MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Societe Generale’s MobiasBanca, European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Partner on “My First Card” Financial Education in Moldova

MobiasBanca, the Moldovan subsidiary of France-based Groupe Societe Generale, has been funded by the development facility of the Luxembourg-domiciled European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) to support financial education for youth in Moldova. Through the “My First Card” campaign, youth have been trained to educate other youth in the use of payment cards to make transactions and manage their finances. These new trainers visited educational facilities in Moldova, reaching 1,000 people via “lectures, workshops, and an essay competition” as well as offering monetary rewards for those exhibiting the most knowledge of the topic.

As of November 2018, MobiasBanca reported total assets of MDL 10.9 billion (USD 636 million). As of 2019, Groupe Societe Generale reported approximately 147,000 employees serving 31 million customers in 67 countries. According to the company’s June 2018 quarterly report, its total assets amounted to EUR 1.3 trillion (USD 1.5 trillion).

German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) founded EFSE in 2005 with the assistance of the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (also known by its German acronym BMZ). As of January 2019, the fund has EUR 897 million (USD 1.0 billion) outstanding to retail lenders, which have on-lent those funds to 140,000 end-borrowers in the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, the Ukraine and Turkey. As of 2019, EFSE holds a microfinance label from the Luxembourg Fund Labeling Agency (LuxFLAG), an NGO that certifies that social investment vehicles actually invest as advertised.

Research Associate, Tiannah Steele

Sources and Additional Resources

EFSE press release
https://www.efse.lu/news-events/news/detail/efse-and-mobiasbanca-advance-financial-education-in-moldova/

MobiasBanca home page
https://mobiasbanca.md/

MobiasBanca financial reports
https://mobiasbanca.md/en/mandatory_information

EFSE homepage
https://www.efse.lu/

EFSE facts and figures
https://www.efse.lu/about-the-fund/facts-and-figures/

Groupe Societe Generale homepage
https://www.societegenerale.com/en/home

Groupe Societe Generale Quarterly Financial Report
https://www.societegenerale.com/sites/default/files/documents/R%C3%A9sultats%20financiers/2018/Q2/financial_statements_and_notes_2018.pdf

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Invests $9m in Kredobank Bond Issue for Small, Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Lending in Ukraine
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-efse-invests-9m-in-kredobank-bond-issue-for-small-medium-sized-enterprise-sme-lending-in-ukraine/

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