Vikram Akula, the founder and former chairman of Indian group-lender SKS Microfinance, recently bought 26-percent stake in the start-up Vaya Finserv. Launched in 2014, Vaya Finserv has plans to acquire a “small finance bank” license, which will it will use to provide credit to individuals in India who have been rejected by traditional banks, primarily women’s self-help groups.
Category: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DEG, EBRD Loan $10m – Part in Local Currency – to Bai Tushum of Kyrgyz Republic for On-lending to Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
The Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft GmbH (DEG), a German development finance institution offering long-term project and company financing, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, have announced that the two institutions will collectively loan the equivalent of USD 10 million to Bai Tushum Bank (BTB), a provider of microfinance services in the Kyrgyz Republic.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Union (EU), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Launch $78m Program to Support Small, Medium-sized Enterprises in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine
The European Union (EU) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, have announced a joint program to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF) Loans $2m to ACBA Leasing of Armenia to Boost Energy Efficiency for SMEs, Large Companies
The Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a Germany-based fund that invests in energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy sources, recently disbursed a senior loan of USD 2 million to Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia Leasing (ACBA Leasing).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Loans $936k to Jordan’s Microfund for Women, $1.7m to Georgia’s JSC MFO Crystal
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has issued the following two loans: (1) EUR 825,000 (USD 936,000) to Microfund for Women, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Jordan that was founded in 1994 as a program of UK-based NGO Save the Children; and (2) EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.6 million) to Joint Stock Company Microfinance Organization Crystal (JSC MFO Crystal), an MFI that was established in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1998 as the Crystal Fund.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $11.6m to UniCredit Bank Serbia for Housing Purchases, Improvements
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it is loaning EUR 10 million (USD 11.6 million) to UniCredit Bank Serbia, a subsidiary of Italy-based financial services company UniCredit Group, for on-lending for housing purchases and home improvement projects.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $34.6m to Garanti Leasing for On-lending to Micro-, Small Enterprises in Turkey; Banca Intesa Beograd (BIB) for Agriculture in Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently extended loans to Garanti Leasing (GL), a leasing subsidiary of Turkey’s Garanti Bank (GB), and Banca Intesa Beograd (BIB), a commercial bank in Serbia that is part of Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Loans $114m to Finansbank for Women Entrepreneurs in Turkey, Bank CenterCredit (BCC) for Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises in Kazakhstan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral financial institution headquartered in England, recently extended loans to Finansbank, a commercial bank in Turkey that is a subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece Group, and Bank CenterCredit (BCC), a Kazakhstan-based joint stock company.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Invest $8.5m in Microfinance Institutions in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset management group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it disbursed credits totaling the approximate equivalent of USD 8.5 million from its two Vision Microfinance funds, the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency, to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Financial Liberalization and Rural Banking in India, Agricultural Financing and Food Security in Developing Countries, European Small Business Finance Outlook
“Financial Liberalization and Rural Banking in India;” published by the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata; 2014; 29 pages; available at http://www.networkideas.org/feathm/dec2004/Conference_Papers/Financial_Liberalisation_Rural_Banking_India_VKR.pdf
This paper examines the effects of the recent trend of financial liberalization in India, including its impact on banking policy and the structure of rural economies in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) Syndicates $70m in Loans to BRAC for Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises with Participation from OFID, OeEB, BIO, Actiam, responsAbility
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership that aims to promote growth in developing economies, recently disbursed a USD 70 million five-year syndicated loan to BRAC, an NGO that was formerly known as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee and serves eleven countries as of 2015.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $7m to TuranBank of Azerbaijan to Fund Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Rural Enterprises
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that offers financial services to businesses and governments in developing countries with the aim of increasing economic growth, recently announced that it will loan USD 7 million to TuranBank Open Joint Stock Company (TuranBank), a retail and corporate bank in Azerbaijan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $8.3m in Local Currency to Patria Credit of Romania
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it will disburse a senior loan equivalent to EUR 7 million (USD 8.3 million) but denominated in Romanian leu to Patria Credit IFN SA (Non-banking Financial Institution Corporation), a microfinance institution (MFI) in Romania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $8.3 to Agricover Credit of Romania for Agricultural Micro-, Small Businesses
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it will disburse a senior loan of EUR 7 million (USD 8.3 million) to Agricover Credit IFN SA (Non-banking Financial Institution Corporation), a lender to farmers in Romania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $600k to Macedonian Microfinance Institution (MFI) Horizonti to On-Lend to Small-Scale Farmers, Rural Microentrepreneurs
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced it will offer a senior loan of EUR 500,000 (USD 600,100) to the Foundation for Economic Development “Horizonti”, Skopje (Horizonti), a Macedonian microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $30m to Finansbank of Turkey to Support Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it will disburse a senior loan of EUR 25 million (USD 30 million) to Finansbank, a commercial bank in Turkey that is a subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece Group, a Greek financial conglomerate.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), Green for Growth Fund (GGF) Loan $24.2m to Macedonia-based Halkbank AD Skopje to Support Energy Efficiency; Housing; Micro-, Small Enterprises (MSEs)
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), and Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a Germany-based fund that invests in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, recently granted loans of EUR 10 million (USD 12.1 million) each to Halkbank AD Skopje, a Macedonia-based bank, for expanding the bank’s work with micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) as well as to support energy efficiency and the housing market.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) Syndicates $30m Loan to Microfinance Institution FINCA Azerbaijan Including $15m From Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEB)
FINCA Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan-based subsidiary of the US-based nonprofit microfinance network Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) recently received a multi-currency, syndicated loan worth USD 30 million from the Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership that aims to promote growth in developing economies, with the participation of Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB), the development bank of the Austrian government. Each institution will invest the equivalent of USD 15 million, and additional commitments totalling USD 10 million are expected from various international commercial investors and asset managers. The loan facility has a term of five years and the equivalent of USD 15 million of the principal is denominated in local currency [1].