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Microfinance Funding Continued to Grow in 2008
October, 29 2009
Washington, United States - Donors and investors continued to direct a growing stream of funding to microfinance in 2008, according to a new survey by CGAP. In 2008, microfinance funders disbursed US $3 billion and increased their commitments by 24%, reaching US$14.8 billion committed as of December2008. The majority of funders reported that the onset of the financial crisis had not affected their funding projections for 2009
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"No Pago" Confronts Microfinance in Nicaragua
October, 28 2009
United States - Last January in northern Nicaragua, as a crowd of hundreds blockaded the Panamerican Highway late into the cool Monday night—soaking tires in gasoline before setting them on fire, hurling rocks at police and TV cameramen, bringing traffic to a standstill for 10 miles—the words once again began appearing in news reports and political speeches and inside the National Assembly debate halls: No Pago, No Pago!
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MFTransparency: Data Launch Rollout Plan
October, 22 2009
Lancaster, United States - For the first time in history, the microfinance transparency movement is going to provide extensive, accurate microfinance product pricing data publicly
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Compartamos Banco Reports 3Q09 Results
October, 20 2009
Mexico City, Mexico - Banco Compartamos, S.A. I.B.M. ("Compartamos" or "the Bank") (BMV: COMPART), the leading Mexican microfinance bank, today announced its non-audited financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009
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India: Micro-Finance Firms Grow 100% Despite Slowdown
October, 20 2009
New Delhi, India - Despite the global slowdown, the Indian micro finance institutions are on an upsurge. The micro finance institutions have registered a whopping 100 per cent increase in the total loan portfolio at Rs 11,700 (USD 2.53 billion) crore at the end of March. The total number of clients too increased to 76.6 million at the end of 2008-09 against 59 million clients a year-ago
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Kenya: Banks’ Credit Squeeze a Boon to Microfinance
October, 20 2009
Nairobi, Keyna - In the depths of despair, there is always an opportunity, or so the saying goes. Low-end money lenders seem to have taken a cue from the saying to cash in on a gap left by mainstream financial institutions that have slowed on lending to households for fear of possible rise in cases of loan default
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Philippines: Microfinance Risks Abound
October, 20 2009
New Manila, Philippines - Microfinance may be a promising alternative source of income for the big banks but the business remains risky in nature, global debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service warned
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Cambodia: MFIs Increase Lending in Q3
October, 19 2009
Phnom Penh, Cambodia - But some micro-lending organisations say bad loans are rising as some borrowers struggle to make repayments on schedule
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The Long Road to Sustainable Investing
October, 18 2009
London, United Kingdom - Writing about sustainable investing used to be easy. There were a small number of people involved, a few funds whose policies were relatively clear and you could easily put a number on the assets that were managed in accordance with environmental, social and governance criteria. Now it is hard even to get started without switching off e-mail and phone to stop being deluged with press releases about new climate change funds, microfinance initiatives, and analyses about the alpha added by sustainable investment policies.
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Omidyar Network Establishes New Entity In India
October, 13 2009
California, United States - Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm, announced today it has established a new entity in India to expand the firm's level of investment in the rapidly growing economy. The organization has engaged Jayant Sinha to lead Omidyar Network India Advisors, the newly formed entity
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CGAP Report Finds Access to Financial Services Still a Challenge
October, 13 2009
Washington D.C., United States - In seeking to give poor people access to critical financial services, policy makers around the world are often hampered by the lack of information they need to tackle this challenge. There often is little data available to answer basic, but important, questions: Who has access to savings or loan accounts? What kind of institutions do these customers use? Which policies actually help to bring financial services to poor people? How does branchless / mobile banking (including cell phone banking) increase the reach of services
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Pushing the Frontiers for a Social Audit of Investors
October, 13 2009
Amersfoort, The Netherlands - How to measure the economic performance and social progress of our economies? The debate on the macro economic indicators is animated since the latest report of the commission headed by the Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz. On a micro level, tools and indicators are now in the process of being developed and tested. Today, Oikocredit, a leading private investor in microfinance, has released the results of its social audit, the first audit of its kind. Does Oikocredit really fulfil its social mission and maintain its values
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Philippines: RP’s 1st Mobile Microfinance Bank Gears up for Full-Blast Operations
October, 12 2009
