by Stefanie Rubin -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: LeapFrog Invests $6.8m in AllLife, a South African HIV and Diabetes Microinsurer

LeapFrog Investments, a for-profit, private equity microinsurance fund, has invested ZAR 50 million (USD 6.8 million) in AllLife, a South African insurer for people with HIV and diabetes. AllLife provides life insurance only to those who follow an appropriate health monitoring and treatment program, enabling it to maintain more competitively priced coverage. Mr. Ross Beerman, Managing Director of AllLife said: “These are potential policyholders, willing to pay for reasonably priced insurance and willing to take steps to manage their disease so that they lead long and productive lives. From a business risk and profitability perspective, of course they’re insurable – we simply had to invent systems to monitor and support them in the right ways.”

by Stefanie Rubin -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG BRIEF: SCOR Invests in LeapFrog Investments to Gain Experience in Microinsurance Sector

According to The Review, an insurance magazine, the Paris-based reinsurer, SCOR Group, has invested an undisclosed amount in LeapFrog Investments, a microinsurance fund with USD 44 million in equity. A statement issued by SCOR stated, “Our investment in LeapFrog is a demonstration of [our] support of a socially-responsible sector such as microinsurance.” SCOR also said that the “strict investment return criteria applied … to all its investments” was also applicable in this instance. Additionally, SCOR’s CFO, Mr. Paolo de Martin, will be joining LeapFrog’s advisory board.

by Stefanie Rubin -

MICROFINANCE PROFILE: LeapFrog Investments

Name of Organization or Microfinance Investment Vehicle: LeapFrog Investments

Overview: LeapFrog Investments is a for-profit, private equity fund focused on microinsurance and financial inclusion

Description:

LeapFrog Investments was founded in 2007 by Dr. Andrew Kuper. It is a for-profit, private equity fund aimed at earning large returns by investing in and supporting microinsurance initiatives. LeapFrog has raised USD 44 million from a range of public and private investors, including the European Investment Bank, the Omidyar Network, FMO, Triodos-Doen and Hivos-Triodos, ACCION International, Calvert, and Felipe Medina (a senior Goldman Sachs wealth manager). The LeapFrog team has also committed USD 1 million of their own personal money into the fund. The fund focuses on ventures in Africa and Asia, with initial target countries including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Pakistand and the Philippines.

by Stefanie Rubin -

MEET THE BOSS: Interview with Andrew Kuper, President and Founder of LeapFrog Investments Ltd.

Dr. Andrew Kuper is President and Founder of LeapFrog, the world’s first microinsurance fund, which he founded in 2007. He was previously a Managing Director of Ashoka, a support organization for social entrepreneurs. He has worked with microfinance institutions Grameen and BRAC, and is the author of two books on globalization. He holds a PhD from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

by Diya Chopra -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), World Bank, International Labour Organization (ILO), FinMark Trust, and German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development Launch Access to Insurance Initiative

A recent statement released by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) announced the launch of the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2II). The initiative will be launched by IAIS, in association with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), World Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), FinMark Trust, and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) [1].

by Hio Kyeng Lee -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: Developments in International Consumer Protection and Their Relevance to Microfinance Industry

Recent events in the global financial sector have provided the impetus for the launch of the Smart Campaign, a consumer protection campaign focusing on fair lending within the microfinance industry. Although consumer protection practices exist among many microfinance institutions, the Smart Campaign has given these principles an international focus. The architects of Smart Campaign can eventually draw from a dense tapestry of consumer protection laws, regulations, policies already developed in many countries. The challenge will be to adapt existing consumer protection laws, regulations and policies to the specific characteristics of microfinance activities.

by Zoran Stanisljevic -

MEET THE BOSS: Interview with Robert Annibale, Global Director of Citi Microfinance (Part One of a Two Part Series)

Bob Annibale is Global Director of Citi Microfinance. He leads the bank’s commercial relationships with microfinance institutions, on a multi-business and product basis, providing financing and product partnerships to institutions that serve the poor and the unbanked.

He joined Citibank in 1982. After a first assignment in Greece, he held a number of senior treasury, risk and corporate positions at Citi in Athens, Bahrain, Kenya, London and New York.  Mr. Annibale completed his BA degrees in History and Political Science at Vassar College and his Masters Degree in African Studies (History) at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.

