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Aug 2008
Vietnam: Microfinance Network Proves Effective After Two-Year Implementation
August, 28 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam - Established in July 2006, the microfinance network has proved to be an important financial channel which contributes greatly to reducing poverty and improving rural people’s living conditions in Vietnam . ...
ABP Makes First Private Equity Microfinance Allocation
August, 28 2008
Netherlands - ABP has committed US$75m to a private equity fund managed by BlueOrchard, in what is its first investment in a private equity microfinance fund ...
China: AIG Announces Investment in MicroCred Nanchong
August, 26 2008
Beijing, China, New York, United States - American International Group, Inc. (AIG) today announced that it has acquired 18 percent of MicroCred Nanchong, China (MNC) and the exclusive right to sell micro insurance to MNC clients for two years ...
India: HDFC to Spread Its Network to Capture Indian Rural Market
August, 26 2008
Chennai, India - With the aim of enabling farmers and Self Help Groups (SHGs) have access to banking and finance products, India's third largest bank HDFC has chalked out new measures to expand its network to rural areas of the country. ...
Sudanese President to Inaugurate Microcredit Bank
August, 25 2008
Khartoum, Sudan - President Omer Al-Bashir will inaugurate on Tuesday the Bank of family, which is the first Sudanese financial institution specialized in the microcredit ...
Asia Microfinance Forum 2008 to Take Place in Hanoi
August, 22 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam - The Asia Microfinance Forum 2008 will be held in Hanoi from Aug. 26-28 with the theme “Microfinance in the 21st centure: Future Trends and Opportunities,” according to Citibank Vietnam. ...
India: Equitas Gets $12.5M Fund Infusion From Three Funds
August, 22 2008
New Delhi, India - The MFI has raised money from Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Indian Financial Inclusion Fund and MVA Ventures ...
IndusInd, Grameen Capital, SKS Partner in Rs 100 Crore (US$23 million) Deal
August, 20 2008
Mumbai, India - Three leading institutions, IndusInd Bank, Grameen Capital India and SKS Microfinance, today announced the closure of a Rs 100 crore closure assignment of microfinance receivables. ...
Microfinance Must Embrace the Free Market
August, 20 2008
India - In their efforts to alleviate poverty, the pioneers of modern microfinance made a remarkable discovery - the poor could serve as reliable borrowers - and developed this insight into a worldwide industry capable of leveraging the commercial capital markets to deliver financial services to millions of poor. As MFIs attempt to reach ever more of the world’s poor, the role of commercialisation is being widely debated ...
Give 20% of Grameenphone IPO Shares to Bank Borrowers: Yunus
August, 19 2008
Bangalore, India - Nobel laureate and founder of micro-finance giant Grameen Bank in Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus today said borrowers of the bank were keen to pick up 20 per cent of the shares on offer in the initial public offering of his country's biggest mobile phone operator Grameenphone. ...
Citigroup to Provide $30 Million for U.S. Microfinance, FT Says
August, 19 2008
New York, United States - Citigroup Inc. will initiate a $30 million project today to provide micro loans to help small U.S. businesses expand, the Financial Times reported. ...
Bangladesh: Microcredit Borrowers Spending Major Portion of Loan to Buy Food
August, 18 2008
Dhaka, Bangladesh - Micro-credit borrowers are spending a major portion of their loan in purchasing foods instead of investing in the earmarked projects, which has been affecting the poverty alleviation activities in the country, insiders said. Borrowers have no option but to spend the credits to purchase foods as their wages and incomes have not increased compared to the inflation in food prices, some borrowers and micro-credit activists said ...
China Life Unveils Micro-insurance Pilot Program
August, 14 2008
Beijing, China - Chinese life insurer China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. unveiled its micro-insurance pilot program on August 12. ...
