Approximately 64 percent of the shares of the Honduran microfinance institution Banco Popular are changing hands as two multilateral institutions that first invested in Popular in 2007 are exiting their holdings. The sellers are the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation; and Bamboo Capital, which has been an investor in the microbank since 2012.
Popular serves 60,000 clients and reports
The 2018 Mondato Summit Asia will explore how companies in Southeast and South Asia are repositioning themselves to take advantage of the rise in usage of mobile devices, which has lead to the proliferation of social media and electronic commerce in the region. The theme includes how digital finance and commerce (DFC) is being applied beyond basic financial services and how this translates into investment opportunities. Sample session topics are a Case Study of Digital Transformation & Re-Invention, Carrier Billing at the Heart of Digital Finance & Commerce, Expanding Market for Financial Services, Disruptive Innovation: the Case for Remittances, and Enabling New Business Models – Pushing the Bounds of Commercial Viability. The event also includes
Event Name: Mobile World Conference 2018
Event Date: February 26 – March 1, 2018
Event Location: Barcelona, Spain
Summary of Event: This conference brings industry leaders together to cover recent trends and developments in the telecommunications industry. About 100,000 people from 200 countries are expected to attend. Among the networking opportunities and presentations are: “Expanding Digital Services
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.
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).
“Doing Digital Finance Right: The Case for Stronger Mitigation of Customer Risks;” by Katherine McKee, Michelle Kaffenberger, Jamie Zimmerman; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); June 2015; 40 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/publications/doing-digital-finance-right
Digital financial services (DFS), which allow the use of cellular devices to make and receive payments without travelling to a brick-and-mortar bank branch, are believed by some to be a pathway toward financial inclusion for low-income people.
Published by the Global System for Mobile Association; May 2015; 29 pages; available at: http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/mobile-financial-services-in-lac
This report, published by the London-based Global Systems for Mobile Association (GSMA), provides an overview of the state of mobile financial services in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
The Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization; MicroEnsure, a UK-based, for-profit microinsurance company founded by US-based NGO Opportunity International; Penda Health, a Kenya-based, for-profit chain of medical centers; and Clifford Chance, a UK-based international law firm, recently announced that they have launched an initiative called the “Uzima Project” in Kenya with the aim of providing “low-cost“ health insurance.
The Ugandan subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, an Indian telecommunications services provider with operations in 150 countries; Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization; and the Ugandan arm of Plan International, a UK-based child rights and anti-poverty nonprofit that operates in 48 countries, have entered into a partnership to launch a mobile money platform that is intended to serve savings groups in Uganda.
Gemalto, a publicly traded digital security firm located in the Netherlands, reportedly has announced its support of the Pan-African Mobile Health Initiative (PAMI), which uses mobile phones to address issues in nutrition and maternal and child health in seven African countries.
The Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization, recently announced that it is anticipating donations to its Last Mile Initiative totaling USD 1 million after receiving a USD 500,000 donation from David and Susan Russell, which must be matched with an equal amount of funds from other sources.
Global Systems for Mobile Association, a UK-based association of mobile operators and associated companies, reportedly is helping coordinate the deployment of mobile money services for nine mobile network providers operating in Africa and the Middle East.
“Agent Network Accelerator Survey: Uganda Country Report 2013;” published by Helix Institute of Digital Finance; January 2014; 26 pages; available at http://www.helix-institute.com/data-and-insights/agent-network-accelerator-survey-%E2%80%93-uganda-country-report-2013-0
This document presents the results of a study conducted by the US-based nonprofit Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and India-based for-profit consultancy MicroSave that seeks to identify the challenges, trends and successes of the mobile money market in Uganda by surveying 2,000 agents.
Event Name: 2013 Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) Global Event
Event Date: July 8-11, 2013
Event Location: Sarova Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya
“State of the Industry: Results from the 2012 Mobile Money Adoption Survey;” by Claire Penicuad; published by Global System for Mobile Communications Association’s (GSMA’s) Mobile Money for the Unbanked program; 2012; 36 pages; available at http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MMU_State_of_industry.pdf
This report presents the results of the Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey, launched by GSMA’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked program “to allow mobile money service providers to benchmark their performance against their peers in the industry.”
CAF Development Bank of Latin America, a Venezuela-based multilateral financial institution that was formerly Corporacion Andino de Fomento, is partnering with Codespa Foundation, a Spanish non-governmental organization that works with poor communities in developing countries, to undertake a feasibility study for the creation of a trust fund that would provide microfinance services to small-scale producers in rural Ecuador.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral financial institution, the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), an autonomous fund administered by IDB, and the CAF Development Bank of Latin America, a multilateral financial institution formerly known as the Corporacion Andino de Fomento, have released a call for project proposals for the Technologies for Financial Inclusion Program.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, reportedly has indicated that the number of mobile banking transactions in the country has reached an aggregate of 150 million, totaling PHP 440 billion (USD 10.4 billion) through December 2010.