The Inter-American Development Bank (IBD) predicts 2009 with be the first year that remittances will decline in Latin America and the Caribbean after a decade of growth. The IBD has been tracking these flows since 2000. Remittances are transfers of money by foreign workers to their home countries. With the already shaken international banking system, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, Immigrants are feeling the credit squeeze as they reduce money sent to family in their home countries.
Search Results for: bold 2007
PAPER WRAP-UP: 2008 Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), (Part II of II), by The Economist Intelligence Unit
Published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, October 2008, available at:
The Economist Intelligence Unit released a 62 page report that provides a framework of the microfinance business environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report was commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Corporacion Andina de Fomento and also looked at three major individual features that provide greater insight to the microfinance arena. The three categories are as follows: regulatory framework, investment climate and institutional development. The indicator scores are aggregated to produce an overall score ranging from 0 to 100 (note, 100 being the best score). While these scores are provided, the report utilizes these figures in a “strengths” and “challenges” framework.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Bosnia and Herzegovina Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report, 2008, by the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AMFI), and Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX)
Published by the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AMFI), and Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), January 2009, available at:
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/55357_file_08.pdf
“Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report, 2008,” analyzes the development of the microfinance industry in BiH with a focus on key growth trends for the last four years (2004 to 2007), legislative changes of 2007, funding flows and structure, and performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) as of 2007. The 14 page report is based on data submitted from 12 large Bosnian MFIs that are members of (AMFI). The report states that the 12 large Bosnian MFIs comprise 98 percent of the microfinance portfolio in the country. The report does not cite a source for the estimate of total market size. It is important to note that five microcredit organizations from BiH have been awarded the CGAP Financial Transparency Award in 2006. Only 20 MFI institutions worldwide have received this honor in 2006. (p1).
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Mercy Corps Recognized by Fast Company for its Innovative Microfinance Program “The Bank of Banks”
Fast Company Magazine named Mercy Corps as one of its 2009 Social Enterprises of the Year, recognizing the work it has done this past year as one of the “bold and timely ideas that wow us”. Mercy Corps is praised as “the bank of banks” for buying a struggling Balinese bank and reopening it as an organization that would “cut the costs and inefficiencies” of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and provide them capital, financial tools and tech platforms. Mercy Corps had also previously been recognized as one of the 45 Social Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the World as a part of Fast Company’s 2008 Social Capitalist Awards. ACCION International, another organization involved in microfinance, was honoured with this recognition for the fifth year in a row. The other organizations that were honoured as 2009 Social Enterprises of the Year include Do Something, The Academy for Urban School Leadership, DataDyne, Civic Ventures, The Institute for OneWorld Health, The Acumen Fund, Husk Power Systems, and Hopelab.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: BlueOrchard Microfinance Invests $5.3m and Purchases Equity Stake in Indian Microfinance Institution Asmitha Microfin Limited
On September 30, BlueOrchard Private Equity, the private equity arm of BlueOrchard Microfinance Investment Managers, invested INR 250 million (USD 5.3 million) and purchased a minority stake in Asmitha Microfin Limited, the fourth largest non-banking financial company in India. This will be BlueOrchard’s first equity investment deal with an Indian microfinance institution (MFI). With the new investment, Asmitha intends to expand its capital base and to bolster its borrowing capacity in order to shore up its microfinance lending operations. The new partnership is a strategic development for BlueOrchard, which hopes to consolidate its presence in India in the coming years.
NEWS WIRE: United States: Wharton’s “Microfinance Grows Up: Success Brings New Challenges for Investors, Practitioners in Emerging Economies”
Source: Knowledge@Wharton.
NEWS WIRE: United States: Susan Davis of BRAC and Rod Dubitsky of Credit Suisse Discuss How “Microfinance Meets Wall Street” in Forbes
Source: Forbes.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Capital Markets: A Long-Term Solution to Financial Freedom, Gil Crawford and Lauren Clark
Co-authored by Gil Crawford, CEO of MicroVest, a Washington, DC-based private microfinance investment firm, and Lauren Clark, the Communications Manager for MicroVest, released July 2007 as Volume 10-Number 1 of Microenterprise Development Review, a publication of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 11 pages, available at http://www.microvestfund.com/docs/microenter_dev_%207-16-07.pdf
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Calvert Foundation Lends $500,000 to Mongolian Microfinance Institution XacBank
In another deal coming to us courtesy of Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse, Calvert Foundation, a nonprofit community investment vehicle, recently invested USD 500,000 in loans in XacBank, a leading microfinance institution (MFI) in Mongolia.