responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund (rAGMF), a microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) managed by responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has loaned the equivalent of USD 2.8 million to four microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia and Indonesia. responsAbility is an investment company based in Switzerland that invests in MFIs and other MIVs.
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Peru Passes Tax Exemption for Credit Unions, Other Cooperatives
The government of Peru recently passed legislation that recognizes the nonprofit status of credit unions and other cooperatives, exempting their transactions from a sales tax. La Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito del Perú (FENACREP), a Peruvian member of the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), has been working with a coalition of local advocacy groups to get the bill passed since its introduction to the legislature in December 2009. (No further information on the sales tax-exemption bill is available at the time this brief was published.) WOCCU is a US-based global trade association of credit unions.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Loan $4m to AccessBank of Tajikistan for Expansion of Loan Portfolio, Movement Toward Deposit-Taking
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has agreed to loan USD 4 million to microfinance institution (MFI) AccessBank Tajikistan to expand the MFI’s loan portfolio, develop a greater variety of credit products and “support competition in the microfinance sector,” according to an IFC press release [1].
MICROFINANCE EVENT: USAID, SHOPS Present “Panel Discussion on Wealth and Health: Leveraging Microfinance for Better Health Outcomes,” June 13, 2011, Washington, DC, USA, And Online
Event Name: Panel Discussion: Wealth and Health: Leveraging Microfinance for Better Health Outcomes
Event Date: June 13, 2011
Event Time: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Event Location: Online or at the Diplomat Ballroom, Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, DC, USA
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) Expects Consolidation to Result in Fewer, Stronger Rural Banks
According to the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), an association of approximately 700 banks that aims to promote rural development, the rural banking sector in the Philippines is expected to consist of fewer but stronger banks as mergers and consolidations continue. “Mergers and consolidations that are happening will result in fewer rural banks that are stronger in terms of resources,” said Tomas S Gomez IV, spokesman of RBAP, according to Business World.
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: Union Bank of India (UBI) Launching Microfinance Schemes Under “unioninclusions”
Union Bank of India (UBI), a nationalized bank with approximately USD 44 billion in total assets, recently announced the launch of “unioninclusions” in an effort to deepen financial inclusion. Announced in Mumbai by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, India’s Finance Minister, the initiative includes the following five schemes: 1) the opening of 11 specialized financial-inclusion branches; 2) biometric card-to-card remittance facility for migrant laborers; 3) mobile van banking to serve unbanked villages in the state of Odisha; 4) publication of a comic book series intended to spread financial literacy among illiterate people in rural areas; 5) funding solar power for Union Adarsh Gram, a program launched by UBI in June 2010 to adopt 101 rural villages across India to offer development and modernization.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India’s MicroSave Publishes “No Thrills: Dormancy in NFA Accounts,” by Ann-Byrd Platt, Akhilesh Singh, Sachin Bansal, Anurodh Giri, Akhand J Tiwari re “No Frill” Microfinance Accounts
MicroSave, an Indian for-profit technical assistance, training and resource center, recently published “No Thrills: Dormancy in NFA Accounts,” a study on India’s “No Frill Accounts (NFAs),” a basic account option legally required of private banks as part of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) “Financial Inclusion Programme.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US Under Secretary of State Maria Otero: Mobile Money, Policy Reform are Keys to Financial Success
Speaking at a recent panel held by the Brookings Institution, a US-based nonprofit public policy organization, on “Growth Through Innovation in Africa: Mobile Financial Services and Financial Inclusion,” Maria Otero, US Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, argued that mobile money could substantially support financial inclusion efforts.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroInsurance Centre Launches Microinsurance Learning and Knowledge (MILK) Project with $2m Grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The MicroInsurance Centre, a for-profit initiative of the MicroSave technical assistance company, recently announced the launch of the Microinsurance Learning and Knowledge (MILK) Project, supported by a USD 2 million grant from the US-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroSave Launches Social Performance Management (SPM) Toolkit for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
MicroSave, a private consulting company that provides technical assistance to microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently launched its social performance management (SPM) toolkit to assist MFIs and their stakeholders in determining how closely an MFI’s operations are aligned with its social objectives.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank Group Publish “Leveraging Migration for Africa: Remittances, Skills, and Investments” Report
African Development Bank (AfDB), a development finance institution that gives loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, and the World Bank Group, a Washington, DC-based group of five institutions with a shared mission to improve living standards for people in the developing world, have jointly published a report titled “Leveraging Migration for Africa: Remittances, Skills, and Investments.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Wins Tageblatt Award For Social Business Model At Luxembourg Fund Awards
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a microfinance investment fund incorporated in Luxembourg, was recently awarded the Tageblatt Award of the Luxembourg Fund Awards for its contribution to socioeconomic development in Southeast Europe and the Caucasus region.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroCred Group of France Releases 2010 Financial Results, Announces Plans for 2011
MicroCred Group, a microfinance investment company created by French NGO PlaNet Finance, has released its 2010 results.
For 2010, MicroCred reports a total balance sheet increase of 75 percent and an outstanding loan portfolio of EUR 43.3 million (USD 62.5 million), an increase of 73 percent compared with 2009 [1]. MicroCred reports a increase in savings deposits of 451 percent as compared with 2009 to EUR 12.7 million (USD 18.3 million) saved by 60,870 clients in 2010 [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Goodwell Investments Expands Beyond Microfinance to Include SME Finance, Health, Renewable Energy
Goodwell Investments, a business development company based in the Netherlands, has announced that it will expand the scope of its impact investing services from a focus on microfinance to include small and medium-sized enterprise finance, water & sanitation, health care and renewable energy [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroCred Holding, MicroCred China Receive Capital Increases Totaling $31m, Including Participation From AXA Belgium, Developing World Markets, IFC, KfW
MicroCred Holding, a microfinance investment company created by French nongovernmental organization (NGO) PlaNet Finance, and its subsidiary, MicroCred China, recently announced two capital increases totaling the equivalent of USD 31.1 million.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Investment Vehicle BlueOrchard Private Equity Fund Completes First Distribution to Investors of $7.5m
BlueOrchard Private Equity Fund (BOPE Fund), an investment vehicle of Switzerland-based, commercial microfinance intermediary Blue Orchard, has announced its first distribution to investors. The USD 7.5 million distribution comes three years after the fund’s first close and includes proceeds from a partial exit from indirect shareholding in TenGer Financial Group, the single owner of XacBank, a Mongolian community development bank and microfinance institution (MFI). BOPE Fund remains a direct shareholder of TenGer Financial Group which reported total assets of MNT 322 billion (USD 256 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), MicroSave Publish “Deposit: Assessment in India” in Support of Increasing Savings Microfinance in India
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, and MicroSave, a for-profit microfinance training and technical resource center based in India, recently published a report entitled “Deposit: Assessment in India,” that argues in favor of supporting microsavings services for low-income individuals in India as a way to increase utilization of financial services.