Posts Tagged ‘loan’
Posted on November 26, 2009 - by boris
Pakistan: SBP allows microfinance banks to raise foreign currency loans from international donor agencies…
Liquidity-starved microfinance banks and institutions can now raise foreign currency-denominated loans from international donor agencies, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Wednesday.
The purpose of the loan, which can also come from commercial financial institutions, should only be to finance loan portfolio of microfinance banks and borrowing can be raised in US dollar, euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen.
“This decision will help microfinance providers access different sources of debt that may offer longer tenor, and in turn reduce their funding risk,” the SBP said in a press release. Microfinance banks would have to borrow these foreign currency loans for a minimum period of two years and loan pricing will be based on a reference rate such as London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), it added.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=210416
Posted on November 19, 2009 - by boris
Uganda: African Development Fund has approved a loan for rural income project…
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) approved on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 in Tunis, a UA 10.21 million (US$ 16.23 million) loan to finance a Rural Income and Employment Enhancement Project (RIEEP) in Uganda.
The objective of the project is to help reduce rural poverty in Uganda by facilitating access to and utilization of affordable financial and business development services for an estimated 1.4 million rural poor in the country’s districts.
The project is an important input to Uganda’s Microfinance Support Centre (MSC)’s 2009-2014 Strategic Plan and comprises two key components – the Financial Services and Institutional Development Services.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200911181033.html
Posted on November 16, 2009 - by boris
Asian Development Bank to invest Rs 3.25 billion in Biratnagar…
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to invest Rs 3.25 billion for the overall development of Biratnagar. The amount to be invested in five different stages consists of 85 per cent donation and 15 per cent loan.
ADB will focus its investment mainly in drainage, the topmost problem of the city, maintenance of internal roads, construction of shopping complexes including others after preparing a master plan.
Biratnagar sub-metropolis executive officer Gopal Prasad Regmi said that preparations are on to reach a conclusion after holding a meeting at the Ministry for Physical Planning and Works scheduled on November 20.
Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=ADB+to+invest+in+Biratnagar&NewsID=46841
Posted on October 20, 2009 - by boris
Kenya: New SME rating tool to ease small firms’ access to credit…
Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) have lately become the “heart” of the Kenyan banking sector, surpassing the retail market which in the previous years had been a goldmine for most commercial banks.
During the peak season for the retail market, the rate of lending rose and threshold requirements for lending were lowered. Many of the retail customers took advantage of the lowered thresholds and dropped their loan applications at numerous banks to increase their chances of success.
For the few SMEs that have dared to put in their applications for loan facilities to strengthen their working capital from commercial banks, the underwriting system have became even more tighter.
Instead of the loan underwriting system of MFIs, which are only anchored on the three Cs of lending; character, capacity, and capital, they are subjected by banks to five Cs system of underwriting which includes the three , in addition to condition and collateral.
Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539444/674232/-/item/0/-/1p5422/-/index.html
Posted on October 15, 2009 - by boris
Kiva is not quite what It seems…
Kiva is the path-breaking, fast-growing person-to-person microlending site. It works this way: Kiva posts pictures and stories of people needing loans. You give your money to Kiva. Kiva sends it to a microlender. The lender makes the loan to a person you choose. He or she ordinarily repays. You get your money back with no interest. It’s like eBay for microcredit.
You knew that, right? Well guess what: you’re wrong, and so is Kiva’s diagram. Less that 5% of Kiva loans are disbursed after they are listed and funded on Kiva’s site. Just today, for example, Kiva listed a loan for Phong Mut in Cambodia and at this writing only $25 of the needed $800 has been raised. But you needn’t worry about whether Phong Mut will get the loan because it was disbursed last month. And if she defaults, you might not hear about it: the intermediating microlender MAXIMA might cover for her in order to keep its Kiva-listed repayment rate high.
In short, the person-to-person donor-to-borrower connections created by Kiva are partly fictional.
Source: http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2009/10/kiva-is-not-quite-what-it-seems.php
Posted on September 24, 2009 - by boris
Will social media help create a sustainable market for microfinance?…
Microfinance agencies provide loans to small businesspeople who often can’t meet the strict credit terms of large banks. Either these entrepreneurs don’t have the capital or the cash to back the loan. Or as the large banks argue, their credit needs are too small.
