The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, has announced that it is “deepening its partnership”[1] with Georgia’s BasisBank by disbursing it a credit package of USD 31.5 million.
Category: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Azerbaijan’s National Postal Operator to Start Microlending
Azerbaijan’s Communications and High Technologies Ministry recently announced that Azerpoçt, the country’s government-backed postal service provider, plans to start microlending as a part of the ministry’s plans to expand its credit offerings.
Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Harakat Implement Credit, Collateral Registry in Afghanistan
Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank of Afghanistan, recently implemented a credit infrastructure modernization project involving the establishment of Collateral Registry (CR) and Public Credit Registry (PCR) systems, which enable automation of loan processing by tracking information about clients, outstanding loans and assets pledged to back those loans.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat Asset Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Issue $6m in Credits to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, Colombia, Georgia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Tajikistan and Paraguay
During May 2015, Viennese asset manager C-Quadrat Asset Management USD 6 million worth of credits via the two Vision Microfinance funds to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, Colombia, Georgia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Tajikistan and Paraguay. Of this total, C-Quadrat Asset Management invested USD 500,000 in the microfinance institution based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Founded in 2001, this institution targets micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and provides services to approximately 3,200 clients.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin’s Rural Impulse Fund Loans $1.5m to Microfinance Institution Humo and Partners of Tajikistan
Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM), a Belgium-based company that manages funds investing in microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently loaned USD 1.5 million over 12 months via the Rural Impulse Fund II to Humo and Partners, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Seeks Partners for Customer-Centric Financial Services Project
CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based nonprofit policy and research center devoted to worldwide growth of financial access, is searching for financial service providers with whom to partner to increase customer centricity within the providers’ systems.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: China’s Zuoli Micro-finance Obtains Government Approval to Lend to Online Retailers
Zuoli Kechuang Micro-finance Company, a microfinance institution in China, recently obtained approval from the Financial Work Office of the government of Zhejiang Province to cooperate with online money lending platforms and issue loans to online retailers nationwide. The company expects these loans to be in amounts of approximately RMB 500,000 (USD 80,000) at an annualised interest rate of approximately 15 percent.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SimbaPay Mobile Money Transfer Service Opens Remittance Channel from UK to Nigeria
SimbaPay, a UK-based digital money transfer service, reportedly has announced that it has begun offering transfers to Nigeria.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: European Microfinance Network (EMN) to Host 12th Annual Conference “Microfinance and Banks: Are We the Right Partners?;” June 18-19, 2015; Dublin, Ireland
Event Name: 12th Annual EMN Conference “Microfinance and Banks: Are We the Right Partners?”
Event Date: June 18-19, 2015
Event Location: The Grand Hotel Malahide, Dublin, Ireland
Summary of Event: This conference will bring together microfinance practitioners from both European and developing countries to share, evaluate and challenge best practices in the microfinance industry. The discussion will center around the potential of cooperation among traditional financial service providers and microfinance practitioners in order to further the goal of promoting greater financial inclusion.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO, Triodos Loan $35m to Khan Bank of Mongolia for On-Lending to Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
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 35 million in Khan Bank, a commercial bank based in Mongolia, for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in that country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loan $97m to Alternatifbank of Turkey for On-Lending to Micro, Small Enterprises (MSEs); Energy Efficiency; Renewable Energy
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that seeks to increase economic growth in developing countries, recently announced that the two organizations will disburse a senior loan of USD 97 million to Alternatifbank (ABank), a private commercial bank in Turkey.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat Asset Management’s Dual Return Vision Funds Loan $1.25m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, Ghana
During April 2015, Austria’s C-Quadrat Asset Management disbursed from its Dual Return Funds local-currency loans totaling USD 1.25 million to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia and Ghana.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Lends $7.8m to Microfinance Institutions Mikrofin of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Opportunity Bank Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle focusing on Southeast Europe and Central Asia, recently invested in two microfinance institutions (MFIs) in an effort to support micro- and small enterprises: Mikrofin, an MFI in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a network of 64 offices; and Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a member of US-based Opportunity International, which is active in 22 countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) Lends $5.4m to Microfinance Institution Mikrofin of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership that aims to promote growth in developing economies, recently signed a senior loan agreement through which it will disburse EUR 5 million (USD 5.4 million) to Mikrofin, a Bosnia and Herzegovina-based microfinance institution.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program to Loan $110m to Cambodia’s Acleda for Agricultural Lending
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group; the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multilateral mechanism established by the G20 group of 20 large economies; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group; and the IFC Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program, a platform that allows institutional investors to participate in IFC’s senior-loan portfolio, recently announced that they will be loaning a total of 110 million to Acleda Bank (Acleda), a Cambodian commercial bank.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Germany’s Gemeinschaftsbank für Leihen und Schenken (GLS), Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Together Invest $34m in Green for Growth Fund Southeastern Europe (GGF)
Gemeinschaftsbank für Leihen und Schenken (GLS), a German bank that focuses on investing in social and ecological projects, reportedly has invested EUR 22 million (USD 23 million) in the Green for Growth Fund Southeast Europe (GGF), a Germany-based fund that invests in energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy sources.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: University of Zurich’s Center for Microfinance (CMF) Establishes Microfinance Investment Indexes to Track Performance in EUR, USD
The Center for Microfinance at Switzerland’s University of Zurich has established two new microfinance investment indexes (MFIIs) to track the performance of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Loan $32m to Tunisia’s Banque de Tunisie for On-Lending to Micro, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs); $3.2m to Support Women-Led SMEs in Kosovo
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral financial institution, has agreed to lend EUR 30 million (USD 32 million) to Tunisia’s Banque de Tunisie, for on-lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.