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Nigeria: Anxiety Grips MFBs as BVN Deadline Expires Today
December, 29 2017
Nigeria - With the December 31, 2017 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) to enrol their customers on the Bank Verification Number (BVN) platform essentially set to expire today, there are indications that the micro lenders are worried about the impact on the sub-sector if the apex bank enforces its directive that customers’ whose accounts are not BVN-linked should not be entitled to debit-operations
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JSC MFO Crystal Successfully Issues 10m GEL of Unsecured Bonds
December, 28 2017
Georgia - JSC MFO Crystal, rated B by Fitch Ratings, successfully completed an inaugural 10 million GEL offering of notes due December 2019 (the Notes). The annual coupon rate was set at 4.5% over the National Bank of Georgia’s refinancing rate.
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Climate Change and Global Poverty Can Only Be Solved Together
December, 19 2017
Global - Policymakers around the world must recognize that the problems of global poverty and climate change are interlinked. The only path to a prosperous and secure future involves technologies and policies that help to solve both problems at once
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Impact Investing: A $250 Billion Game-Changer for Finance
December, 18 2017
Global - "It's a $250 billion market and it's growing fast," said Michael Baldinger, a 30-year industry veteran who joined UBS (UBS) Asset Management as head of sustainable and impact investing -- a new role -- just over a year ago. "It might really be a game-changer for the finance industry.
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Bangladesh: SMEs Deserve Greater Attention
December, 17 2017
Bangladesh - Small entrepreneurs, particularly the young and women, deserve greater attention of the policymakers and regulators to help them grow and receive adequate financing, said a former central bank governor.
“Despite many successes, SME financing still remains inadequate,” said the governor, Atiur Rahman
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Nigeria: LBS Launchs Digital Financial Services
December, 16 2017
Nigeria - In a statement made available to The Nation, the LBS appealed to governments at all levels and relevant agencies in Nigeria to work together and execute policies that would promote financial inclusion in the country
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India’s Aavishkaar Bharat Fund Attracts $95m for Impact Investing from Investors Including CDC, SIDBI, Munjal Family Office (Hero Corporation), TIAA
December, 14 2017
India - The fund will support businesses in India that further Aavishkaar’s mission to “enhance livelihoods and reduce vulnerabilities for the low-income population” in “a range of sectors, namely agriculture, dairy, education, energy, handicrafts, health, water and sanitation, technology for development, microfinance and financial inclusion.
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China: IFC Proposes to Inject Up to $194m Debt in Baidu’s Student Micro-Loan Unit
December, 11 2017
China - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank Group, is considering a senior loan investment of up to RMB1300 million ($194 million) through its own account as well as a syndication facility in Baidu Chongqing Baidu Micro-Loan Company Ltd (Baidu CQ MCC), a wholly owned entity of Baidu Inc
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Phillippines: P1 Billion in Micro Loans for MSMEs in 2018
December, 11 2017
Phillippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a statement issued yesterday, said the additional funds for 2018 will still be coursed through the Office of the President to the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp), an attached agency of the DTI that is mandated to provide financing and capacity building services to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
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Microfinance and National Financial Strategies
December, 10 2017
Nigeria - When governments are putting together financial strategies to ensure future prosperity, they are now increasingly conscious of how microfinance banking can contribute to their plans. This is especially true of developing nations, where a number of different factors typically cause problems that microfinance can certainly help to resolve.
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South Pacific: $209m Loan Mark
December, 09 2017
South Pacific - A microfinance network has enabled many women entrepreneurs in Fiji and the South Pacific to establish and grow their businesses, further improving their livelihoods.
The network — South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) — has also expanded since its inception in 2000 — reaching more than 40,000 rural and underprivileged women in six Pacific countries including Fiji
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Microlending Startups Look to Blockchain for Loans
December, 08 2017
Global - A new of wave startups believe blockchain can help microfinance deliver on lofty promises.
Billed as a silver bullet that could lift the poor out of poverty since the mid-2000s, microfinance, or the use of small loans to boost the unbanked, has failed to take off for various reasons – namely, a lack of transparency and the existence of middlemen that blockchain is said to eliminate
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Boosting Renewable Energy Bankability in Southeast Asia
December, 08 2017
Southeast Asia - A combination of growing energy demand, strong wind and solar resources, and political support for development has made investing in renewable energy an attractive prospect in the region. Aaron Daniels explains how companies can ensure their projects are bankable
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Despite 50 Exits in the Last 7 Years, How India’s Impact Investors Are Scaling Up the Fund Pool
December, 08 2017
India - Impact investments in India crossed $1 billion for the first time in 2015 and have the potential to reach $6-8 billion a year by 2025, McKinsey estimates. However, as most funds in India are small and focused on early-stage companies, much of this growth will have to depend on an influx of capital from global funds and increasing co-investment deals with mainstream venture funds
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Philippines: Financial Technology to Help Push Islamic Microfinance in Mindanao
December, 07 2017
Phillippines - Fintq, together with its partners, have recently launched a national movement called “KasamaKA” to further drive financial inclusion in the countryside. KasamaKA (loosely translated to mean as financial inclusion) aims to provide greater access to financial services to every Filipino. The initiative is supported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the SEC and the Insurance Commission
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Do-Good Investors: Watch Out For What These Funds Hold
December, 06 2017
Global - If you listen to the marketing hype, assets devoted to ESG—industry jargon for investments sensitive to environmental, social and governance issues—account for some $8.7 trillion, double the amount just five years ago. That's great news for the planet, right? Not so fast. Much of the growth is a matter of semantics. What were once run-of-the-mill value or growth funds are being reclassified as sustainable or ESG-friendly
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Somalia Partnership Forum stresses job creation and poverty reduction to promote stability
December, 05 2017
Somalia - A gathering of senior representatives of the Somali Government, the United Nations and the international community concluded in Mogadishu today with a call for greater investment in the country’s economic development to create more job opportunities, rehabilitate essential infrastructure, and improve the living conditions of the Somali people
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A. H. Hastings, Global Advocate, Uplift: Let’s Rid the Globe of Ultra-Poverty
December, 05 2017
Global - Ultra-poverty is not the same thing as “extreme poverty” as defined by the World Bank, which includes anyone living under $1.90/day purchasing power parity. Rather, according to most of us who work on ultra-poverty, it looks like this: in ultra-poor families, everyone goes without food for days at a time, children aren’t in school and have no access to health care, and the family has no productive assets to make a living – no land, no livestock, no job, no small commerce
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Maghreb Private Equity Fund IV Hits First Close
December, 04 2017
North Africa - Maghreb Private Equity Fund IV (MPEF IV), a 10-year fund with a target size of €200-250m and a hard cap of €R275m, will invest in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in North Africa (including Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia), looking to take substantial minority stakes.
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India: Sustainable Housing Needs to Be Affordable Too
December, 03 2017
India - Challenges to sustainability are aggravated by climate change, population growth, urbanisation, and aspirations to better living standards. Urbanisation offers countless opportunities to develop adaption and mitigation strategies to combat climate change through effective environmental governance. Buildings contribute to 30% of the global greenhouse gas emissions and account for the consumption of one-third of the global raw materials, energy and water
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Micro-Finance: Do Good and Turn a Profit
December, 01 2017
Global - Ethical investment is pretty mainstream these days – most big fund managers provide socially responsible investing (SRI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds. However, the underlying investments are usually in established businesses, listed on the stock exchange.
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