Makati City, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved the ownership structure of the country’s first mobile microfinance bank, with Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) transferring a 60-percent stake in unit Pilipinas Savings Bank Inc. (PSBI) to Globe Telecom Inc. and Ayala Corp. and keeping the balance of 40 percent
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SKS Microfinance Gets ‘Highest Safety’ Rating
October, 12 2009
Bangalore, india - SKS Microfinance’s securitized portfolio worth Rs. 137 crore (Rs. 1,370 million) with YES Bank has been rated by Credit Analysis & Research Ltd. (CARE) as PR1+ SO (Highest Safety) rating, said a press release on Monday
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MFIs' Bad Loans May Triple: Crisil
October, 11 2009
Mumbai, India - Bad assets of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are expected to triple to 1.5 per cent by March 2010 compared to the March 2009 level due to the economic slowdown which has hit the repayment capability of small borrowers, according to credit rating and research agency Crisil
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ADB, Japan Help Viet Nam on Micro-Finance
October, 10 2009
Manila, Philippines - The Asian Development Bank and Japan are helping Viet Nam bring its unregulated micro-finance programmes into the formal sector so that it can provide increased financial support for the poor
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SKS Microfinance Lining up for IPO
October, 10 2009
Mumbai, India - In a first in India, SKS Microfinance, the largest microfinance company, is seeking a listing on Indian stock exchanges
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India: Credit Bureau for MFIs in Making
October, 09 2009
Mumbai, India - Twenty five microfinance institutions have formed a trust called Alpha, which will put together a credit bureau called High Mark dedicated to the microfinance sector
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Does Loan Type Matter for Microfinance Performance in Latin America?
October, 08 2009
Washington D.C., United States - Does loan product mix affect the performance of a microfinance institution? “Consumption, Commercial or Mortgage Loans: Does it Matter for MFIs in Latin America?” a new research study from The Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc. (MIX) seeks to answer that question.
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India: Listing Set to Broaden Microfinance Horizons
October, 08 2009
Mumbai, India - SKS Microfinance, India’s largest lender to the country’s poor, has mandated three investment banks for its initial public offering in what would be the first listing of its type in the country
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Pension Funds Turn to Low-risk Microfinance
October, 08 2009
London, United Kingdom - Microfinance – where financial institutions back tiny start-ups and would-be entrepreneurs in the poorest parts of the world – is little more than a gleam in the eye of most of the world’s biggest banks. But it is the one area of subprime lending that still has a reputation for being relatively low risk in spite of the financial crisis and is attracting new investment
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Uganda: Telecom Money Transfer Tilts Market
October, 07 2009
Kampala, Uganda - Six months since the introduction of mobile money transfer, MTN and Zain have registered about 250,000 clients onto the mobile money transfer service moving over sh40b in transactions
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Microfinancing China
October, 07 2009
New York, United States - China's economy may lead the region in many ways, but in one surprising area it is lagging behind: microfinance. The concept of distributing small loans to the poor has flourished across Asia since its introduction in Bangladesh three decades ago. Yet it has a notably minimal footprint in China
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A Smart Path for Social Investing
October, 07 2009
West Sussex, United Kingdom - The global financial meltdown has put a damper on hopes that private capital would soon become a major factor in financing micro-credit and other economic development programs. But the idea of putting capital to work on behalf of social progress still has more than a faint heartbeat. The most recent example is a deal put together by VillageReach, a Seattle-based non-profit that improves the performance of public health systems in developing countries, and Oasis Fund, a Luxembourg-based private equity firm that invests in social enterprises
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Sovereign Funds to Boost Ethical Investing
October, 05 2009
London, United Kingdom - Sovereign wealth funds, eager to be accepted in the West, are increasingly keen on "socially responsible" or ethical investing, which could generate big flows into a sector that has so far failed to give convincing returns
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World Poverty Guru ‘Fails’ to Spread Wealth
October, 04 2009
London, United Kingdom - With a Nobel peace prize in one pocket and invitations from presidents and prime ministers in another, Muhammad Yunus is arguably the world’s most popular banker.
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Mobile Banking Tapped for Growth in India
October, 02 2009
Singapore - The mobile banking subscriber base may be low, but the concept is making inroads into Indian villages through micro banks that run on mobile phones using near-field communications (NFC), industry player
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Microfinancing Gains Ground Across the Globe
October, 01 2009
Hong Kong, China - Governments are increasingly turning towards microfinance to empower low-income entrepreneurs, but the depth and breadth of their policies vary widely, according to a new global microfinance ranking from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
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