Posts Tagged ‘mfi’
Posted on November 23, 2009 - by boris
India: IFIF will invest in firms that provide financial services to the poor…
India Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF), one of the largest funds focused on investing in companies playing in the bottom-of-the-pyramid market, has achieved a final close of $90 million. Advised by Hyderabad-based Caspian Advisors, IFIF has raised commitments from the likes of UK’s CDC Group, Global Microfinance Equity Fund and Switzerland’s Social Investment Services.
IFIF started fund-raising last year before the crisis and has managed to close it in a period of 15 months. The interest in the MFI sector has been consistent throughout the period, said Mona Kachhwaha, Director of Investments at Caspian.
The fund, apart from microfinance institutions, also invests in “firms that enable the provision of financial services to the poor”. These include companies in areas like housing finance, business correspondents to banks and technology companies in this sector.
Source: http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/india-financial-inclusion-fund-raises-90m-kitty
Posted on November 19, 2009 - by boris
Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh arranges syndicated agricultural term loan for MFI…
Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh has arranged the country’s first ever syndicated agricultural term financing facility of $21.7 million (BDT 1.50 billion) for BURO Bangladesh, a leading microfinance institution (MFI).
The central bank chief mentioned that the linkage, between commercial banking and SMEs small and medium enterprises in the agricultural sector, is very important to sustain the development of economy and ensuring food security of the large population of the country.
Commenting on this project, Executive Director of BURO Zakir Hossain said: “Buro Bangladesh is focused on ensuring food security through microfinance institutions and we appreciate Citibank and the participating banks for their contribution.”
Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017019897
Posted on June 24, 2009 - by Gavin
Microfinance firm gets Sh254m profit…
The Citizen News
CRDB Microfinance Services Company made a pretax profit of Sh254
million last year, an annual report distributed to delegates
during a micro-lending forum organised by the bank showed.
The company provided Sh48.5 billion micro loans. The outstanding
loan portfolio stood at Sh58.8 billion by December 2008, a
statement by CRDB Bank managing director Charles Kimei showed.
The company was established in 2000.
Under the Uwezeshaji Credit Guarantee Scheme, it disbursed Sh22.9
billion to 203 microfinance institutions, surpassing the
Government target of lending Sh22 billion in 2008. The firm
participated in the Mwananchi Empowerment Scheme initiated by the
National Economic Empowerment Council to facilitate lending in
select regions.
The Our priority is to expand our microfinance initiatives to
reach out more districts and provide services to more Tanzanians
who have no access to financial services. To achieve the goal,
the company will continue to open new service centres for MFIs
[microfinance institutions],” he said.
Posted on May 27, 2009 - by Gavin
UAE firm to launch first microfinance unit in Oman…
Business 24/7
The first microfinance project in Oman is to be launched by PlaNet Finance UAE to give financial assistance to entrepreneurs.
Microfinance schemes provide financial services to those on low income. In the GCC only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain currently have such organisations. Now a new joint stock company called Greenfield is being formed to create a microfinance institution (MFI) in the Sultanate of Oman.
“PlaNet Finance is in the process of registering the first MFI in Oman and the initiative is supported by business groups such as the Ajith Khimji Group and MB Holding and philanthropist Samir Fancy,” Programme Manager Sawsen Ayari told Emirates Business.
“The headquarters of the Greenfield MFI will be in Muscat with branches planned in Salalah and other parts of Oman. The maiden MFI in Oman will provide financial and non-financial services to poor Omani entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneurs. The project is being implemented with the support of the Omani Ministry of Social Development.” (more…)
Posted on April 30, 2009 - by Gavin
Nigeria: MFBs Auditors Tasked On Standards…
All Africa.com
Lagos — Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in the country have been called on to adhere to a recognised, comprehensive set of accounting standards; in order to maintain credibility in their financial statements.
The call was made by renowned microfinance consultant, Dr. Mohammed Nasr, while speaking at a microfinance institutions external audit workshop organised by the Work Bank/FGN Micro Small & Medium Enterprise Project held recently in Lagos.
