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Oct 2011
Nepal: Microcredit Firms Ask for Separate Credit Info Bureau
October, 31 2011
Kathmandu, Nepal - Microfinance institutions have identified the need to establish a separate credit information bureau after borrowers started getting credit from multiple institutions raising chances of increasing the level of bad loans in the sector with a debt recovery history of almost 100 percent ...
Sudan Prepares for Robust Microfinance Industry
October, 31 2011
Sudan - The Cabinet of the Republic of Sudan, approved recommendations presented in a report by Dr. Mohamed Khair Al-Zubair, Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan. Some of these recommendations include the issue of guarantees such as the salary, the retirement pension and the personal guarantee as well as granting preferential advantage to microfinance projects ...
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN): An Interview with CEO Luther Ragin, Jr.
October, 30 2011
New York, United States - The GIIN was formally launched at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative with J.P. Morgan, the Rockefeller Foundation, and USAID, our founding funders. From the start, the GIIN has been focused on increasing the scale and effectiveness of the impact investing industry ...
China: Microcredit Providing a Lifeline
October, 26 2011
Xixiang, China - Chinese farmers finding it hard to obtain bank loans are turning to micro-credit organizations to help them launch their own businesses, amid the accelerated expansion of the non-governmental financial system. ...
Mexico: Compartamos May Seek More Acquisitions in 2012, CEO Alvarez Says
October, 26 2011
Mexico City, Mexico - Compartamos SAB Chief Executive Officer Fernando Alvarez Toca said the Mexican microfinance company won’t rule out buying more businesses in 2012. ...
India: Three Microfinance Institutions - Spandana Sphoorty Financial, Share Microfin and Asmitha Microfin decide against merger
October, 25 2011
Mumbai, India - Three microfinance firms which had proposed a merger at the time of their debt recast talks with banks in August have now called off the plans, saying it is not feasible. ...
From Microcredit to Microfinance: New Ambitions for Tunisia
October, 23 2011
Tunis, Tunisia - After the revolution of January 2011, Tunisians experienced poverty at a level far more critical than official statements had suggested. Microfinance has quickly been identified as one of the tools that can help reduce inequalities, address exclusion, and strengthen the country’s economic fabric, as already shown by the achievements of Enda Inter-Arabe (Enda) and the Microcredit Associations (MCA) that have been operating since 1990 ...
Mexico: Segmenting the “Bottom of the Pyramid”
October, 21 2011
Mexico City, Mexico - Reaching the poor with a range of useful, convenient, and affordable financial services is challenging for all the reasons we know. In the context of Mexico, access has increased significantly in the past few years (nearly 60% of all households), and changes in regulation enabling correspondent banking are likely to bring the access barrier down even further. ...
Lisa Hall, CEO of the Calvert Foundation, on Impact Investing: An In-depth Interview
October, 20 2011
New York, United States - So many of us take for granted that we can get a loan for school, to start a business, or buy a car, if we need it. But the fact is there are millions of people, both in the U.S. and around the world, that are shut out of the financial system. And opportunity is hard to come by when you are shut out. Lisa Hall is the President and CEO of Calvert Foundation. ...
Nigeria: Microfinance Banks disburse USD 407 million in six months
October, 19 2011
Abuja, Nigeria - The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that loans and advances disbursed by micro-finance banks (MfBs) in the first half of year 2011 increased by 23.8 per cent to USD 404 million, as against USD 326 million recorded at end-December 2010 ...
The Multilateral Investment Fund partners with Nordic Development Fund to Finance a pioneer Green Microfinance Initiative
October, 18 2011
Latin America, Caribbean - Program to boost access to clean energy, energy efficiency technology and adaptation products to micro, small and medium-sized companies in Latin America and the Caribbean ...
El Salvador: Remittances and Financial Inclusion
October, 14 2011
San Salvador, El Salvador - While we know a lot about the impact of remittances on growth, investment, poverty, inequality, health, and education, the potential effects of international remittances on the domestic financial system and financial inclusion have not received much attention. ...
