit on November 15, 2010.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds and responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund Loan $4m to Central Asian Microfinance Institutions Bank Eskhata of Tajikistan and VF AzerCredit LLC of Azerbaijan
responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds and responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund (rAGMF), microfinance investment vehicles managed by responsAbility Social Investments AG of Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital the details of four debt investments made during the month of August 2010, totaling USD 4 million, to microfinance institutions (MFIs) Bank Eskhata of Tajikistan and VF AzerCredit LLC of Azerbaijan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Microfinance Institution Grameen Financial Services Private Limited Appoints New CEO, Mr Udaya Kumar
Grameen Financial Services Private Limited (GFSPL), a non-banking financial company that offers microfinance products and training services in India, recently appointed Mr Udaya Kumar to serve as its Chief Executive Officer.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BlueOrchard Invests $8.7m in Eastern European Microfinance Institutions KEP Trust of Kosovo and ProCredit Bank of Romania
BlueOrchard, a Switzerland-based commercial microfinance intermediary, recently reported to MicroCapital the details of two debt investments made during the month of August 2010, totaling the equivalent of USD 8.74 million, to microfinance institutions (MFIs) KEP Trust of Kosovo and ProCredit Bank of Romania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Asian Development Bank Provides $750,000 Grant for Microinsurance Development in the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), an international development finance institution based in Manila, the Philippines, is providing a USD 750,000 grant to the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia for technical assistance to develop the microinsurance sector in these countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Iraqi Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Agree to Code of Ethics at Inaugural Iraqi Microfinance Industry Network Meeting
At the inaugural meeting of the Iraqi Microfinance Industry Network in Baghdad, representatives of all 14 Iraqi microfinance institutions (MFIs) present agreed to a Code of Conduct and Ethics that mandates ethical behavior and a commitment to serving low-income Iraqis.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: The International Finance Corporation (IFC), Bank Sinar Harapan Bali and AXIS Launch Mobile-Banking Project to Expand Financial Access in Indonesia
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, together with Bank Sinar Harapan Bali, a subsidiary of the Indonesian Bank Mandiri, and AXIS, an Indonesian mobile phone service provider, have launched a mobile-banking project in an effort to establish low-cost banking that will help expand access to basic financial services.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 2010 Toronto Microfinance Conference and Gala, Toronto, Canada, October 1 to October 2
Event Name: 2010 Toronto Microfinance Conference and Gala: ‘moving out of poverty… the micro way’
Event Date: Gala – ‘the micro ball’ – October 1, 2010, and Conference – ‘the micro way’ – October 2, 2010
Event Location: Allstream Centre, Toronto, Canada
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP UP: Microfinance Activities and the Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision, by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision
Written by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, released in August 2010, 57 pages, available at http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs175.htm
This paper written by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a subcommittee of the Bank for International Settlements, which is an intergovernmental organization of central banks, reviews the applicability of its 2006 Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision [1], the de facto standard on prudential regulation and supervision of banks, to the emerging class of microfinance institutions (MFIs), including both depositing-taking MFIs and cooperatives.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: South Korea’s Sunshine Loan Program Disburses $463m in First Month, Financial Services Commission Addresses ‘Excessive’ Demand by Tightening Loan Criteria
In the “Sunshine” loan program’s first month of existence, Smile Microcredit Bank, a Korean government-led microfinance program, disbursed KRW 545 billion (the equivalent of USD 463 million) to 61,663 borrowers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dutch Microfinance Organization Qredits Receives $38.6 m in Loans From BNG, Rabobank, ING and ABN-AMRO
The Dutch microfinance organization Qredits, a foundation which provides financing to microentrepreneurs in the Netherlands and is operated as a partnership of the Dutch government and several banks, received EUR 30 million (the equivalent of USD 38.6 million) in loans from four Dutch banks, the Bank for Dutch Councils (BNG), Rabobank, ING and ABN-AMRO. Half of the loan is from BNG while the three other banks are providing the remaining half, with breakdown among them unspecified.