PlaNet Finance United Arab Emirates (PlaNet Finance UAE), a branch of the global non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides technical assistance and consulting to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in close to 60 countries, held a golf tournament entitled “Tee Off Against Poverty” on April 23rd at the Wadi by Faldo course of the Emirates Golf Club (EGC) in Dubai in an effort to increase awareness about microfinance amongst international financial firms and other global corporations, according to a press release on ArabianBusiness.com.
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PRESS RELEASE: BlueOrchard Finance Announces 6.24% Return at Dexia Micro-Credit Fund
Source: BlueOrchard Finance.
PRESS RELEASE: Peruvian Microfinance Institution Asociación Benefica Prisma Launches Microinsurance Product in Partnership with InVita and FINSOL
Source: Asociación Benefica Prisma (an NGO that is not affiliated with MicroCapital‘s for-profit parent Prisma MicroFinance).
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ING Review of Citigroup’s Microfinance Activities and Its Syndicated Loan Securitizations for Compartamos, SKS Microfinance, and BRAC
The Dutch Bank ING published its updated 2008 study on commercial bank microfinance activity, called “A Billion to Gain? The Next Phase”. A MicroCapital summary of the paper can be read here. MicroCapital is reviewing the microfinance activities of several of large international banks covered in the study, such as Citigroup (Citi).
PRESS RELEASE: Unites States: Omidyar Makes Largest Grant to Date in Microfinance: $9m to Unitus
Source: Unitus.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance and the Double Bottom Line, by Christina Frank
Written by Christina Frank of Women’s World Banking (WWB), a U.S. non-profit focused on microfinance for women entrepreneurs, released April 2008 by Women’s World Banking, 23 pages, available at: http://swwb.org/files/pub_lang_WWBworkingpaper.pdf
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are less likely to lend to women and more likely to make larger loans once they are “transformed” – that is, morphed from being non-profit lenders to regulated financial institutions – according to the findings described in this paper.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ING Review of AXA Group’s Microfinance Activities and AXA World Fund’s Microfinance Investments
The Dutch Bank ING published its updated 2008 study on commercial bank microfinance activity, called “A Billion to Gain? The Next Phase”. A MicroCapital summary of the paper can be read here. MicroCapital is reviewing the microfinance activities of several of large international banks covered in the study, such as the AXA Group.
PRESS RELEASE: World Bank Releases Report on Remittances in Latin America, Warns of Connection to Spread of US Economic Slowdown
Source: World Bank.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Microfinance Institution Pro Mujer Peru Offers Microinsurance to 43,000 Borrowers Via ING’s and Grupo Wiese’s InVita
Pro Mujer Peru, a microfinance institution (MFI) in the Pro Mujer network, has begun offering life insurance to its borrowers through a partnership with Peruvian insurance provider InVita, an affiliate of Dutch financial services provider ING and Peruvian conglomerate Grupo Wiese. Coverage for two family members in the amount of USD 880 for natural death and USD 1,760 for accidental death costs USD 0.37 per month. Pro Mujer claims the product is the least expensive available in Peru. The benefit also covers the balance of the entrepreneur’s loan to Pro Mujer Peru, eliminating this debt for surviving family members and other members of the borrower’s lending group, who would otherwise be expected to help repay the loan. Clients of Pro Mujer Peru form groups to apply for and repay loans.
NEWS WIRE: United States: Microfinance International Expands Remittance Network With El Camino Transferencias Merger
Source: Washington Post.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: At Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Annual Meeting, Multilateral Investment Fund Manager Donald Terry Predicts Microfinance Lending in Latin America Will Hit $20b by 2012
On Friday, April 4, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) opened its five-day annual meeting in Miami. Reuters reported on Saturday, April 5, that Donald Terry, the IADB’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) manager, predicted that microfinance loans in Latin America may hit USD 20 billion by 2012, as compared to USD 8.6 billion last year. He was quoted as saying that as interest rates fall over time, “you’ll find millions of new borrowers in markets like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.”
NEWS WIRE: United States: Susan Davis of BRAC and Rod Dubitsky of Credit Suisse Discuss How “Microfinance Meets Wall Street” in Forbes
Source: Forbes.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Citi Foundation Creates USD 11.2mn Program with SEEP Network to Strengthen Trade Associations
The Citi Foundation will work with the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (SEEP) to create the 3-year USD 11.2 million Citi Network Strengthening Program. The program will include 12 major microfinance trade associations and their members.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA)
Founded by microfinance pioneer Dr. John Hatch in 1985, The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) has been active in the global microfinance industry since its first microcredit program in El Salvador for low-income women in 1986. Operating in 21 countries with 2006 total assets of USD 252 million and a stated commitment to serving the poorest of the poor, FINCA relies on its grounding in Hatch’s Village Banking methodology, which dictates that local customers are the most knowledgeable regarding the management of their own assets. The model calls for cooperatives of 30 to 60 people to form around their mutual interest in pooling funds for inter-member loans and other financial services. Cooperatives gain access to additional capital by borrowing from financial institutions as a group, and then on-lending the funds to individuals, collateral-free.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: 85 Broads and Janet Hanson
85 Broads is a women’s professional network of over 17,000. In 1997, the network started off as a global community for former and current Goldman Sachs employees, but has since expanded to include females in MBA programs and leading undergraduate universities. A play on Goldman Sachs‘ street address in New York City, the network was founded by Janet Hanson after she left Goldman Sachs to start her own institutional money management company.
PRESS RELEASE: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Report Reveals First Performance Figures on Microfinance Funds
Source: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP).
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: John Hatch, Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA)
Microfinance-pioneer Dr. John Hatch is the founder of the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) and the creator of Village Banking, a highly successful method of delivering microfinance services to the poor through neighborhood savings and loan cooperatives called Village Banks.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: The FT and IFC 2008 Sustainable Banking Awards for Microfinance Institutions and Investors Extended Entry Deadline to March 10
The 2008 Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards has extended their submission deadline to March 10. The awards will be presented in London on June 3, 2008 following the 2008 FT/IFC Sustainable Banking Conference.