The Bank of Ghana, the country’s central banking authority, has issued licenses to 394 microfinance institutions (MFIs), including 344 classified as microfinance companies, 45 as money-lending companies and five as financial non-governmental organizations.
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Women Invited to Apply for MasterCard Foundation Scholarships for Sustainable Microenterprise and Development Program (SMDP) in Ghana by February 7, 2014
MasterCard Foundation, a Canadian organization founded by the US-based payments firm MasterCard, is offering an undisclosed number of scholarships, ranging from USD 1,000 to USD 4,500, for women in Africa who have at least two years of work experience in the microenterprise development field to attend the Sustainable Microenterprise and Development Program (SMDP), an educational workshop that will be held in the Accra, Ghana, from March 10-21, 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: LeapFrog Investments Purchases 25% Stake in Ghana-based Pension Firm Petra Trust
LeapFrog Investments, a private equity fund based in Mauritius, has purchased a 25-percent stake in Petra Trust, a Ghanaian pension-trustee company.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Ghana to Limit Number of Operating Licenses for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
The Bank of Ghana (BoG), the country’s central banking authority, has announced plans to limit the number of operating licenses it grants to microfinance institutions (MFIs) to an unspecified level.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Prudential Purchases Controlling Stake in Ghana’s Express Life Insurance From LeapFrog Investments
UK-based life insurance firm Prudential plc has purchased a majority stake in Ghanaian microinsurance provider Express Life Insurance Company from LeapFrog Investments, a private equity fund based in Mauritius.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Majority of Ghanaian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Allegedly Lack Operating Licenses, Bank of Ghana to Increase Surveillance
Ghanaian Radio XYZ Online, an online news publication, reportedly has discovered from an undisclosed source that of approximately 550 operating microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana, only an estimated 200 are licensed.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Companies in Ghana Allegedly “Reaping Heavily” from Small Businesses via High Interest Rates
Microfinance companies in Ghana reportedly are “reaping heavily” from high interest rates charged to consumers, who are often unaware of the flat-rate interest calculation method used by most microfinance companies that forces borrowers to pay interest on the initial loan amount rather than on their remaining balance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Ghana Increases Liquidity Requirement for Microfinance Financial Institutions
The Bank of Ghana, a regulatory and supervisory authority over banking and financial institutions in Ghana, recently increased the minimum capital requirements of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to GHS 300,000 (USD 138,000) for MFIs that do not accept deposits and GHS 500,000 (USD 230,000) for deposit-taking MFIs [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Loans $20m to UT Bank Ghana to Support Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
ResponsAbility Social Investments, a Swiss investment company with a focus on microfinance, recently notified MicroCapital that it disbursed a loan of USD 20 million in August 2013 to UT Bank Ghana Limited (UT Bank), a Ghanaian commercial bank with 26 branches. The loan will be used to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Ghana Launches “ATM Cash Out” Service to Mobile Money Subscribers
The Ghanaian arm of Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Group Limited, a telecommunications service provider based in South Africa, has launched its “Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) Cash Out” service in Ghana, allowing subscribers of MTN Mobile Money, an electronic wallet service offered by MTN, to withdraw money from ATMs without a card.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Thirty Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Close in Ghana
Approximately 30 unnamed microfinance institutions (MFIs) collapsed in Ghana during the first quarter of 2013 due to an alleged inability to “sustain their operations.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Money Lenders Association of Ghana Signs Memorandum of Understanding to Provide Members with Microinsurance Products
The Money Lenders Association of Ghana (MLAG), an umbrella organization for 350 money-lending organizations in the country, and Star Microinsurance Services Limited, a company that provides microinsurance products to low-income households in Ghana, reportedly have signed a memorandum of understanding to provide MLAG’s clients with microinsurance products, including a funeral policy, micro-healthcare policy and a child education policy [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Ghana (BOG) to Raise Minimum Capital Requirement for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) to $240k
The Bank of Ghana (BOG), Ghana’s central bank and main financial regulator, recently announced an increase in minimum capital requirements for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana from GHS 100,000 (USD 48,000) to GHS 500,000 (USD 240,000).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Depositors Withdraw Savings from Microfinance Firms in Kumasi, Ghana amid Lack of Safety Nets for Clients
High rates of deposit withdrawals reportedly are occurring in Ghanaian city of Kumasi, which allegedly is attributed to the lack of safety nets protecting depositors in case firms are shut down by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the country’s main financial regulator.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Societe de Promotion et de Participation pour la Cooperation Economique SA (PROPARCO) to Loan $10m to Societe Generale Ghana, Part for Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Societe de Promotion et de Participation pour la Cooperation Economique SA (PROPARCO), a French public-private development finance institution, reportedly has signed a seven-year USD 10 million loan agreement with Societe Generale (SG) Ghana, a Ghanaian bank that is a subsidiary of the French-owned Groupe Societe Generale, for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as larger corporations.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UT Bank Ghana Receives $20m Credit Line from African Development Bank to Support Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB), a multilateral institution that provides loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, recently approved a 3.5-year line of credit in the amount of USD 20 million to UT Bank Ghana Limited (UT Bank), a commercial bank based in Ghana with 26 branches in Ghana and an unavailable number of subsidiary branches in West Africa and Europe.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Tigo Ghana, EB Accion, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, USAID to Help Women Become Mobile Money Agents
The Ghanaian branch of Luxembourg-based telecommunication firm Millicom International Cellular, which is also known as Tigo and has operations in 15 African and Latin American countries; EB Accion, a Ghana-based microfinance institution (MFI) affiliated with Togo-based Ecobank Group and US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Accion; Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, a London-based charity focused on technology and access to finance; and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, reportedly have partnered on a mobile money project that is expected to involve hundreds of women in Ghana.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Advans Ghana to Expand Business Edge Training Program to Ghana
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, has formed an agreement with Advans Ghana Savings and Loans, a non-bank financial institution and member of Luxembourg’s Advans Group, to improve access to the Business Edge training program in Ghana.