With banks out of the picture, microlending agencies step into the role usually held by the imperfect combination of relatives and often predatory money lenders. Microlending is most often associated with the developing world, but agencies have begun working in industrialized countries.
As the internet age hit, microlenders began looking for ways to replicate the Grameen Bank’s success online. With the rise of social networking, especially peer-to-peer media, these lenders found their answer. The question, however, remains: Will social media help create a sustainable market for microfinance?
Source: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/21/can-social-media-help-make-microfinance-sustainable/
Posted on September 8, 2009 - by boris
Loan program helps post-quake reconstruction in Sichuan, China…
Yu Changfu felt desperate when his house collapsed in the magnitude-8.0 earthquake in Sichuan province on May 12, 2008, for he had no money left to earn a living after rebuilding the house.
Thanks to the Grameen-CPAD-Danone Micro-Credit Initiative, however, the 41-year-old farmer in Mianzhu, one of the hardest hit cities in the devastating quake in Sichuan, borrowed a loan of 10,000 yuan earlier this year to raise pigs and rabbits and buy a machine to mill rice.
Last week, he sold several pigs earning more than 2,000 yuan. “I have confidence in repaying the loan and starting a new life,” he said with a smile.
To express his gratitude to the initiative, Yu, who is short but very energetic, had a silk banner made and presented it to Eric LAM, program leader of Danoe China Social Program, during his recent visit to Yu’s new home in Mianzhu.
Source: http://www.indiamicrofinance.com/microfinance/microfinance-world/microcredit-program-aids-post-quake-reconstruction-in-sichuan-china.html
Posted on August 31, 2009 - by boris
The next step for Microfinance is “Taking Deposits”…
Some 30 years ago, the field of microfinance was born from a radical concept: poor people, when lent small amounts of money, will pay it back in a timely manner. In the meantime, that money can be put to use in ways that help boost income—goat farming, say, or carpet weaving—and, ostensibly, raise a family’s standard of living.
Now another radical concept is starting to take hold: that the thing people really need, more than business loans, is a safe place to save their money. It’s what development expert Robert Vogel calls the “forgotten half of rural finance.”
To be clear, loans aren’t going away. A quick look back at last year’s credit crunch reminds us how important lent money can be to economic activity. The reason loans came first in microfinance, though, wasn’t grand strategy but pragmatism.
In most parts of the world anyone can make a loan, including the non-profits that trek into developing countries to reach people traditional financial institutions have ignored. The same isn’t true of savings accounts and other banking products, which are typically heavily regulated.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1918733,00.html
Posted on August 28, 2009 - by boris
A P300 million loan intended for microfinancing in the Philippine countryside…
A P300 million loan to boost microfinance in the Philippine countryside has been signed between a German bank and a confederation of cooperatives in the Philippines.
The German bank IM Bistum Essen signed the agreement with the National Confederation of Cooperatives (Natcco), which launched in early 2007 the Microfinance Innovations in Cooperatives (Micoop) “to deliver microfinancing to the enterprising poor in areas where banks and even cooperative are reluctant to operate.”
“Many financial institutions are reluctant to provide loans to the poor because they believe they are bad borrowers. But Micoop believes otherwise. We give the enterprising poor a chance to put up their own businesses by freeing them from usurious financiers,” Evelia Tizon, Micoop Group chief, said.
Source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090828-222394/German-bank-RP-cooperative-ink-P300-M-deal
Posted on August 11, 2009 - by boris
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aids the poor to save money…
Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, wants to provide the poor with a safe place to put their money.
The Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $350 million toward projects that let the planet’s poor who have no access to banking keep cash deposits via their local post office, lottery outpost, or cellphone account.
“We looked around at what were the financial needs or requirements of poor families,” says Bob Christen, 53, who heads the foundation’s 20-person financial-services division. “There’s a tremendous demand for deposit services, for a safe place to keep your money.”
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aoAtkOmYJyjg
Posted on August 5, 2009 - by boris
Savers and Investors have increased in The Jamaica National Group…
The JN Group, had a successful 2008/2009 financial year with assets reaching $107 Billion, says Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) General Manager, Earl Jarrett.