Tanzania Bars Foreigners from Its Hottest Public Share Sale
August, 13 2008
Nairobi, Kenya - After opting to stay out of Kenya’s biggest share sale in May, Tanzania has deepened its opposition to ongoing efforts to integrate the regional economy by expressly barring Kenyans and Ugandans from taking part in one of its most promising share offers. Investors from the two countries, which together with Tanzania were the original members of the East African Community, will not be allowed to buy shares in the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) when the sale begins on Monday ...
India: Lok Capital, Dell Foundation Invest $1.5M In Kolkata MFI Arohan
August, 13 2008
New Delhi, India - Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and Lok Capital LLC have invested $1.5 million in Arohan Financial Services Ltd, a Kolkata-based microfinance institution (MFI). ...
Acleda Poised to Shift Focus out of Cambodia
August, 12 2008
Australia - Acleda, a Cambodian microfinancier that has built up the country’s largest retail banking network, is considering opening its shareholding to a western commercial bank as it starts to expand outside its home market. ...
Advans SA SICAR Has Raised EUR 7 million in Capital Commitments from CDC Group
August, 12 2008
New York, United States - CDC Group plc ("CDC"), the UK Government-backed private equity emerging markets fund of funds investor, today announces that it has committed EUR 7 million (US$10.5m) to the Advans SA SICAR ("Advans"). ...
Uganda: Credit Bureau Pilot Phase Kicks Off
August, 11 2008
Kampala, Uganda - The pilot phase of the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) has kicked off in five financial institutions. ...
Nearly 90 Percent of Microfinancing Market in Lebanon Remains Untapped
August, 11 2008
Beirut, Lebanon - The potential microfinance market in Lebanon could be worth up to $286.1 million, with only 11.5 percent of this potential demand currently being met by existing financing sources, leaving 88.5 percent of the market untapped, said a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank, as published by the latest edition of Byblos Bank's Lebanon This Week ...
India: MFIs Under Pressure to Raise Funds
August, 07 2008
New Delhi, India - Increased bank interest rates and new capital adequacy norms of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon weigh heavily on the poorest of the poor as microfinance institutions (MFIs) are also contemplating raising interest rates. ...
Syria’s First Microfinance Institution is Preparing to Launch This Summer
August, 07 2008
Damascus, Syria - Syria’s first microfinance institution will start operating in the coming weeks, giving a diverse range of small businesses, professionals and individuals access to financial services that would otherwise remain out of reach to them. An initiative of the international development agency Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the First Microfinance Institution (FMFI) will provide small loans, deposit facilities and a range of other financial services to clients in six Syrian governorates. ...
Soon, Rural India to Perform Banking Transactions Using Mobile
August, 06 2008
Mumbai, India - Masses in under-banked regions may now be able to perform banking transactions using their mobile. Obopay, a payment services provider and Grameen Solutions, a Grameen Bank subsidiary, have entered into a tie-up to provide mobile-banking services to the poor in India and Bangladesh. However, these services will have to wait for the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guidelines which are expected anytime now. ...
Fighting Poverty One Microloan at a Time
August, 05 2008
United States - The microfinance industry, though a very small piece of the global financing market, has grown into a vibrant market. ...
Zimbabwe: Microfinance Institutions Hit by Viability Concerns
August, 05 2008
Zimbabwe - Microfinance and money lending institutions have been hard hit by viability concerns that have seen many of them closing shop. ...
Report on the “Outreach of Financial Services in Sri Lanka”: A Look at the Demand Dide from a Microfinance Perspective
August, 04 2008
Colombo, Sri Lanka - A report on the results of a nationwide survey to determine the extent of outreach of microfinance services in Sri Lanka has been published by ProMiS. ProMis was commissioned for this publication on the initiative of the Ministry of Finance and Planning. ...
IFC Helps Establish Liberia's First Microfinance Bank
August, 01 2008
Johannesburg, South Africa - IFC recently signed a landmark agreement to establish Liberia's first microfinance bank. IFC will be a founding shareholder in AccessBank Liberia, providing financing to the bank's micro, small, and midsize customers, many of whom do not have access to financial services ...

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