India: Aavishkaar II Makes First Close At USD 62 million; Targets USD 120 million By June 2012
October, 14 2011
Mumbai, India - Aavishkaar Venture Management, a venture capital firm focused on India’s rural areas and bottom-of-the-pyramid space, has made the first close of its new fund at USD 62 million within nine months after its launch ...
Industry Mobilizes to Prevent Over-indebtedness in Push for Responsible Finance, CGAP
October, 13 2011
Washington, United States - The microfinance industry is stepping up its efforts around responsible finance, including consumer protection measures and efforts to prevent over-indebtedness, according to CGAP, the global industry body dedicated to advancing financial access for the world's poor. ...
Middle East: Micro-Entrepreneurs Play Central Role in Stability, According to CHF International Issue Brief
October, 13 2011
Washington, United States - Today, CHF International, a development organization, along with Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org, hosted a conversation on the role of socially-responsible lending -- such as microfinance and Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME)-finance -- in creating stability in the Middle East and North Africa. The event coincided with the release of an issue brief detailing the current situation and needs in more detail. ...
Costa Rica: Foromic Closes with Call to Expand Financial Services into New and Underserved Markets
October, 13 2011
San Jose, Costa Rica - At the 14th Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise (Foromic 2011), leaders in the microfinance industry in Latin America and the Caribbean debated ways to increase access to financing in underserved sectors, particularly rural areas; and develop services and products tailored to meet the needs of low-income populations and micro, small and medium-sized businesses, especially those owned by women entrepreneurs ...
Kyrgyzstan: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provides Loan to Frontiers MLC for Cross-Border Microfinancing
October, 11 2011
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting its support to the financial sector in the Kyrgyz Republic with a USD 2 million loan in local currency (Som) to the micro-lending company Frontiers LLC ...
Latin America tops Global Microscope Index on the Microfinance Business Environment 2011
October, 11 2011
Washington, United States - This annual study ranks the business environment for microfinance in 55 countries and provides a perspective on both country-specific and global trends. The results show that Peru and Bolivia have the best environments for microfinance in global rankin ...
New Ways to Borrow: Shark bait
October, 08 2011
London, United Kingdom - Most people think of developing countries when they hear the term “microfinance”. Not so a growing number of the 1.14 million low-income households (4% of Britain’s total) that lack bank accounts, nor the additional 8 million people (15% of the population) who are “underbanked”— excluded from mainstream bank lending and credit cards, both of which are increasingly stingy, because of bad credit scores or irregular incomes ...
Armenia: Germans Give USD 10 Million for Small and Medium sized Enterprises Development
October, 07 2011
Yerevan, Armenia - Armenian microfinance bank Inecobank is set to receive a loan of USD 10 million through a joint agreement with German development finance institution Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft GmbH (DEG) and Austrian development bank Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB) in an effort to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Armenia ...
Four new Microfinance Investment Vehicles obtain the LuxFLAG Microfinance Label
October, 05 2011
Luxembourg, Luxembourg - LuxFLAG is pleased to announce that 4 new Microfinance Investment Vehicles (MIVs) have been granted the LuxFLAG Microfinance Label: the Microfinance Enhancement Facility S.A.SICAV‐SIF, Selectum SICAV SIF ‐ BL Microfinance, Etimos Fund SICAV‐SIF and Dual Return Fund SICAV‐ SIF Vision Microfinance Local Currency ...
The Microfinance Catalyst
October, 04 2011
Cambridge, UK - So-called “impact investors” – providers of capital to businesses that solve social challenges while generating a profit – are the current rage in economic development. ...
Microfinance and the Arab Spring: Challenges and Opportunities
October, 03 2011
Washington, United States - Since the beginning of 2011, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests have been taking place in the Arab world. ...

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