Mr. Annibale served on the Board of Advisors for the United Nations High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. He represents Citi on the Board of the Microfinance Information Exchange, on the Council of Microfinance Equity Funds and with the Microfinance Network. He also serves on a number of other external boards and councils.

by Kenny Kline -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: IFC to Raise $300m in Bond Issue in Japan Market for Microfinance Programs

The International Finance Corp (IFC) will aim to raise USD 300 million through a bond issue targeted at Japanese investors to finance microfinance programs.  This is the first time that the IFC will issue bonds with the intent to lend to microfinance institutions (MFIs).  The bond listing and sale will be arranged by Daiwa Securities.  The bond will be listed in Australian dollars and New Zealand dollars and will be restricted to Japanese retail and institutional investors.  IFC has obtained ratings of Aaa/AAA (investment grade) from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s rating services respectively.  It is expected that IFC will invest an amount at least equal to the bond proceeds in supporting microfinance activities.  See bibliography sections [7]-[15] for Microcapital.org’s coverage of recent IFC investments.  According to Nina Shapiro, IFC treasurer and vice president for finance, the IFC is considering bond issuances in other regions as well, specifically the European bond markets.  IFC estimates that financing needed in the microfinance sector will reach USD 1.8 billion in 2010. [3][4]

by Chinq Yee Chong -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: CGAP Microfinance Blog Comments On Case Studies On The Liquidation Of Microfinance Institutions And Highlights Challenges Associated With Retaining Borrower Repayment Incentives In The Midst Of A Deteriorating Loan Portfolio

In a blog on the CGAP Microfinance Blog portal entitled ‘When MFIs fail, is their loan portfolio worth anything?’ [1], Senior Advisor to Research and Market Intelligence Team at CGAP, Mr Richard Rosenberg refers to Mr Daniel Rozas’s publication entitled ‘Throwing in the Towel: Lessons from MFI Liquidations’ [2]and makes some observations about the steps an MFI should take to maximise collections on a deteriorating loan portfolio. Mr Rosenberg notes that Mr Rozas’ article offers a ‘useful, timely, concise, and readable study of a half-dozen MFI failures, focusing on efforts by creditors and others to collect the loan portfolio of the defunct institutions’ but cautions that some of Mr Rozas’ recommendations may be difficult to implement in practice.

by Zoran Stanisljevic -

MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) APAC Conference & Expo, December 8-9, 2009, Manila, Philippines, Sponsored by Obopay

Event Name: Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) APAC Conference & Expo, December 8-9, 2009, Manila, Philippines

Date: December 8-9, 2009
Type: Conference
Location: Manila, Philippines

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events

by Chinq Yee Chong -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: Wharton Business School Online Portal Acknowledges The Need For Innovation In The Microinsurance Sector And Highlights The Existing Barriers To A Wider Acceptance Of Microinsurance Products Based On Observations By UK-Based Microinsurance Research Centre, Munich Re Foundation And The ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility

  A recent article on the ‘Knowledge@Wharton’ online portal entitled ‘Microinsurance: A safety net with too many holes’ [1] contains a detailed discussion of existing challenges facing the microinsurance market. The article notes that there has been some recent innovation in the microinsurance sector, a market that has experienced relatively slow growth compared to the microfinance sector in general. The authors note that innovation is to be welcomed and a Bangladeshi pilot microinsurance programme is cited as an example.

by Christopher Maggio -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: Mexican Business Tycoon Carlos Slim Helú’s Carlos Slim Foundation and Grameen Trust Launch “Grameen-Carso”, Mexican Micro-Lending Program With USD 5 Million Donation and USD 40 Million Guaranteed as Credit Line

Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helú (Carlos Slim), through his charitable Carlos Slim Foundation, has teamed with Grameen Trust, an organization charged with supporting and promoting poverty-alleviating activities, to begin “Grameen-Carso” a micro-lending program in Mexico started with a Carlos Slim Foundation donation of USD 5 million for initial assets, and a guaranteed USD 40 million from the Carlos Slim Foundation as a credit line [3]. The terms and conditions of this credit line have not been disclosed. Grameen Trust will assume a management role for the program, bringing in experienced employees in the field of microfinance from Grameen Bank, the microfinance institution (MFI) whose model Grameen Trust attempts to promote in its ventures [1,3]. The managers will then, in the long term, “capacitate local managers in order to be in charge of procedures in Mexico” [3].

by Stefanie Rubin -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: Grameen Trust of Bangladesh Partners with Alibaba Group to Create Grameen China, With Initial Focus on Bringing Microfinance to Sichuan Province

Grameen Trust of Bangladesh, an NGO established by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in 1989, has teamed up with Alibaba Group, China’s largest online business-to-business trading site which hosts over 42 million users from more than 240 countries, to create Grameen China [1, 2, 3].  Alibaba, which had an IPO of USD 1.7 billion on the HKSE in 2007, has kicked-off the initiative with a USD 5 million charitable donation.  Grameen China will initially focus on providing financial services to people living in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan Province, which is still recovering from the May 2008 earthquake that killed over 70,000 people and left nearly 10 million homeless [4].