Rural Impulse Funds II SA and responsAbility Ventures I, funds managed by Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management and Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG, respectively, recently infused a total of USD 2.56 million in equity capital into Electronic Network Cash Tellers Incorporated (ENCASH), a Philippines-based automatic teller machine (ATM) distributor [1].
Search Results for: Microfinance Institutions Bill India
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobile Transactions International of Zambia Receives $3.2m Equity Investment from Omidyar Network, ACCION
Omidyar Network, a US-based social investment firm, and ACCION International, a US-based nonprofit that supports microfinance institutions (MFIs), have invested USD 3.2 million in equity in Mobile Transactions International, a Zambia-based mobile financial services company, to expand financial access to poor and underserved populations.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Development Seed, Key2Flex Offer Geospatial Technology Services to Analyze Availability of Financial Services in Developing Countries
Geospatial mapping is being used to show the geographic distribution of banks, automated teller machines (ATMs) and banking agents in relation to low-income and other population groups, thus giving an indication of the accessibility of financial services to those groups.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US Government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Inks $45m Investment in Habitat for Humanity Housing Initiative, Microbuild Fund
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance agency of the US government, has finalized its commitment to issue a 10-year loan of USD 45 million to the Microbuild Fund, a Habitat for Humanity initiative to provide loans via microfinance institutions for poor people to improve their housing situations and funding for related technical support [1] [2].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Citing High Repayment Rates, FINCA Zambia to Reduce Rates, Charge Interest Based on Declining Balance
FINCA Zambia Limited, a Zambian microfinance institution (MFI) affiliated with US-based nonprofit FINCA International, plans to reduce its effective lending rates in 2012 by 20 percent after having experienced a repayment rate of 97 percent during the 2011 fiscal period.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $4m to ACLEDA Bank, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) of Cambodia
Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans amounting to USD 4 million to Cambodian financial institutions ACLEDA Bank and Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Lends $6.2m to Mutual Alajuela of Costa Rica, Cooperativa Mixta Mujeres Unidas Limitada (COMIXMUL) of Honduras, Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria
Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans amounting to USD 6.2 million to financial institutions Mutual Alajuela of Costa Rica, Cooperativa Mixta Mujeres Unidas Limitada (COMIXMUL) of Honduras and Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Co-operative Bank of UK Launches “Global Development Co-operative” Initiative to Finance Coops in Developing Countries in Runup to 2012, UN International Year of Cooperatives
The Co-operative Bank, a unit of UK-based consumer cooperative The Co-operative Group, has launched an initiative named Global Development Co-operative (GDC) to provide finance to cooperatives in developing countries [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Focus Note Distributed at Fifth African Microcredit Conference Lauds Morocco as a “Microcredit Champion,” Contrary to Past Reports Expressing Concern
At the recently concluded Fifth African Microcredit Conference, which was held in Ethiopia, a focus note reportedly commended the Moroccan microcredit sector, remarking that from 2003 to 2007 microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) loan portfolio “multiplied 11 times and client outreach by four” in the country [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Funds $80m Liquidity Facility to Bangladeshi Local Banks to Meet Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Funding Needs
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced it has provided a USD 80 million short-term liquidity facility to local commercial banks in Bangladesh to meet the working capital and trade financing needs following recent market disruptions that have reportedly decreased the availability of foreign exchange in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: G20 SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise) Finance Online Consultations Being Held Through June 17, 2011
The G20 SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise) Finance Online Consultations are now ongoing through June 17 to help shape the policy recommendations of the SME Finance Sub-Group, which was launched as part of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion to improve access to financial services for the poor. The Group of Twenty (G20) was established in 1999 to bring together finance ministers and central bank governors of “systematically important” industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Public-Sector Bank, Andhra Pradesh State Government May Launch Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) to Extend Microcredit to the Poor
An unnamed public-sector bank in India is reportedly looking to start a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that will disburse microloans to the poor, with the Indian central government, the government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) as equity investors.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PlaNet Finance, Oliver Wyman Publish Report on Mobile Technology Providing Access to Finance Beyond Simple Payments
PlaNet Finance, a France-based non-governmental organization (NGO) with the mission of developing microfinance, and Oliver Wyman, a US-based management consulting company, have published a joint report exploring the ability of mobile technology to provide access to a wide range of financial products beyond simple mobile payments. Sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a US-based private foundation, the report examines distribution strategies and “second-generation” mobile microfinance products piloted in West Africa and Southeast Asia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Belgian Incofin Loans $1.5m to TenGer Financial Group of Mongolia
Incofin cvso, a Belgian cooperative company that invests in microfinance, recently loaned MNT 41 million (USD 1.5 million) to Tenger Financial Group, a Mongolian Company that controls XacBank LLC, XacLeasing LLC, Horus Nomadic Solutions LLC and TenGer Insurance LLC. Founded in 2001, the group was formed following the merger of Goviin Ehlel (renamed XAC-GE Holding) and X.A.C. (renamed XacBank), two non-bank financial institutions that focus on micro-, small and medium enterprises.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Expands Microinsurance in Kenya and Rwanda through Syngenta, International Livestock Research Institute, MicroEnsure
Recently, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an organization under the World Bank Group that has been a significant source of financing for the microfinance industry, agreed to confer to three microinsurance projects in East Africa a grant of USD 4.1 million, which is expected to allow 35,000 farmers and 5,000 livestock herders in Rwanda and Kenya to protect their crops and livestock from natural disasters.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SHARE Microfin Limited Officially Delaying Initial Public Offering (IPO) Due to Rising Loan Defaults
SHARE Microfin Limited, a regulated non-banking financial company (NBFC) in India, officially delayed its planned initial public offering (IPO) of INR 10 billion (USD 218 million), originally scheduled for early 2011, due to rising default rates and tightening government regulations in India’s troubled Andhra Pradesh state. A delay had been rumored since October amidst rising uncertainty in the microfinance industry. SHARE Microfin has USD 577 million in assets, a gross loan portfolio of USD 490 million, 990 branches, 2.3 million active borrowers, return on assets (ROA) of 5.5 percent and return on equity (ROE) of 45.18 percent.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited Likely to Hire Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JM Financial Limited to Manage its Initial Public Offering
Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in India, is reportedly likely to hire three global firms to manage its initial public offering (IPO): Citigroup, a US-based international financial services conglomerate; Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City; and JM Financial Limited, an integrated financial services group based in India.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Calculates Total Loan Disbursements at $1.08b
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), a development bank in India that promotes the development of microfinance activities in the rural sector, recently reported that it disbursed loans of INR 3,700 crore (equivalent to USD 801 million) to 581 microfinance institutions (MFIs) for the year ending March 2009.