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Sep 2011
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Honduras: IFC Capitalization Fund Invests $70 Million in Ficohsa to Support SMEs
September, 30 2011
Washington DC, United States - IFC Capitalization Fund signed agreements today to invest $70 million in Banco Financiera Comercial Hondurena, S.A. (Ficohsa), a leading commercial bank in Honduras, to support lending to the country’s small and medium enterprises. ...
Mexico: Maya Declaration Urges Financial Inclusion for World's Unbanked Populations
September, 30 2011
Riviera Maya, Mexico - Central banks and financial regulators from across the developing world today committed to provide their populations with greater access to financial services by signing the Maya Declaration on Financial Inclusion at the conclusion of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion's Global Policy Forum in Riviera Maya, Mexico. ...
India: Share Microfin’s Banks Agree to 12 Billion Rupee Restructuring
September, 29 2011
Hyderabad, India - Share Microfin Ltd. today said banks including ICICI Bank Ltd. agreed to restructure about 12 billion rupees (USD 245 million) worth of debt and granted a year’s moratorium on repayments ...
Bolivia: Microfinance, A World-Class Performance
September, 29 2011
Cambridge, MA - Among the Bolivian MFIs, BancoSol was the flagship. It started as Prodem. In 1992, Prodem sought a bank license from the Bolivian authorities and created BancoSol, Latin America’s first private commercial bank exclusively devoted to microenterprises. BancoSol’s example spawned a half dozen similar transformations, creating a commercial microfinance sector ...
India: Private Equity open Taps for Microfinance again
September, 29 2011
Kolkata, India - The lull seems to be over. After spending a nine-month hibernation after the Andhra Pradesh MFI crisis, leading private equity (PE) players are again on the prowl to make a fortune in the country's micro finance space as the sector is crawling back to normalcy ...
Africa: USAID and Impact Investors Capitalize new Equity Fund for East African Agribusinesses
September, 28 2011
New York, United States - Impact investors, together with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), today announced a first-of-its-kind effort to invest USD 25 million of commercial capital with the only private investment manager in sub-Saharan Africa focused exclusively on growing small and medium-sized enterprises in the agriculture sector ...
India: RBI tightens Norms on Securitization Deals
September, 27 2011
Mumbai, India - As per the new norms, for loans with a maturity of two years, the originator should hold the loans for a minimum period of one year ...
India: Utkarsh Micro Finance Receives Rs 25 crore In Series B Funding
September, 26 2011
Varanasi, India - Varanasi-based Utkarsh Micro Finance Pvt Ltd has received Rs 25 crore (USD 5 million) in series B funding, led by Norwegian Microfinance Initiative, according to a company statement ...
El Salvador: IDB loan for USD 30 million will strengthen Small Businesses
September, 26 2011
San Salvador, El Salvador - The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a loan for USD 30 million to El Salvador to finance the Program to Support Production Development for International Integration. The program’s aim is to increase the capacity of micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) to participate in national, regional, and global value chains ...
Microfinance at a Crossroads: Balancing Good Intentions with Critical Industry Structuring
September, 26 2011
Washington DC, United States - In the quest to reduce and eventually eliminate poverty, there exists no silver bullet. Poverty is a complex problem that requires the cooperative assistance of people from the top to the bottom of the economic pyramid ...
Mexico: Compartamos Banco Issues Long Term Debt
September, 22 2011
Mexico City, Mexico - Banco Compartamos, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple informs that it has obtained Ps. 2.000 million (USD 147 million) through the public issuance of Local Bank Bonds ...
Tanzania: High Default Risk Raises Lending Rates
September, 21 2011
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - High default risk is forcing banks to keep lending rates at levels that many potential clients are unable to borrow money ...
India: IFMR Capital completes its largest Multi-Originator Securitisation Transaction
September, 21 2011
Chennai, India - IFMR Capital recently structured and arranged two Microloan Securitisation transactions. ...
India: Microfinance, Weighing growth, vulnerabilities
September, 21 2011
Hyderabad, India - The crisis that started in the southern state took a toll on all MFIs. Repayment rates fell to as low as 5-10% in Andhra Pradesh and there was adverse impact on other states as well ...
Launch of the World's First Ratings and Analytics Platform for Impact Investing
September, 20 2011
New York, United States - Today B Lab announces at Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) the launch of GIIRS Ratings & Analytics, and the commitment of 15 GIIRS Pioneer Investors who declare as part of their impact investing strategy an investment preference for GIIRS-rated funds and companies. ...
Morocco: A Recognized Microcredit Champion
September, 20 2011
Addis Ababa, Morocco - Morocco is a recognized microcredit champion, boasting 40 percent of client outreach in the Arab world and host to some of the best performing microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the world, a Focus note said ...
India: The Need for Due Diligence for Business Correspondents who Deliver Financial Services to Low-Income People
September, 19 2011
Mumbai, India - The business correspondent model offers a unique possibility for mainstream low-income financial services. But recent experience has shown that there are huge risks as well, which is why it must be regulated carefull ...
