by Amira Berrada -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BBVA Microfinance Affiliate Corporacion para las Microfinanzas Puerto Rico (PR) Reaches $2m in Entrepreneurial loans

In its first year of commercial operation, which ended September 2011, Corporacion para las Microfinanzas Puerto Rico (PR), a microfinance institution created and owned by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, granted USD 2.1 million to entrepreneurs on the island of Puerto Rico [1].

by Emilia Akonom -

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Building Livelihoods. A Field Manual for Practitioners in Humanitarian Settings – Microfinance Interventions”, Published by The Women’s Refugee Commission

By The Women’s Refugee Commission, May 2009, 36 pages, available at: http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/docs/livelihoods_manual.pdf

This report describes the benefits of providing microfinance programs to displaced people as well as the potential mistakes of poorly planned interventions. It also recommends ways of including age-, gender-, ability- and conflict-sensitive approaches in such microfinance programs. Finally, it provides resources for developing interventions, mapping the needs of a targeted population and creating guidelines for monitoring and evaluation. This summary focuses on the “Microfinance Interventions” chapter of the report, which is part of the livelihood interventions section of the report. The two other sections of the manual are: non-intervention guidance and “Tools and Approaches”.

by Natalie Baer -

MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion, Investment and Microfinance Repayment Crises, Cashless Funeral Microinsurance

“Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Four Countries;” by Chris Bold, David Porteous and Sarah Rotman; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); February 2012; 28 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.56877/

by Natalie Baer -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Growth Fund (MiGroF) Ends 2011 with $85m in Loans Outstanding to Microfinance Institutions in Latin America

The Microfinance Growth Fund (MiGroF), which is managed by Switzerland’s BlueOrchard Finance to support Latin American microfinance institutions, closed 2011 with USD 85 million in outstanding loans and USD 23 million in uninvested capital.

by Kristha Abores -

MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Willingness to Pay for Business Correspondents in India, Health Microinsurance Third Party Payment Mechanisms, Accenture Development Partners Report on Microinsurance

“The Answer is ‘Yes’—Cost and Willingness to Pay in India;” by Akhand Tiwari, Akhilesh Singh, Ann-Byrd Platt, Graham A N Wright, Minakshi Ramji and Sachin Bansal; published by MicroSave; 2011; 16 pages; available at http://ami.microsave.org/sites/default/files/research_papers/CWP_Summary…

by Charlotte Newman -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Opportunity International Receives Grant from Credit Suisse to Expand Electronic Financial Services, Train Personnel in Africa and Latin America

Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit organization with a focus on microfinance, has received a three-year grant of unspecified size from Credit Suisse’s Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative, a Credit Suisse program that aims to contribute to the strengthening of microfinance institutions.

by Charlotte Newman -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Foundation’s Bankers Without Borders Alliance Partners With Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions On Financial Forecasting Tools, Management Information Systems

The Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI), a nonprofit trade group, has become the sixth partner in the Bankers Without Borders (BwB) Alliance, a volunteer program started by the US-based Grameen Foundation.

by Kristha Abores -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $4m to ACLEDA Bank, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) of Cambodia

Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans amounting to USD 4 million to Cambodian financial institutions ACLEDA Bank and Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL).

by Ariana Malushi -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $3m to Microfinance Institutions Advans Cameroun, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi

Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans totaling the local-currency equivalent of USD 3 million to financial institutions Advans Cameroun and Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM).

by Ariana Malushi -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $1.85m to Microfinance Institutions AgroInvest Holding of Montenegro, Forus Bank of Russia

Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans totaling the equivalent of USD 1.85 million to financial institutions AgroInvest Holding of Montenegro and Forus Bank of Russia.

by Nisha Koul -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute’s “Vision Microfinance,” “Vision Microfinance Local Currency” Report Net Returns of 2.51% to 4.55% for 2011

Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH, an Austrian investment company that specializes in microfinance, reports that the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance, a sub-fund of Absolute’s Vision Microfinance, had a total fund volume of EUR 85.8 million (USD 109 million) with loans issued to 65 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 25 emerging markets as of December 2011.

by Ariana Malushi -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fortis Mobile Money to Enable Mobile Phone Banking for 180 Members of Nigeria’s National Association of Microfinance Banks, Lagos State Chapter (NAMBLAG)

The National Association of Microfinance Banks, Lagos State Chapter (NAMBLAG) of Nigeria has signed a memorandum of understanding with Fortis Mobile Money, a mobile money operator licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, to enable NAMBLAG’s 180 microfinance bank (MfB) members to offer mobile banking services to their customers.

by Kristha Abores -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $6.2m to Mutual Alajuela of Costa Rica, Cooperativa Mixta Mujeres Unidas Limitada (COMIXMUL) of Honduras, Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria

Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans amounting to USD 6.2 million to financial institutions Mutual Alajuela of Costa Rica, Cooperativa Mixta Mujeres Unidas Limitada (COMIXMUL) of Honduras and Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria.

by Kristha Abores -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: In Panama, Fundación BBVA Microfinanzas and Autoridad de la Micro, Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (AMPYME) Promote Microfinance

Fundación BBVA Microfinanzas (BBVA Microfinance Foundation), a Spanish nonprofit with operations in six western hemisphere countries, and Autoridad de la Micro, Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (AMPYME), an institution of the Republic of Panama, have signed a public-private alliance to jointly manage microfinance in Panama.

by Ariana Malushi -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vision’s Dual Return Fund Loans $6.2m to Microfinance Institutions in Latin America, Africa, Central Asia

Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH, an Austrian investment company, has reported that the Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance, a sub-fund of Absolute’s Vision Microfinance, loaned the equivalent of USD 2 million to KazMicroFinance of Khazakstan and the equivalent of USD 4.2 million to unnamed microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador, Uruguay and Benin.

by Kristha Abores -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $8.2m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) FINCA DRC, Bandhan of India, Opportunity Microcredit Romania

Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans amounting to USD 8.2 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) FINCA DRC of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bandhan of India and Opportunity Microcredit Romania (OMRO).