Source: Financial Access.
Search Results for: Mexico
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.
NEWS WIRE: Over 80 percent of Investors have not Reduced their Microfinance Investment Portfolio Due to the Global Recession
Source: Microfinance Insights .
MICROCAPITAL STORY: BASF SE and Grameen Healthcare Trust Create Social Business BASF Grameen Ltd.
BASF SE and Grameen Healthcare Trust, a member of the Grameen Family that helps build new microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world, have announced the establishment of BASF Grameen Ltd. BASF Grameen Ltd is a joint social business venture whose purpose is to improve the health and business opportunities of the poor in Bangladesh. To meet this purpose, the company will start with two products from BASF’s portfolio, a dietary supplement sachet containing vitamins and micronutrients and impregnated mosquito nets that offer protection against insect-borne disease.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Compartamos Announces 2008 Fourth Quarter Earnings Over Webcast
The Mexican microfinance bank, Banco Compartamos, announced its audited financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08) in a conference call. The figures were announced in pesos and have been converted here to US dollars. The figures adhere to the requirements of the Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), the Mexican banking and securities regulator. Compartamos underwent an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April 2007, and has since been publicly traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange. The webcast is archived and can be accessed through this link. The 4Q08 Financial Statement is available for download here.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Huge Global Pensions Back Break-Out Private Equity Fund: TIAA-CREF, APG, DWM and SNS REAAL Contribute $82 million to Developing World Markets Microfinance Equity Fund I
Developing World Markets (DWM) has closed its DWM Microfinance Equity Fund I with a commitment of USD 82 million from four large institutional investors. The fund provides equity capital to microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world. The Fund Manager, DWM Asset Management Limited Liability Company (LLC), now controls a total of USD 200 million in microfinance-related assets: a pool, which it states, is the largest in the world dedicated solely to MFI equity investment. Acting as Advisor to the Fund Manager is major microfinance investor SNS Asset Management. After the closing, Theo Brouwers, Director of SNS Asset Management said, “The success of the fundraising at a time of global economic turmoil demonstrates the confidence of international investors in microfinance as a stable asset class and that institutional investors continue to search for good investment opportunities that contribute to social development.” MicroCapital has previously quoted Theo Brouwers in his argument that despite the controversy over for-profit microfinance, the key to microfinance succeeding in poverty alleviation is to funnel institutional capital to developing countries lacking funds. DWM’s new USD 82 million fund is a step in that direction.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Compartamos Banco to Hold Conference Call to Announce Fourth Quarter Earnings
Compartamos Banco Fourth Quarter 2008 Conference Call
February 26, 2009, 11:00 AM EST, http://www.videonewswire/event.asp?id=55283
PAPER WRAP-UP: 2008 Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in Latin America and the Carribean (LAC), (Part one of a two part series), by The Economist Intelligence Unit
Published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, October 2008, available at:
The Economist Intelligence Unit released a 62 page report (October 2008) 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.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Shedding Light on Microfinance Equity Valuation, by Nicholas P. O’Donohoe, Frederic Rozeira de Mariz, Elizabeth Littlefield, Xavier Reille, and Christoph Kneiding, Part II of II
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to advancing financial access to the world’s underprivileged, released a path breaking 40-page report in February 2009 entitled, “Shedding Light on Microfinance Equity Valuation – Past and Present,” produced with limited analytical support from banking firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. The white paper is notable in providing an empirically grounded analysis of how financial valuation methods are actually applied by external actors to MFIs and other lending institutions with poverty alleviation goals. This is made possible by CGAP’s collection of information on 144 private equity transactions, the largest such dataset gathered to date, as well as information on 10 MFIs and other low income focused lenders that have raised funds through the issuance of securities. The original report is available at: http://www2.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.9021/OP14v3.pdf.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Pro Mujer Registers as a Charity in the UK to Attract Philanthropic Funds
