By Marulanda Consultores; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); February 2013; 32 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/colombia_agent_subsidy_english.pdf
This report analyzes a set of incentives offered by Banca de las Oportunidades, a government organization in Colombia that aims to increase financial access, to expand networks of “non-banking correspondents” (NBCs) to reach unbanked areas.
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an Austria-based microfinance investment and asset management company, has told MicroCapital that it issued the equivalent of USD 8.5 million in credit through funds it manages to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Indonesia and Russia during the month of February.
Symbiotics Investment Group, a Swiss for-profit microfinance investment intermediary, recently disbursed a USD 10 million syndicated loan to Fundacion de la Mujer Bucaramanga, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Colombia.
Austria-based asset management company Absolute Portfolio Management (APM) recently announced that it has disbursed the equivalent of USD 5 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America through its two Dual Return-Vision Microfinance funds in early 2013.
“MILK Brief #18: Doing the Math with Property Microinsurance in Coastal Colombia;” by Barbara Magnoni and Derek Poulton; published by Microinsurance Centre; October 2012; 2 pages; available at: http://www.microinsurancecentre.org/milk-project/milk-docs/doc_details/914-condensed-milk-18-doing-the-math-with-property-microinsurance-in-coastal-colombia.html
Opportunity International, a nonprofit organization headquartered in the USA that provides financial products in 24 developing countries, recently announced the establishment of a regulated microfinance bank that will take over the credit offerings it provides to underserved people in Bogotá, Colombia, in addition to rendering savings services.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Citi, a US-based bank, recently announced a partnership that will focus on increasing financial inclusion in developing countries through “mobile money” technology.
Lenddo, a Philippines-based online microfinance firm, reportedly has received approximately USD 8 million in equity from undisclosed US investors.
“Indian Microfinance: Looking Beyond the AP Act and its Devastating Impact on the Poor;” published by Legatum Ventures; March 2012; 17 pages; available at: http://www.legatumventures.com/
Colombian business organization Federación Nacional de Comerciantes (FENALCO) has agreed to insure all of the education loans issued by Cresca Creditos, a start-up microfinance institution based in Colombia.
The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), a US-based membership organization representing 41 country-level credit union trade groups, will expand financial services in remote areas of Colombia with a USD 2.5 million program that will employ mobile technology in an effort to bring financial services to 100,000 previously unbanked people in rural and low-income communities throughout the country.
MasterCard Worldwide, a Canadian global payments and technology company, recently disbursed USD 540,000 grant to the US-based nonprofit Grameen Foundation to launch mobile services that will provide agricultural and financial information to farmers in the cities of Urabá and Santa Marta, Colombia.
Swiss company responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans to Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs) Banco Solidario of Ecuador and Interactuar of Colombia.
Swiss company responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans to three Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs): USD 1.5 million to Coopronaranjo of Costa Rica, USD 500,000 to Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito Esperanza y Progreso del Valle (COAC Progreso) of Ecuador and the local currency equivalent of USD 374,000 to Fundación Amanecer of Colombia.
Nonprofit social investor Global Partnerships (GP), which has offices in USA and Nicaragua, has made its first two loans in Colombia to the following microfinance institutions: USD 1 million to Fundación Amanecer and USD 1.5 million to Corporación Nariño Empresa y Futuro (Contactar).
The Seattle, Washington, branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), an organization offering recreation and community development programs that has 45 million members worldwide, recently launched Ymicro.org, a website soliciting donations from the public for on-lending to entrepreneurs in developing countries [1,2].
Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH, an Austrian investment company that specializes in microfinance, recently reported that the Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance Local Currency, a sub-fund of Absolute’s Vision Microfinance that provides loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) exclusively in local currencies, made debt investments totaling the equivalent of USD 1.5 million in unnamed MFIs in Colombia and the Dominican Republic [1].
responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility), a Swiss asset management company that invests in microfinance, recently reported to MicroCapital that it made debt investments totaling the approximate equivalent of USD 4.4 million through microinvestment vehicles (MIVs) it manages to Profinanzas of Peru, Coomuldesa of Colombia and the Mexican arms of ProCredit and ProMujer.