Nasr, who is also an accountant and auditor, said auditors who audit microfinance institutions must follow the international Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
He added that IFRS provides a set of accounting standards, which when diligently followed, will provide the institutions with guidance on the accounting treatment to be used for different financial transactions.
The expert also disclosed that adherence to comprehensive set of accounting standards makes comparing of financial information from different institutions or countries easier and help the MFI industry to create its own benchmarking.
It also facilitates comparison of results, accurate interpretation of the financial position and performance of its borrowers, he said (more…)
Posted on March 26, 2009 - by Gavin
Yes Bank subscribes to CPs worth Rs 250 mn of SKS Microfinance…
My Iris
SKS Microfinance, India`s largest and world`s fastest growing microfinance institution, has issued commercial papers worth Rs.250 million rated as PR1 by CARE to Yes Bank. (Q, N,C,F)* This makes SKS Microfinance the first company in the world to issue commercial papers (CP).
Announcing this landmark transaction, S. Dilli Raj, CFO of SKS Microfinance said, “SKS becomes the first MFI in the world to issue CPs and the same showcases SKS`s ability to introduce mainstream financial products to the MFI world. As financially prudent as we are, the proceeds will be used to reduce our cost of borrowing and have a positive impact on the Asset Liability Management of the organisation.“
Yes Bank subscribed to the Paper and Somak Ghosh , group president, corporate finance and development banking, Yes Bank said, “MFIs typically have short-term liquidity requirements as the microfinance operations are cash intensive and loans are for shorter tenor . Yes Bank`s subscription of this first ever commercial paper issuance by an Indian MFI, is a first step to creating a vibrant market for accessing short term low cost funding by MFIs.“
Posted on March 16, 2009 - by Gavin
Microfinance recruitment slowing…
The Phnom Phen Post
Economic downturn forces fast-expanding MFI sector to scale back employment plans.
THE rate of job creation in the microfinance sector will slow sharply this year as the sector’s previously high levels of loan growth start to slow, the industry body has warned.
Bun Mony, chairman of lender Sathapana Limited and a board member of the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA), forecasts sector-wide employment growth could be as low as 5 percent this year, far lower than previous years.
He was speaking at a workshop for senior staff of the country’s 18 microfinance institutions (MFIs), and he told journalists that 10,000 people currently work in the sector.
“New direct labour recruitment has risen 30 percent each year in the last few years, but due to the [global economic] crisis, new recruitment is forecast to grow only 5 to 10 percent this year,” Bun Mony said. (more…)
Posted on March 5, 2009 - by Gavin
Kiva: Making a Lender and Borrowers Bullish in Mongolia…
UB Post
It seems today’s economic climate renders the advice “Never a lender or a borrower be” superfluous, at least in the financial sector, where potential borrowers are having trouble finding institutions willing or able to lend. However, a partnership between Mongolia’s XAC Bank and an American non-profit is making it possible for some low-income Mongolians to get otherwise impossible loans.
The non-profit is Kiva, a San Francisco-based organization that runs a popular website, where potential lenders around the world search for and provide microloans to men and women starting or expanding businesses in developing countries.
Among the first to get a Kiva Loan in Mongolia was D. Ichinhorloo, a 38-year old female taxi driver in Baganuur, a small town east of Ulaanbaatar. Last Month, she received US$475 to make repairs to her cab.
This microloan process works because altruistic lenders give relatively small amounts (as little as US$25) without expecting a return on their money—sacrificing some of it to inflation and lost opportunity. Kiva sends this money to its partner Microfinance Institution (MFI) in the borrower’s country at zero percent interest, and the bank makes the microloan.