Pro Mujer International, an international non-profit affiliated with a network of five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America, released a press release announcing that it registered as a charity in England and Wales. Maria Richter, Board Chair of Pro Mujer UK, explained that the new office was launched in effort to attract more philanthropic funding: “We expect many opportunities to garner support in the UK because there is a growing awareness of microfinance and the power it has to transform lives.” The press release said that donations made to Pro Mujer UK would support the provision of credit, healthcare, and business training to poor women in Latin America. Information was not provided how exactly the donations will be utilized.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: RIZAL Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Announces Tentative Plan to Acquire JP Laurel Rural Bank for $8m to Establish Its Microfinance Business
RIZAL Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), one of the Philippines’ 10 biggest banks, announced that it will acquire Batangas based JP Laurel Rural Bank for 8 million USD to establish its microfinance business. According to a report from the Manila Times, RCBC said its board of directors approved the establishment of an 8 million USD shareholder advance facility which will be infused over a three year period from 2009 to 2011 in order to acquire JP Laurel Rural Bank. The acquisition will extend RCBC’s penetration into the Batangas, Laguna, and Mindoro Oriental areas where JP Laurel Rural Bank’s branches are located. The rural bank’s particular geographic coverage represents a prime market for achieving RCBC’s strategic goals, which include microfinance. The acquisition decision is still subject to approval by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Republic of the Philippines.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) with Support from JP Morgan Chase & Co. Releases Empirically Based Study of Valuation Models Used in Microfinance Equity Investments
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to advancing financial access to the world’s poor, has released a path breaking report in February 2009 entitled, “Shedding Light on Microfinance Equity Valuation: Past and Present,” produced with limited analytical support from banking firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. The white paper is notable in providing an empirically grounded analysis of how financial valuation methods are actually applied by external actors to MFIs and other lending institutions with poverty alleviation goals. This is made possible by CGAP’s collection of information on 144 private equity transactions, the largest such dataset gathered to date, as well as information on 10 MFIs and other low income focused lenders that have raised funds through the issuance of securities. The original report is available at:
NEWS WIRE: Microfinance: Ready for its Big Leap?
Source: US Banker.
PAPER WRAP-UP: World Bank Policy Research Working Paper: Who are the Unbanked?
Written by Simeon Djankov, Pedro Miranda, Enrique Seira and Siddharth Sharma of the World Bank Private Sector Development Department Enterprise Analysis Unit, this paper was published in June 2008 as a 27 page document available here.
Based on a nationwide survey of 5,000 Mexican households, this report investigates why so few people in the region have saving’s accounts. The survey sample included clients of savings and credit cooperatives and unbanked households living within the same communities.
PRESS RELEASE: ACCION Invests $4.2m in Microinsurance Initiatives, Helping to Move Microfinance Beyond Credit
Source: ACCION.
NEWS WIRE: Social Entrepreneurs Turn Business Sense to Good
Source: Business Week.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Unitus, Inc. and Whole Planet Foundation Announce Partnership With Jamii Bora Trust, a Kenyan MFI
Unitus, Inc. and Whole Planet Foundation (WPF), a Whole Foods Market foundation, announced plans to fuel the growth of microfinance in the coffee-growing regions of Kenya. Specifically, the two will support Jamii Bora Trust, one of Kenya’s fastest growing microfinance institutions and a Unitus partner since 2003, expand into the rural coffee-growing regions of Central and Eastern provinces in Kenya. This agreement, the amount of which was undisclosed, marks Whole Planet Foundation’s first entry into Africa.
MICROCAPITAL EXCERPT: “The Battle for the Soul of Microfinance,” by Financial Times Senior Columnist Tim Harford
What follows is an excerpt from Tim Harford’s piece “The Battle for the Soul of Microfinance,” which appeared in the Financial Times’ Weekend Reportage section on December 6, 2008. Mr. Harford, a Senior Columnist at the Financial Times, has written an excellent introduction to the competing commerical and altruistic motivations behind microfinance–and the current disputes they have generated–that have come to dominate so much of the industry today. The full piece also cites several interesting studies whose findings may affect microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) procedures for vetting micro-loan applicants or their manipulation of interest rates resulting from either profit-driven or philanthropic motives. The full article is available online to those who have registered for free with the Financial Times.