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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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