SEEDFINANCE Corporation, a microfinance lender headquartered in Manila, the Philippines, received a USD 1 million loan from MicroVest I (MVI) in May 2009. SEEDFINANCE provides wholesale financing to Filipino microfinance institutions (MFIs) and loans to small enterprises. MicroVest is an investment firm which raises funds to invest in MFIs in emerging markets. This is its first loan to SEEDFINANCE and in the Philippines. This deal was reported to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Microfinance Dealbook, a monthly report on microfinance capital market transactions.
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NEWS WIRE: United Kingdom: Triodos Bank Among Winners of 2009 Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards
Source: Financial Times.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Unitus Announces Ganesh Rengaswamy as India Country Director and Newest Member of Global Senior Management Team
Ganesh Rengaswamy has been named India Country Director for Unitus, Inc., an international non-profit organization that partners with early-stage microfinance institutions (MFIs). Mr. Rengaswamy will head the organization’s India microfinance initiatives including managing the team of consultants, advising Unitus microfinance partners, and serving on the global senior management team.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) Annual Conference, Barcelona, July 26-29, 2009
Event Name: World Credit Union Conference, Barcelona 09
See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events
Cost: Members USD 1,195; Non Members USD 1,395. A 7% VAT tax will be added at the time of registration. A discount of USD 100 is available for Developing Movement Countries, Under 35 Scholarships and Regulators. The conference fee includes the opening ceremony, welcome reception, general sessions, breakout session, closing night, 5 lunches and 1 dinner.
Summary of Event: This is an annual conference where key players throughout the global credit union community gather to network and discuss best practices. Session topics will cover almost every aspect of credit union operations and culture.
NEWS WIRE: United States: The Crisis and Microfinance in Latin America
Source: eGov Monitor.
NEWS WIRE: Pro Mujer: Huge Ambitions & Micro-loans
Source: BBC News
PAPER WRAP-UP: Will the Bottom of the Pyramid Hit Bottom? The Effects of the Global Credit Crisis on the Microfinance Sector, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
By Barbara Magnoni and Olga Jennifer Powers of EA Consultants, published by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), March 2009, microReport number 150, 54 pages, available at:
The produced report by USAID provides an assessment on the impact of the financial crisis on the microfinance sector. The paper provides a framework for assessing the impact of the crisis on the microfinance sector by analyzing the effects on both the liabilities side (access to finance, cost of funding, financial risk) and the asset side (portfolio growth, portfolio risk, portfolio quality) of an MFI’s (Microfinance Institutions) balance sheet in order to determine the extent that MFIs may have been impacted.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ACCION International’s CEO Maria Otero To Be United States Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs
The White House has nominated the president and CEO of ACCION International, Ms. Maria Otero, to assume the position of Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs in the US Department of State. Although the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to approve the nomination, Ms. Otero has indicated that she will accept the position should her nomination be successful. Ms. Otero has been profiled in MicroCapital’s Who’s Who in Microfinance series in May 2007. Her position at ACCION International will be filled temporarily by Ms. Catherine Quense, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Deputy, while a committee searches for Ms. Oteros successor. Ms. Diana Taylor, Vice Chair of the ACCION Board, comments, “Her nomination as Under Secretary comes as no surprise to those of us who know her and her deep commitment to social and economic justice, and we know that she now has an even more effective platform from which to help build better lives for the world’s citizens.” Ms. Otero was born and raised until the age of 12 in La Paz, Bolivia, whereupon she and her family moved to Washington DC. She holds a BA in Literature from the University of Maryland and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins. She has been with ACCION since 1986 and became CEO in 2000. ACCION International is a microfinance organization founded in 1961 and consisting of 27 partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 20 countries. The position of Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs was established under Section 161(b) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995. In total, there are five Under Secretaries of State in the Department of State, headed by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Will the Bottom of the Pyramid Hit Bottom? The Effect of the Financial Crisis on the Microfinance Sector, May 18, 2009, New York City, presented by Women Advancing Microfinance International and sponsored by USAID
Monday, May 18, 2009, New York City, New York.
See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here:
http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Michael Chu Promotes Commercial Microfinance in Forbes Article
In a recent Forbes article, Michael Chu, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and former CEO of ACCION International, writes that microfinance is a scalable, sustainable model that can provide real hope of winning the war against global poverty, even in the midst of the global economic crisis.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Mexican Microfinance Institution, Financiera Independencia, Reports First Quarter Net Income of Ps. 117.2m (USD 8.9m)
Financiera Independencia, a Mexican microfinance bank, reported their first quarter 2009 Net Income of 117.2 million pesos (USD 8.9 million). This was a decrease of 40 percent on a year-to-year basis. Net Operating Revenue of 612.8 million pesos (USD 46.6 million) did not fall significantly over the same period (0.2 percent), however Interest Expense increased by 150 percent or 57 million pesos (USD 4.3 million) and the Provision for Loan Losses increased by 61 percent or 76.8 million pesos (USD 5.8 million).
NEWS WIRE: Microfinance Seen as Idealistic During the Economic Meltdown
Source: Forbes
PAPER WRAP-UP: Cautious Resilience: The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Latin American & Caribbean Microfinance Institutions, by Sebastian von Stauffenberg
Sebastian von Stauffenberg, MicroRate’s author of the 52 page report, provides a framework for how the impact of the global financial crisis on Latin America and the Caribbean MFIs evolved during the last quarter of 2008.
While MFIs initially reported that the global financial crisis had yet to affect the economy in the LAC region, the latest data suggests that lending in 2008 slowed more dramatically than MFIs admitted to in October and November 2008. MFIs reduced the number of loans to higher risk clients, enforced stricter lending criteria and strengthened provisioning policies, with some MFIs reducing their average loan balance.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Dave Valle
Dave Valle, a former Major League Baseball player for the Seattle Mariners, is the founder of microcredit agency Esperanza, whose mission is to help the poor in the Dominican Republic and Haiti start their own businesses. In addition to making loans, Esperanza has become active in community development: creating a school, computer training centers, a member-funded health care plan, a water treatment system, and a home improvement initiative. The organization has also spearheaded the construction of five baseball fields.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Rural Microfinance Strategies for Reaching the Underserved Conference Co-Hosted by the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (SAGARPA)
RURAL MICROFINANCE: STRATEGIES FOR REACHING THE UNDERSERVED
JUNE 17- 18, 2009, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International Holds First Meeting of the Steering Committee for the Campaign for Client Protection in Microfinance; International Leaders Endorse the Six Principles of Client Protection in the Meeting
In the face of client protection failures in the mainstream financial sector, the first meeting of the Steering Committee for the Campaign for Client Protection in Microfinance was hosted by the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International. The meeting was attended by members of the committee which comprises of twenty-three leaders from various microfinance organizations representing a diversity of regions, types of institutions and expertise. The purpose of the meeting was aimed at ensuring microfinance providers worldwide remain committed to serving their clients’ best interests. According to a press release on PRNewsire, the leaders attending the meeting officially endorsed the six principles of client protection in microfinance launched by the campaign at the Clinton Global Initiative in September, 2008. MicroCapital had previously reported on the official launch of the campaign; more information on the story can be found here. The press release states the meeting has a ‘sense of importance and timing’ given the current financial crisis sweeping the world and the increasing focus on interest rates and transparency.
NEWS WIRE: Overview of Microfinance Apexes/Local Wholesale Facilities
Source: CGAP.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Microfinance Continues to Play a Key Role in Developing Economies as Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean Decline in 2009.
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.