Bamboo Finance, a Luxembourg-based commercial investment firm, recently announced the first close of Financial Inclusion Fund II at USD 31 million, with the slate of investors including US-based financial services company Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) and European-based asset management company AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM).
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Movistar, MasterCard Collaborate to Launch Mobile Money Service “Tu Dinero Móvil” in Peru
Movistar, the Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica S.A., and MasterCard, the US-based payments and technology company, recently launched “Tu dinero móvil” (Your mobile money), which reportedly is the first electronic money service operating in Peru [1]. The service will allow Movistar’s 16 million mobile users in Peru to perform financial transactions such as depositing and withdrawing money, refilling mobile balances and purchasing goods in the 65,000 establishments in Peru that are affiliated with MasterCard [2].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Développement international Desjardins (DID) to Establish 4 More Entrepreneur Financial Centers in Tunisia, Elsewhere in Africa, Latin America
Développement international Desjardins (DID), a Canadian nonprofit providing technical support and investment for the community finance sector in emerging economies, has announced that it will establish four new entrepreneur financial centers (EFCs) in Africa and Latin America.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India Completes Phase I of Jan-Dhan Initiative to Provide Banking Services to Every Household
Arun Jaitley, the Indian Finance Minister, reportedly announced that the government has completed Phase I of the Jan-Dhan initiative, a scheme created by Prime Minister Modi to give all Indians access to banking services, including credit, savings, insurance, direct benefits transfer and electronic payments.
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: Credit Suisse to Fund Opportunity International’s “Empowering Generational Change Through Education” in Africa, Asia, Latin America
Credit Suisse, a Swiss global financial services company with operations in 50 countries, has agreed to donate an undisclosed sum to Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit providing microfinance in 22 countries, to launch a three-year program entitled “Empowering Generational Change Through Education” that focuses on lending for education initiatives.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Technology Recognized as Tool to Improve Property Rights, Payment Platforms, Reduce Transaction Costs at International Monetary Fund (IMF) Seminar: “Future of Finance – Technology and Financial Inclusion”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a US-based arm of the United Nations, and the US-based World Bank Group, recently held a seminar on technology and financial inclusion as part of its seminar series entitled “The Future of Finance,” panelists discussed the role of technology as a tool to amend market failures in the provision of financial services for low-income people such as via the documentation of property rights and reductions in transaction costs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government-Backed Dutch Good Growth Fund Launches with $950m, Aims to Support Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Netherlands, Developing Nations
The Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), a Netherlands-based loan fund that is funded with EUR 700 million (USD 947 million) from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has opened for business as of July 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Invest $25m in Proyectos Educativos Integrales del Peru to Establish Educational Institutions for Low-Income Students
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has announced a USD 25 million investment in Proyectos Educativos Integrales del Peru (PEIP), an education company, to create a university and a network of technical institutes to educate low-income students in Peru.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF) Invests $500k in Equity to Acquire 8% of Kenyan Microinsurer Agriculture and Risk Enterprise (ACRE), Loans $334k to Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) for Technical Assistance
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), which is based in Luxembourg and invests in “social businesses,” recently informed MicroCapital that it has made an investment of USD 500,000 in Nairobi-based Agriculture and Risk Enterprise Limited (ACRE), a microinsurance provider that aims to launch products in East and West Africa in exchange for an 8-percent stake in the company.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $18m to Microfinance Institution Financiera Confianza of Peru to Support Low-Income Entrepreneurs
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has announced that it is loaning USD 18 million to Financiera Confianza, a Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI) that offers microloans and deposit services to low-income entrepreneurs [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Gambia Women’s Finance Association Adopts Towerplane Software to Enable Doorstep Microfinance
The Gambia Women’s Finance Association (GAWFA), a nonprofit organization in Gambia with approximately 49,000 members, reportedly has adopted software developed by Towerplane, a Spanish software company, that allows the microfinance institution to provide services outside of bank branches using mobile devices.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Lends $1m to Première Agence de Microfinance au Burkina Faso, $239k to Biotropical of Cameroon
Grameen Credit Agricole, a Luxembourg-based organization that provides financing to microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently informed MicroCapital that it has granted a 3-year loan of EUR 770,000 (USD 1.05 million) to the Première Agence de Microfinance au Burkina Faso (PAMF-BF), an MFI in Burkina Faso, and a loan of EUR 175,000 (USD 239,000) to Biotropical, a Cameroon-based fruit company that works with small farmers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $5m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Tajikistan
Two funds controlled by Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset group C-Quadrat, have distributed credits worth approximately USD 5 million to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Azerbaijan, El Salvador and Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Technology Provider Orange Offering $80k Via 2014 African Social Venture Prizes, Partner Award
French telephone and internet service provider Orange is accepting applications for its 2014 African Social Venture Prizes and the Partner Award through September 19, 2014, via Orange’s “pan-African web portal,”[1], http://www.starafrica.com.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Chinese Unit of Opportunity International (OI) Buys Mambu Cloud Banking Software to Support Lending to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Opportunity International (OI), a US-based nonprofit providing microfinance in 22 countries, has selected Mambu, a German firm offering a cloud-based banking platform, to provide banking software for OI’s lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Uruguayan Financial Inclusion Law Mandates Government Payments be Made Electronically, Gives Tax Brake to Cash-less Transactions
The Uruguayan Parliament reportedly has announced the approval of a new financial inclusion law that mandates that workers and retired people must start receiving their paychecks and work benefits through bank accounts or electronic money services within four years.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Facebook Seeks Regulatory Approval from Central Bank of Ireland to Provide Remittances, Mobile Money Throughout European Union
Facebook, a US-based social networking company, reportedly is waiting for approval of its application to the Central Bank of Ireland to become an “e-money” institution, which would allow it to provide remittances and mobile money services throughout Europe through a structure known as “passporting”[2].