ACCION International, a US-based nonprofit organization that supports microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 22 countries, recently announced the official launch of ACCION Microfinanças, an MFI in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
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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: Nigeria’s Capital Express Assurance Purchases Majority Shareholding in Kenya’s Capex Life Insurance, Which Plans to Downsize to Focus on Microfinance
Capital Express Assurance, a Nigeria-based life insurance company, has purchased a majority shareholding in Capex Life Assurance, a Kenya-based life insurance company formerly known as Trinity Life Assurance. Capital Express Assurance purchased a 65 percent stake in Capex Life Assurance for USD 975,000 [1]. The remaining 35 percent stake was purchased by a group of individual Kenyan investors led by current Capex Life Assurance general manager, James Macharia [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Equifax India to Launch Microfinance Credit Bureau In Partnership with Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Prime, ReligareFinvest, Sundaram Finance, Union Bank of India
The Indian unit of Equifax Credit Information Services, a US-based consumer credit reporting agency, has partnered with the following six Indian banks to launch a credit bureau devoted to transactions in the microfinance sector: Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Prime, ReligareFinvest, Sundaram Finance and Union Bank of India.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PROPARCO, Storebrand Invest $15m in Incofin’s Microfinance Investment Vehicle Rural Impulse Fund II
Incofin Investment Management, a Belgian fund manager that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs), has raised EUR 11 million (USD 15.8 million) for Rural Impulse Fund II, which invests in MFIs in developing countries that have at least 30 percent of their operations in rural areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation to Advise Saudi Hollandi Bank on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Market in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB), a Saudi Arabia-based, publicly-owned commercial bank, recently signed a cooperation agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, to receive advisory services on expanding the provision of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance in Cambodia Grows 10%, Described as “Trap”
Mr Simon Marks from the Asia Sentinel, a website based in Hong Kong, recently cited data collected by the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA), a network of microfinance industry officials in Cambodia, indicating that as of the end of the first quarter of 2011, total loans outstanding from its members amounted to approximately USD 712 million, which represents an increase of nearly 10 percent over the last quarter of 2010 [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to Loan $70m to Niger to Provide Assistance to 1m Poor People Through Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Mobile Phone Providers
The International Development Association, the arm of the World Bank that delivers aid to the poorest countries, has approved credit of USD 70 million to implement a “social safety net” in Niger, wherein cash transfers and employment guarantees will provide income to one million poor people over the course of five years.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Convenes Discussion On Amending Microfinance Regulations in Uzbekistan
United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations’ global development network that seeks to connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life, organized a session recently to discuss amendments to microfinance regulations in Uzbekistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Vision Tanzania, MicroEnsure Partner to Launch Agricultural Microfinance Loans Bundled with Weather Index Insurance
World Vision Tanzania, a branch of US-based, Christian relief organization World Vision, in partnership with MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, has launched a pilot scheme to provide small-scale farmers in Tanzania with agricultural loans bundled with weather index insurance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroEnsure, PharmAccess Foundation Launch Health Microinsurance for Coffee Growers in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, and PharmAccess Foundation, a Dutch nonprofit that seeks to strengthen health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, have partnered to launch a health plan serving members of the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU), a group of coffee growers in the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Cresa Microfinance, Sharada’s Women’s Association for Weaker Section (SWAWS) Microfinance of India Face Possible Bankruptcy
The Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), an association of Indian microfinance lenders, recently reported that several small and medium-sized microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India may soon file for bankruptcy as a result of decreasing liquidity.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FM Bank of Poland Signs $24.6m Agreement with European Investment Fund (EIF), Guaranteed By European Progress Microfinance Facility (EPMF)
FM Bank, a Polish financial institution specializing in servicing micro- and small enterprises, has signed an agreement for a loan of PLN 68.7 million (USD 24.6 million) from European Investment Fund (EIF), which invests in institutions that finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The loan, which will be used to on-lend to start-up enterprises, will be made under a 75-percent guarantee from the European Progress Microfinance Facility (EPMF), which seeks to enable microfinance institutions (MFIs) within the EU to increase lending to entrepreneurs by issuing guarantees, loans and equity financing. Under the agreement, FM Bank will provide Polish entrepreneurs loans of up to EUR 25,000 (USD 35,600) for enterprises that have been operating for less than one year [1]. Currently, entrepreneurs with less than 12 months of business history are excluded from external financing in Poland according to EIF.
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: India’s Gujarat State Inks Microfinance Partnership With Large Industries, Self-Help Groups (SHGs)
The government of the Indian state of Gujarat has reportedly developed partnerships between self-help groups (SHGs), groups of individuals who are jointly responsible for the repayment of loans, with major industrial businesses, a strategy that it believes will encourage banks to offer loans to the groups at lower interest rates.
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: PlaNet Guarantee, Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) to Launch Index Insurance Platform in West Africa
PlaNet Guarantee, a member of the France-based PlaNet Finance Group, and the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), a program of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), have joined to launch a regional platform for index insurance in West Africa. The objective of the project is “to develop agricultural insurance systems in West African countries including Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso” [1]. PlaNet Finance Group reports that this will be done by developing indexes, designing insurance products, providing underwriting, making links between distribution channels and insurers, training farmers and disseminating information to partners [1]. The platform will be based in Senegal with satellite branches in the other two countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Acumen Fund Makes Equity Investment of $1.9m in Pakistani National Rural Support Program (NRSP) Microfinance Bank
Acumen Fund, a US-based nonprofit global venture fund that invests in entrepreneurial approaches to tackle poverty, recently made an equity investment of USD 1.9 million in the National Rural Support Program (NRSP) Microfinance Bank, a Pakistani microfinance institution (MFI) [1].