Paraguay: A Lesson in Social Entrepreneurship: Fundacion Paraguaya
September, 18 2011
New York, United States - A pioneer in microfinances and youth financial literacy in Paraguay, Burt developed one of the world’s first financially self-sufficient agricultural schools for the rural poor – creating a radical new model for education ...
United Kingdom: Omidyar Network Expands European Presence with Opening of London Office
September, 15 2011
London, United Kingdom - Omidyar Network announced today the opening of a global office in the Shoreditch area of London. The office will serve as the philanthropic investment firm's headquarters for its work in Europe, as well as serve as the global hub for its Government Transparency initiative. ...
The State of Microfinance in Mexico: Uncertainty Ahead?
September, 13 2011
Mexico City, Mexico - Mexican microfinance leaders and industry observers are becoming alarmed that the country’s microfinance market may be over-heating, and they are especially concerned about future client indebtedness and political risks ...
Bosnia: Escaping the Debt Trap
September, 13 2011
Washington DC - Delinquency rates in Bosnia (as elsewhere) have risen in tandem with the global economic slowdown. As in other overheated markets, such as Nicaragua, Morocco, and Pakistan, Bosnia’s credit bubble is not the fault of any single culprit. ...
India: Bangalore Microfinance Firm Ujjivan to Receive $21 million Funding
September, 13 2011
Bangalore, India - Bangalore-based micro lender Ujjivan is set to receive 1.01 billion rupees ($21 million) in loans from the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and other state-run and private sector banks, it said in a statement Tuesday ...
Nigeria: Seven Fundamental Flaws with Microfinance Banking
September, 12 2011
Abuja, Nigeria - It was obvious from the beginning. Only just that the regulators and operators were not humble enough to accept it, that the framework for microfinance banking in Nigeria is faulty and cannot achieve its objectives ...
Impact Investing: Happy Returns. The Birth of a Virtuous New Asset Class
September, 10 2011
New York, United States - "Backing someone to live,” is how Leapfrog Investment’s first deal is described by Jim Roth, the co-founder of the “profit with purpose” private-equity firm. ...
Nicaragua’s Microfinance Crisis: Is It Winding Down?
September, 08 2011
Managua, Nicaragua - It seems like it is too good to be true, but the “No Pago” Movement leaders have agreed to have their members individually negotiate with MFIs the restructuring of their loans ...
Middle East: Microfinancing is poised to make its Impact in the Region
September, 07 2011
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The distance of time has always come in handy when it comes to having a perspective on events. Much the same can be said of trends as well ...
El Salvador: IDB Closes $19 Million Syndicated Loan with Impact Investors to Revamp Municipal Markets
September, 06 2011
Washington, DC - The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has closed a $19 million syndicated loan with three impact investors to support a new credit facility that will finance the revamping of municipal marketplaces in El Salvador ...
Pakistan: Microfinance Sector Confronting Challenges
September, 06 2011
Lahore, Pakistan - The Microfinance sector in Pakistan is facing multiple internal and external challenges, despite due importance from the government. ...
Mexico: Why Microfinance Is a Different Kind of Finance
September, 06 2011
Mexico City, Mexico - How could one company evade the economic crisis practically unscathed? What made this model so different from any other? Why is microfinance a different kind of finance? ...
Ratings firms liberal with MFIs: M-Cril
September, 05 2011
Mumbai, India - Micro-Credit Ratings International Ltd (MCril), the largest ratings agency in India’s microfinance industry, has alleged that other ratings agencies have been giving higher ratings to microfinance institutions (MFIs) without properly understanding the sector ...
India: MFI Bandhan Raises Rs 135Cr From IFC
September, 05 2011
Kolkata, India - Microfinance firm Bandhan Financial Services Pvt Ltd states that it has raised private equity funding of Rs 135 crore (USD 29 million) from International Finance Corporation (IFC). The deal marks the single-largest exposure by the World Bank arm to India’s microfinance sector ...
Kenya: Micro-Lenders Face Tough Odds as they Battle Banks to win Customer Loyalty
September, 05 2011
Nairobi, Kenya - Realisation that the economy is no longer being driven by the corporate giants, has made banks change tack to look for the little business person. Central Bank Kenya noted that the microfinance sector was attracting commercial banks with a number of institutions changing their products to get part of the microfinance business ...
Funders Key for Egypt's Small Firms
September, 04 2011
Cairo, Egypt - There are about 500 microfinance networks in Egypt, and Ranya Abdel Baki, the executive director of Sanabel, a Cairo-based network serving the microfinance network in the Middle East, said the country represents the largest borrowers market in the Middle East, and she saw no signs of a slowdown ...
India: Microfinance Firm Basix to Look for Overseas Investors if Banks don't Lend Soon
September, 01 2011
Mumbai, India - Leading microfinance firm Basix, which is facing a huge debt crisis, on Thursday said it will wait till the middle of the month for an urgent Rs 450-crore funding from banks, failing which it will have no option but to look for foreign investors ...

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