Assets at Jamaica’s third largest financial institution regulated by the central bank increased by 18 percent, Mr. Jarrett stated, referring to the recently released audited results for the last financial year ended March 31. This was a gain of $16.2 billion.
“Microfinance continues to do well, showing strong loan growth and a promise of increased demand as more Jamaicans are recognizing the benefits of operating their own business,” he said. Jamaica’s largest SME lender, JNSBL is seeking to identify new ways of providing capital for the business community to facilitate growth and employment in the economy.
Source: http://www.sflcn.com/story.php?id=6872
Posted on July 23, 2009 - by boris
Vodacom Tanzania and Citibank Tanzania sign documents for the 90$ million credit deal…
TheCitizen posted:
Vodacom Tanzania has secured a $90 million loan from a consortium of local banks to finance capital expenditure.
A statement released in Dar es Salaam yesterday said the money was part of a five-year $150 million syndicated loan facility (SLF), with Citibank (Citi) Tanzania as the lead lender.
“The initial $90 million multi currency financing has been completely sourced through local banks along with Citibank Tanzania,” the joint statement issued by the mobile phone operator and the bank said.
(more…)
Posted on July 21, 2009 - by boris
Microfinance: Where Do We Stand Today?…
microcapital.org posted:
MixMarket Microbanking Bulletin
According to Spring 2009 MixMarket Microbanking Bulletin, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) face challenges as slowing growth and funding opportunities forces them to refine risk, actively manage liquidity and rising delinquencies.
While the co-authors view the current global economic situation as an opportunity for best run MFIs to distinguish themselves, this was originally complicated by the increasing appetite of MFIs for a greater levered capital structure (as seen by the increase of structured funds offering private and institutional investors new opportunities to acquire notes collateralized by loans to MFIs in the past few years).
Note: Data for these findings have been drawn from portfolios managed by the Global Social Investments Group at Deutsche Bank.
(more…)
Posted on July 17, 2009 - by boris
Senegal, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau and Comoros Share U.S.$ 113.85 Million AfDB Group Funding…
allAfrica.com posted:
Senegal will receive a loan of CFAF 32.4 billion, equivalent to US$ 69.85 million (UA 45 million), to finance the Dakar-Diamniadio highway construction project, approved by the Board of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessionary window of the AfDB Group.
The project, designed to improve road transportation, spur economic growth and regional integration, will involve the construction of a 31.60-km highway with toll stations providing a rapid link between Dakar and Diamniadio, gateway to a new economic development pole.
It is one of the first Public- Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the road sub-sector, designed to meet NEPAD’s objectives which consist of promoting private sector participation in the financing of infrastructure. The project will serve as a model and to will give impetus to the PPP mechanism.
Mozambique
The ADF Board approved a US$ 20.6 million loan, equivalent to UA 13.3 million UA, to finance the rehabilitation of the Massingir Dam in Mozambique.
(more…)
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Gavin
Global Partnerships gets microfinance grant…
Triangle Business Journal
Global Partnerships, a Seattle microfinance organization, has
received an $180,000 grant to help manage its loan funds, which
have attracted more than $45 million in capital since 2006.
The organization received the three-year grant from the M.J.
Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, Wash. The grant will
primarily be used to hire a director of investment operations.
More broadly, it will allow the nonprofit to better manage its
three investment funds and improve its management and tracking of
fund data.
Since 2006, Global Partnership’s funds under management have
increased from $2.5 million to more than $48 million. Some of the
nonprofit’s existing loan fund investors include Seattle
University.
Posted on June 25, 2009 - by Gavin
Micro-finance can boost labour class income…
The Nation
KARACHI – The success of micro-finance institutions around the globe has established that it could make an important contribution in improving the socio-economic conditions of the poor. All stakeholders of micro-finance industry in the country need to realise that micro-finance is but one element of a
comprehensive strategy to combat poverty.
Interventions based on this can indeed lead to poverty alleviation, at macro scale, reports SBP publication, Towards Achieving Social and Financial Sustainability: A study on the performance of micro-finance in Pakistan.
The survey results revealed that the availability of loan had a partial impact to reduce the incidence of child labour.Though respondents expressed rise in their income levels as a result of availing the loan but it alone did not serve as a universal remedy to fully convince parents to take their children out of
work.
