Chinese Microcredit Market Attracts Private Capital
December, 29 2010
Beijing, China - The potential of the Chinese micro-credit market has attracted the attention of private capital searching for higher rates of return, and provides business opportunities for micro-finance service companies ...

Microfinance Faces Hurdles in Empowering Afghan Women
December, 28 2010
Kabul, Afghanistan - In a dimly lit room at the back of an Afghan house, 21-year-old Zahara is crouched on a plank of wood weaving a large carpet on a loom that she was able to buy using a microfinance loan of $1,100 (710 pounds) ...

Lebanon: Microfinance Sector Suffers from Lack of Regulation
December, 24 2010
Beirut, Lebanon - The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) indicated that the microfinance sector in Lebanon has seen substantial growth in recent years and is expected to continue to expand ...

Bangladesh: New Credit Facilities for Delta Brac Housing by FMO and Triodos
December, 23 2010
The Hague, The Netherlands - In order to boost further grow of the mortgage portfolio of Delta Brac Housing in Bangladesh, FMO and Triodos Fair Share Fund, managed by Triodos Investment Management have provided long term local currency facilities. FMO has provided USD 25 million with a 10-years tenor and Triodos Fair Share Fund will provide USD 3 million with a 5-years tenor. ...

IFC Helps Eurobank Increase Access to Finance for Smaller Businesses in Romania
December, 23 2010
Bucharest, Romania - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a €58 million loan to Bancpost S.A. that will enable the bank to extend more loans to micro, small, and medium enterprises in Romania and help speed economic recovery ...

IDB Closes First International Syndication to an Ecuadorian Bank in a Decade
December, 22 2010
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) closed a $22 million syndicated loan with Banco Pichincha in Ecuador to help fund lending for housing and to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME’s) ...

Mexico: Financiera Independencia to Acquire Apoyo Economico Familiar and Apoyo Financiero
December, 22 2010
Mexico - Financiera Independencia, S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R. (BMV: FINDEP; Pink Sheets: FNCRF) ("Independencia" or the "Company") a leading Mexican microfinance lender of personal loans to lower income segment individuals and working capital loans through group lending microfinance, announced today that it has signed a purchase agreement to acquire in all cash transactions all of the outstanding shares of Apoyo Economico Familiar S.A. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R. ("AEF"), one of the largest unsecured personal lending institutions in Mexico, and has reached an agreement to purchase a controlling 77% ownership stake in Apoyo Financiero Inc. ("AFI"), a microfinance company primarily serving the unbanked Hispanic community in San Francisco, California. ...

Kenya: Fourth MFI Gets Regulator’s Licence
December, 21 2010
Nairobi, Kenya - One of Kenya’s oldest microfinance institutions, which draws its membership from church associations, has acquired a licence to take deposits, making it the fourth micro-lender to come under the banking sector regulator ...

India: Shares in SKS Microfinance Tumble to All-Time Low
December, 20 2010
Mumbai, India - Shares in SKS Microfinance, the country's only listed microfinance lender, tumbled to a record low on late Monday afternoon, on the back of renewed fears about the sector's future profitability ...

Standard Chartered and MicroSave Launch Risk Management Toolkit for MFIs
December, 16 2010
India - Keeping in view the current status and challenges of microfinance industry Standard Chartered and MicroSave on December 13, 2010 launched Risk Management Toolkit for Microfinance Institutions ...

First Impact Investment Bond Issuance Platform for Institutional Investors
December, 16 2010
Geneva, Switzerland - Symbiotics Closes Two Pioneer Deals with LOMC and MUCAP. Symbiotics, a leading microfinance investment services company, launched on Thursday December 16th Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise Bonds SA (MSME Bonds), an issuance platform based in Luxembourg dedicated to impact investing for institutional investors. Its two first bonds include a USD 10 million refinancing of MUCAP and a USD 11.5 million refinancing of LOMC ...

Asian Development Bank Sinks $250 Million Into Microfinance Risk Program
December, 14 2010
Manila, Philippines - As the microfinance industry virtually crumbles in India--one of the world's largest microfinance centers--the Asian Development Bank has just announced a regional $250 million risk participation program and fund to shoulder some of the lending burdens found across Asia. ...

KDDI Invests $22M in MFIC to Jointly Build Mobile Payment Platform Worldwide
December, 12 2010
Tokyo, Japan - KDDI Corporation (KDDI)(TOKYO:9433.t - News), a Japanese telecom giant, and Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC), a US financial solution provider, announced a partnership involving KDDI's US$22 million investment in MFIC to support its global expansion. The partnership will develop an open mobile payment platform worldwide. ...

Debt Trends In Peru's Personal, Microfinance Sectors Spark Warnings
December, 10 2010
Lima, Peru - Political stability, growing consumer confidence and higher employment have boosted Peru's economic growth, but concurrent aggressive lending policies are sparking analyst warnings of unmanageable debt trends in the personal and microfinance sectors. ...

Andhra Pradesh to Consider Microfinance Bill on Tuesday
December, 10 2010
Hyderabad, India - The Andhra Pradesh government will on Tuesday consider legislation to regulate the microfinance sector by ratifying an earlier ordinance that has curbed operations of the lenders to the poor, state officials told Reuters ...

ADB Invests in ShoreCap II Fund to Expand Microfinance, Small Business Lending
December, 10 2010
Manila, Philippines - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide up to $10 million for a private equity fund that aims to expand microfinance and small bank lending to poor, underserved groups across the region ...

Guatemala CU System Launches Private Savings Guarantee Fund for Credit Unions
December, 09 2010
Guatemala City, Guatemala - Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito (FENACOAC), Guatemala's national credit union association, and 19 of its affiliated credit union members made history last week when they launched one of the few private savings guarantee funds for credit unions in the world. ...

Microfinance Pioneer Yunus Cleared in Aid Probe
December, 08 2010
Dhaka, Bangladesh - Microfinance pioneer Grameen Bank on Wednesday welcomed a report by Norway that cleared its founder Muhammad Yunus of misusing aid money, removing a cloud that had hovered over the Nobel Peace Prize winner ...

Impact Investing Is Poised to Experience Growth Surge
December, 05 2010
United States - With an insider trading probe sweeping across the financial services industry and a multibillion-dollar sovereign-debt crisis unfolding in Europe, investors might find the feel-good idea of impact investing appealing right about now. ...

Grameen Bank's Response to Recent Press Reports
December, 04 2010
Bangladesh - We are sorry that many friends and well-wishers of Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank around the world were subject to mental agony because of the inaccurate and misleading news report published globally regarding an alleged "siphoning off" of a large amount of money by Professor Yunus through one of his organisations, or "Stashing of $100 million by Nobel Laureate Professor Yunus", as one news organisation put it. ...

Bangladeshi Microfinancing Pioneer Faces Charges of 'aid anomalies'
December, 03 2010
Bangladesh - Norway says it is examining allegations that Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, has diverted millions of dollars of aid money to one of its sister concerns, reports BBC online. ...

Temasek Snared in India as Crackdown Slows Microfinance IPOs
December, 02 2010
Mumbai, India - Private equity companies may struggle to recoup almost $565 million in investments in India’s microfinance industry since 2006 after a regulatory backlash led at least two firms to delay initial public offerings. ...

Azerbaijan’s Postal Operator to Micro-Credit Since 2011
December, 01 2010
Baku, Azerbaijan - The national postal operator of Azerbaijan, Azerpoct Ltd, plans in 2011 drastic expansion of the system of postal banks, created in 2010 in its network within the World Bank Financial Service Development Project (FSDP) ...