While banks collect interest on the loans, lenders receive their money back at the end of a repayment term with the option of holding onto it, relending it, or donating it to Kiva to help pay for the organization’s operating costs. To date, Kiva has provided over US$52 million in loans through 90-plus MFI partners. (more…)
Posted on February 27, 2009 - by Gavin
Are Microcredit Interest Rates Excessive?…
CGAP
Are microfinance institutions (MFIs) exploiting poor borrowers by charging them excessive interest rates? Some think so. In 2007, for example, a controversy erupted around Compartamos, a Mexican MFI that was earning a 55 percent return on shareholders’ equity by charging its borrowers interest rates around 85 percent. The real question is, are high interest rates and profits like Compartamos’s outliers, or are they typical for a large number of MFIs?
Today, there’s widespread agreement that most MFIs should operate sustainably, keeping their costs as low as possible and charging interest rates and fees high enough to cover those costs. Making thousands of tiny loans entails higher administrative costs than making a few big loans, so sustainable MFIs must charge higher interest rates than normal banks do. But how much higher?
“There are huge variations in the interest rates and related circumstances of individual MFIs around the world,” says CGAP expert Rich Rosenberg. “There’s also intense debate about how high interest rates and profits would have to be to qualify as ‘excessive,’ and indeed about whether terms like this have any useful meaning at all, at least in the arena of for-profit microfinance.”
While, there can be no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of whether microcredit rates are excessive, a new CGAP/MIX study of over 500 MFIs found data that shed important light on the issue. (more…)
Posted on November 3, 2008 - by lincolnw
Indian MFIs face challenge of global meltdown
Financing for the poor is getting more frugal now with microfinance institutions facing the heat of the global financial meltdown. There has been a virtual halt in fresh disbursements to MFIs by banks and financial institutions coupled with over 200 basis points hike in interest rate. It does not end at credit squeeze alone. Banks are also asking for personal guarantees of directors of MFIs.
A few banks have hiked the security margins from 10% to 25% over the loan amount sanctioned to banks. As a result, MFIs are unable to use even sanctioned funds. According to sector trackers, MFI sector may have trouble raising loans till January as banks will try to complete their priority sector lending targets more aggressively only in the last quarter of the fiscal…{click this link to read the rest of the article}
Posted on October 27, 2008 - by lincolnw
Hilton Humanitarian Prize Of $1.5 Million Goes To Bangladeshi NGO
The world’s biggest humanitarian prize has been awarded to BRAC, the largest non-profit organization in the developing world. The 2008 Hilton Humanitarian Prize of $1.5 million honors BRAC, a Bangladeshi-based NGO, for its achievements in helping to eradicate poverty in nine Asian and African countries. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva where the award was announced.
Founder of BRAC, Fazle Hasan Abed, said he is particularly honored to receive the Hilton Humanitarian Prize on the International Day to Eradicate Poverty, a day to remember the billions of people living in extreme poverty. He said he and his organization have worked for 36 years for the alleviation of poverty…{click this link to read the rest of this article}
Posted on October 10, 2008 - by lincolnw
Advans SA of Luxembourg Opens Microfinance Insitution in Ghana
PARIS, October 9 – Advans SA, the international venture capital investment company specialised in microfinance, is pleased to announce the launch of its second microfinance institution: Advans Ghana, which opened in New Town Road, Accra, on 9 October 2008. Over the next three years, Advans SA seeks to develop a strong international network of around ten microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia and the Middle-East.
Advans Ghana is a microfinance institution licensed as a Savings and Loan Company, which was incorporated in November 2007 with Advans SA as majority shareholder and KfW, IFC and SG-SSB (the Ghanaian subsidiary of the Société Générale Group) as co-investors. Advans Ghana’s initial share capital is GHS 2.649 million (circa EUR 1.65 million)…{click here to read the rest of this article}
Posted on August 25, 2008 - by James
For-Profit Equitas Raises $12.5M in Equity Cap…
The MFI has raised money from Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Indian Financial Inclusion Fund and MVA Ventures.
Source: VCCircle.com
Chennai-based micro finance lending institute Equitas has received a fresh fund infusion of $12.5 million (Rs 50 crore) which would help it enhance its borrowing capacity for micro finance lending. The capital has been raised through… [click here to read the rest of this article...]
The MiFi Report
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