Posted on June 22, 2009 - by Gavin
Citibank Arranges Farm Loan For Microfinance Institution In Bangladesh…
Gant Daily
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) – Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh has
arranged to raise $21.74 million (BDT 1.50 billion) term loan for a
microfinance institution, according to BURO Bangladesh. The
necessary facility document related to the financing is expected to
be signed soon, officials said in the capital, Dhaka on Sunday. In
compliance with Bangladesh Bank directives to expand credit in the
agricultural sector, the entire facility arranged by Citibank,
being the lead arranger, is earmarked for the expansion of BURO’s
agricultural loan portfolio. BURO’s Finance Director M. Mosharrof
Hossain said that 100 per cent of the financing raised from banks
will be directed towards the agricultural sector through
non-governmental organization (NGO)-linking system. “We’ll disburse
the loan to the farmers through our 393 branches across the
country,” Mr. Hossain told AHN in the capital, Dhaka, adding that
the loan will be given to agro-based eight sub-sectors like crops,
irrigation equipment, livestock, agricultural products marketing,
fisheries and poverty alleviation. (more…)
Posted on June 18, 2009 - by Gavin
SAP wants to help microcredit groups manage loans…
CIO
SAP hopes to help lower the cost of managing loan portfolios for organizations offering microcredits as part of a partnership announced Wednesday with French nonprofit group PlaNet Finance.
Microcredits, or very small loans, were pioneered by Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh as a way of helping the rural poor to start up economic activities with which to earn their way out of poverty.
PlaNet Finance supports a number of microfinance institutions around the world, providing them with consulting services and loan portfolio management software to help them run more efficiently.
SAP will contribute software, expertise and a little bit of cash to PlaNet Finance’s work, SAP CEO Léo Apotheker said at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday.
That expertise will first be applied to a field project in Ghana. In the north of the country, a major source of income is the cultivation of shea nuts, which can be transformed into shea butter for use in cosmetics and food.
The growers, predominantly women, see little of the profit from their work because they have little bargaining power and insufficient information about the value of their produce, said PlaNet Finance President Jacques Attali.
Posted on June 17, 2009 - by Gavin
New payment system benefits microfinance clients & improves efficiency…
Reuters
World Vision Georgia’s microfinance organisation CREDO has launched a new type of payment system for clients in Georgia, enabling them to make loan payments at no charge via Payment Machines called ‘PayBox’, located in shops, streets and villages across the country. Designed to increase convenience and save time for clients, the new system also means significant cost savings for CREDO, as well as increased cash flow and efficiency of its operations.
This newly adapted method of payment is already in use in Georgia with people using these machines to pay mobile phone bills, Internet and utility expenses 24 hours, seven days a week.
It means easier payment, because people are no longer required to travel great distances to make payments and are not confined to bank working hours.
‘PayBox Technology means savings for clients and CREDO. For clients it is time saving with repayment points closer and they can repay at their convenience. For CREDO it means cost savings; repayment data from PayBox will be automatically imported to our loan tracking system’, emphasized Ljiljana Spasojevic, CEO of AzerCredit Azerbaijan and Credo Georgia. (more…)
Posted on June 11, 2009 - by Gavin
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Triodos Bank Invests USD 900,000 in Microfinance Institutions in May…
Microcapital
Triodos Bank has reported to the CGAP Microfinance Dealbook investments totaling approximately USD 900,000 this month. The bank has invested 834,000 in IMON International in Tajikistan through the Triodos-Doen Foundation, and has loaned 61,000 to BICC in Honduras through the Hivos-Triodos Fund.
Triodos Bank was established as a commercial bank by the Triodos Foundation in 1980 and provides finance for socially beneficial and environmentally sustainable enterprises. Triodos has participated in microfinance activities since 1994, when it founded the Hivos-Triodos Fund and the Triodos-Doen Foundation. The Hivos-Triodos Fund is a joint initiative with the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos). As of December 2008, the fund had a portfolio of EUR 43.6 million (USD 60.9 million). The Triodos-Doen Foundation is administered in cooperation with the DOEN Foundation, which is funded by the proceeds from the National Postal Code Lottery and the Sponsor Lottery. As of December 2008, Triodos-Doen’s portfolio amounted to EUR 55 million (USD 76.8 million). (more…)
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