MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oxfam, City of London, Symbiotics Invest $1.6m in Xac Leasing of Mongolia through Small Enterprise Impact Investing Fund (SEIIF)

Oxfam UK, a UK-based charity, City of London and Symbiotics, a Swiss microfinance investment intermediary, recently launched a joint initiative known as the Small Enterprise Impact Investing Fund (SEIIF). SEIIF is intended to deliver measurable social as well as financial returns to its stakeholders by investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through financial intermediaries operating in developing countries.

MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Microfinance Microscope 2012; Impact of Financial Access in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Economic Opportunities and Financial Outcomes of Microfinance

Global Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment 2012;” by the Economist Intelligence Unit; published by The Economist; 72 pages; available at: http://www5.iadb.org/mif/en-us/home/knowledge.aspx?idPublication=64206

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MF Banka Receives $5.2m from European Bank of Reconstruction and Development for Small Businesses in Bosnia, Herzgovina

The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based funder of institutions that support micro- and small businesses, recently disbursed EUR 4 million (USD 5.18 million) to MF Banka, a subsidiary bank of Bosnian and Herzegovinian microfinance institution (MFI) Mikrofin.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Credins Leasing of Albania Borrows €1.5m ($1.97m) from European Bank of Reconstruction and Development

Credins Leasing, a holding of Credins Bank of Albania that provides funding to individuals for vehicles and equipment, recently borrowed EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.97 million) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development finance institution that provides funding to support micro- and small businesses in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mongolia: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Capitalization Fund Invests $40m in Microfinance Institution XacBank

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Capitalization Fund, a fund managed by the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced it will invest a total of USD 40 million in XacBank, a Mongolian community development microfinance institution (MFI) [1].

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Loans $10m to Partner Microcredit Foundation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution headquartered in London, has agreed to disburse a loan to Partner Microcredit Foundation (Partner MCF), a microcredit organization based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the amount of EUR 8 million (USD 9.8 million).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AccessBank of Azerbaijan Implements Loan Repayment by Telephone, Debit Card

Microfinance institution (MFI) AccessBank of Azerbaijan, an affiliate of Germany’s Access Microfinance Holding AG (AccessHolding), recently announced the implementation of a new service allowing customers to make loan payments by telephone.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $10m to NBD Bank of Russia to Support Small Businesses

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has provided a five-year loan of RUB 300 million (USD 10 million) to Russia-based NBD Bank to support small businesses in small company towns in central Russia.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Russia’s Microfinance Sector Doubles Growth to 32% in 2011, Default Rate Stands at 7%

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Russia reportedly disbursed loans of approximately RUR 29 billion (USD 1 billion) to individual borrowers in 2011, representing a 32.2-percent increase from 2010.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: JSC Fund for Financial Support of Agriculture to Issue $20m to Kazakh Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) for Rural Microlending

Joint Stock Company Fund for Financial Support of Agriculture (FFSA), a government-owned institution that provides credit and insurance services on a retail and wholesale basis in rural Kazakhstan, has reportedly pledged to allocate KZT 3 billion (USD 20 million) for microfinance in rural areas of Kazakhstan in 2012.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $32m to Garanti Bank Romania for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has agreed to loan EUR 22.5 million (USD 32.3 million) to the Romanian branch of Garanti Bank “to help finance small and medium businesses in Romania, especially those owned or managed by women entrepreneurs.”

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DemirBank of Azerbaijan to Borrow $8m from Microfinance Enhancement Facility, Co-Managed by responsAbility

DemirBank, an Azerbaijan-based commercial bank that lends to small and medium-sized enterprises, has signed an agreement with the Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF), a microfinance investment vehicle created by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and German development bank KfW Entwicklungsbank, to receive USD 8 million in loans over a three-year period.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Arranges $9m Syndicated Loan for Microfinance Institution Mol Bulak Finance of Kyrgyz Republic Largely Funded by FMO, Loans $39m to ProCredit Bank Serbia

Mol Bulak Finance, a microfinance institution (MFI) in the Kyrgyz Republic, will receive a syndicated loan in local currency equivalent to USD 9 million arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international financial institution headquartered in London [1].

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Commits $520m to Small and Medium-Sized Agribusiness Enterprises in Turkey, Invests $31m in Sekerbank Bond Programme

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international financial institution headquartered in London, recently announced that it has committed EUR 400 million (USD 520 million) to increase financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agribusiness sector in Turkey [1].

MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Group Versus Individual Lending in Mongolia, “State of the Practice” of Client Protection, Uganda “Triple Partnership” Case Study

Group lending or individual lending? Evidence from a randomised field experiment in Mongolia” by Orazio Attanasio, Britta Augsburg, Ralph De Haas, Emla Fitzsimons, Heike Harmgart; published by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); December 2011; 48 pages; available at: http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/research/economics/workingpapers/wp0136.pdf