German Commercial Bank Commerzbank AG Continues Microfinance Investment In ProCredit Bank

Headquartered in Frankfurt, Commerzbank AG is Germany’s third-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank and HVB Group. Commerzbank performs corporate and institutional banking, retail banking and investment banking through nearly 1,000 branches and its Comdirect Bank online brokerage unit. Commerzbank has offices and shareholdings in 43 countries and reported total assets of over EUR 500 billion in 2005.
Since 2000, Commerzbank has held 15-20% equity stakes (p.58) in the ProCredit Banks of Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Commerzbank also holds a small stake in ProCredit Bank Georgia. The ProCredit Group consists of 19 microbanks with microcredit programs in Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Shareholders include KfW, a German quasi-public “development bank”, EBRD, a European quasi-public development bank, and ProCredit Holding, which controls the ProCredit group. ProCredit’s website states that its investors “expect a sustainable return on investment, but are not primarily interested in short-term profit maximization.” As of October 2005, the ProCredit Group had approximately å¥1.9 billion in total assets. At the end of 2005, ProCredit reported 560,000 loans outstanding amounting to a total loan portfolio of å¥1.5 billion. The ProCredit Group is poised for significant growth – they expect to have a presence in 22 to 25 countries, a staff of over 13,000, and a loan portfolio of more than EUR 3 billion by the end of 2009.
Continue reading “German Commercial Bank Commerzbank AG Continues Microfinance Investment In ProCredit Bank”

Similar Posts:

• MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Purchases 5% Equity Stake in ProCredit from IFC, Increasing Exposure to SMEs in Europe, Ecuador
• MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Africa, Sanad Fund Deploying $27m for SME Finance in Morocco
• MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DPAM, Korys Buy Equity in Incofin Investment Management to Boost Impact, Including Via Climate, Gender Funds
• MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Access Bank Botswana Borrows $20m from OPEC Fund for MSMEs, 30% Earmarked for Women
• MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Launches Water Access Acceleration Fund (W2AF) with $39m to Invest in Africa, Asia