The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a public-private bank also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently arranged USD 15.5 million in local-currency financing for Solesco Centroamérica, a Guatemalan solar company that primarily serves rural areas under the brand name Kingo. The funding comes in the form of a seven-year, local-currency loan with funding equivalent to
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fusion Microfinance of India Cuts Interest Rate from 24.6% to 23%
Fusion Microfinance Private Limited, an Indian non-banking financial company, recently reduced the interest rate it charges on microloans from 24.6 percent to 23 percent per year for pre-existing customers. The rate for first-time borrowers was also 24.6 percent but is now 23.5 percent.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agricover Credit of Romania Borrowing $12m in Local-currency from EBRD for Agricultural Microfinance
Agricover Credit, a member of Romania’s Agricover Holding, is borrowing the local-currency equivalent of USD 12 million from the UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for on-lending to farmers in Romania.
Established in 2008, Agricover Credit lends exclusively to the Romanian agricultural sector. Established seven years earlier, the Agricover Group has 850 employees serving 4,500 customers. Its primary holdings are Agricover Credit and Agricover SA, which trades agricultural inputs and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fefisol Buys Equity Stake in Microfinance Institution Musoni of Kenya for $1m
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fundacion BBVA MicroFinanzas Continues Buying Equity in Microfinance Institution Financiera Confianza of Peru with responsAbility Transaction
Fundacion BBVA MicroFinanzas, which was launched by Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) in 1998, recently added to its shareholding in Financiera Confianza, a Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI) by purchasing the stake held by Switzerland-based responsAbility Investments. Although the size and price of the holding, which responsAbility began building in 2008, remains confidential, responsAbility reports that it earned “over three
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Lends $1.2m to DR Congo’s Hekima; Burkina Faso’s SOFIPE, ACFIME
The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation (GCAF), whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently informed MicroCapital that it has disbursed three-year loans to three microfinance institutions in Africa.
Hekima of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) borrowed USD 530,000 from GCAF. As of 2015, Hekima reports to the US-based nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) total assets of USD 3.6 million, loans of USD 2.3 million outstanding to 10,000 borrowers, and deposits of 890,000 held for 12,000 clients. The MFI’s mission includes “contributing to the economic, social and spiritual lives” of DRC’s people.
The Société de Financement de la Petite Entreprise (SOFIPE) of Burkina Faso borrowed the local-currency equivalent of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Netherlands’ FMO Lending $7.5m to ASA Pakistan for Microloans, Financial Education for 50k Women
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a government-backed institution also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently announced it will loan USD 7.5 million to the Association for Social Advancement (ASA) Pakistan, a microlending unit of Mauritius-based ASA International Holding, “to provide funding and financial education to about 50,000 women and their families.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MBK Borrowing $15m from FMO to Grow Group Microfinance Loan Portfolio in Indonesia
Mitra Bisnis Keluarga Ventura (MBK), a microfinance institution providing group loans to women in Indonesia, recently borrowed USD 15 million from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Netherlands-based development finance institution. This is the third loan FMO has provided to MBK
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s Muthoot Raises $20m in Equity from Creation Investments Amidst Plans to Open 500 New Microfinance Branches
Creation Investments Capital Management, a US-based alternative investment company, recently announced that it has placed an equity investment of USD 20 million in Muthoot Microfin Limited, a unit of Indian conglomerate Muthoot Pappachan Group. Muthoot Microfin
SPECIAL REPORT: Microfinance Investment Vehicles Setting “Green” Targets; Looking to Asian, Latin American MFIs to Deploy Environment-focused Microloans
During 
one of Friday’s sessions of European Microfinance Week, Hatem Mahbouli, an investment officer with Dutch development bank Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), described his institution’s plans to direct 20 percent of its investments each year to environmental efforts. FMO, which reports the equivalent of USD 9 billion in total assets, has disbursed about USD 120 million of its financial services investments in the “green” sub-sector. To move further toward its goal, FMO is looking particularly to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) Acquires Cambodian Microfinance Institution Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL)
The Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), a Thailand-based subsidiary of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, recently acquired 100-percent interest in Hattha Kaksekar Limited (KHL), a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) to Provide Technical Assistance, $2.8m Loan to Microcredit Foundation MI-BOSPO of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced it has loaned Microcredit Foundation MI-BOSPO, a nonprofit microfinance institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, EUR 2.5 million (approximately USD 2.8 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Green for Growth Fund Southeast Europe (GGF) Signs $2.2m Senior Loan Facility with ICS Total Leasing & Finance of Moldova
The Green for Growth Fund Southeast Europe (GGF), a Germany-based fund that invests in energy efficiency and renewable energy, recently announced that it has agreed to disburse a senior loan of EUR 2 million (USD 2.2 million) to ICS Total Leasing & Finance S.A. (TLF), a Moldova-based non-banking financial institution.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Completes $153m Syndicated Loan to Sri Lanka’s Commercial Leasing & Finance (CLC)
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently served as lead arranger and facility agent to finalize a USD 153 million senior secured syndicated loan for Sri Lanka’s Commercial Leasing & Finance (CLC).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $10m to Cambodia’s Microfinance Institution (MFI) Hattha Kaksekar for On-lending to Small, Medium-sized Rural Enterprise
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently announced that it will disburse a loan of USD 10 million to Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), a microfinance institution (MFI) in Cambodia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Loans $1.6m to Hattha Kaksekar Limited of Cambodia, $1.2m to Sri Lanka’s VisionFund Lanka
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 1.5 million (USD 1.6 million) to Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), an MFI based in Cambodia that was founded in 1994 by Organisation Canadienne pour la Solidarite et le Developpement (OCSD) and Oxfam International; and (2) EUR 1.1 million (USD 1.2 million) to VisionFund Lanka, a unit of US-based VisionFund, which offers financial services to families living in poverty in the developing world through a network of MFIs in 36 countries.
SPECIAL REPORT: A Risk Management “Graduation Model” for Microfinance
MicroCapital: You will be speaking in a few days at European Microfinance Week. How will you describe the state of risk management within microfinance and where it fits in the broader context of the industry?
Kevin Fryatt: In the last several years, we have seen a lot of focus on new technology and serving clients better through new product development, savings mobilization and agent networks, amongst other avenues. Similarly, institutions’ balance sheets are getting increasingly diverse in the types of funding they are sourcing. But within this, the conversation of risk management isn’t happening. There’s a sense of cynicism within the leadership of microfinance institutions (MFIs) toward risk management. It is often misunder-stood and confused with the roles of internal audit or compliance. It is often very difficult to quantify the value of risk management.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Risk Management Initiative in Microfinance (RIM) Announces Launch of Website Promoting Uniform Standards
Risk Management Initiative in Microfinance (RIM), a platform that promotes adoption of risk management standards in microfinance, has announced the launch of its official website, which aims to provide a “hub for the dissemination of risk management standards, information sharing and industry cooperation” [1].