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May 2019
Singapore: Temasek Trust Establishes Impact Investment Fund
May, 31 2019
Singapore - The fund will allow Temasek Trust to play an active role in impact investments through sustainable philanthropy, beyond its usual approach of grant-making ...
Social Impact Incentives? A New Tool for Supporting Impact
May, 31 2019
Global - A social impact incentive, or SIINC, is a results-based financing mechanism focused on helping unlock impact gains from market-based solutions and companies by paying directly for impact achieved ...
Scaling Impact Investing Using Blockchain Technology
May, 30 2019
Global - In a decentralized ecosystem, such as one powered by a blockchain network, the elimination of middlemen can significantly reduce transaction time and associated service charges. This results in notable reduction in the overall cost of capital and allows more of the actual capital earmarked for investment to be used for the socio-environmental initiative it was intended for ...
US-Based PayJoy Raises $20m Series B Funding as it Plans Expansion
May, 29 2019
Global - A US-based fintech startup that facilitates access to credit in emerging markets, PayJoy, raises $20m in a Series B funding round ...
India: IFC Leads $222 Mn Debt Funding Round in Cholamandalam
May, 29 2019
India - Cholamandalam’s core business is to provide commercial vehicle finance and loan against properties. Besides, the company also offers home loans, SME loans, investment advisory services and a variety of other financial services to customers ...
Australia: Indigenous Impact Investment Fund to Provide the Best of Both Finance and Social Worlds
May, 29 2019
Australia - A multi-million dollar social impact fund has launched, promising to invest in infrastructure that will benefit both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and provide a return to investors. ...
Tides Canada Launches First Customizable Donor Advised Fund to Be 100 Percent Invested for Impact
May, 28 2019
Canada - This first-of-a-kind charitable vehicle will make use of the Genus-SVX Impact Investment Counsel platform to create a new way to maximize philanthropy by bringing together charitable giving and impact investing ...
How Investors Can Catalyse a Blue Revolution to Save Marine Ecosystems
May, 28 2019
Global - The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Encourage Capital have partnered to create a guide to impact investing in sustainable aquaculture. This represents the first attempt to comprehensively assess this space through both a financial and environmental lens ...
Scaling Impact Investing to Trillions
May, 28 2019
Global - We need to stop the madness of door-to-door selling to institutional investors. We can’t change institutional investors overnight. However, a systematic approach to product innovation can open up the floodgates for early adopters across the institutional investment community to allocate billions to trillions needed to achieve the SDGs ...
J. Johnston, Senior Associate, Convergence: How Donor Governments Blend
May, 28 2019
Global - Switzerland is one example of a donor government that promotes the use of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to mobilize additional development finance in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. As ODA levels have remained relatively flat over the last few years, both of Switzerland’s development agencies – the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) – have recognized the important role of the private sector in closing the $2.5 trillion SDG funding gap. Both of these agencies are in the process of stepping up their private sector engagement with a specific focus on blended finance ...
India: IFC to Invest $35 million in Manappuram Finance
May, 28 2019
India - IFC, a sister organisation of the World Bank, will invest $35 million in Manappuram Finance Limited (MFL) to help low-income households and small enterprises avail loans against their gold assets, Manappuram said in a statement on Tuesday ...
India: Samunnati Raises $55 Million from US-based Nuveen
May, 28 2019
India - Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services Pvt. Ltd, a non-banking financial company specializing in loans to farmers and entities engaged in agriculture, has raised ₹387 crore in a Series D round led by Nuveen, the investment management arm of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) ...
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Central Bank of BiH Reveals Statistics on Work for the Last Year
May, 28 2019
Bosnia and Herzegovina - The total assets of the Other Financial (Non-banking) Institutions sector increased by 7.3 % compared to the end of 2017, under the strongest impact of microcredit organizations and insurance companies ...
Responsible Investing: Impact Bonds Gaining in Popularity
May, 27 2019
Global - An increasing number of investors are looking at using impact bonds as a financing mechanism to address social issues. However, this is still a new concept, especially in terms of use cases ...
Ghana: Interest on MASLOC Microloans to be Slashed in Half
May, 27 2019
Ghana - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has approved a reduction in the interest rate on loans acquired from the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) from 24 per cent a year to 12 per cent ...
Myanmar: Daung Capital Closes Series A Valuing Burmese Fintech Startup at US$12M
May, 27 2019
Myanmar - Myanmar-based micro-credit loan provider Daung Capital raises funding from Singaporean VC Majuven. ...
Impact Investments in Brazil: Where Challenges Become Opportunities
May, 24 2019
Brazil - For impact investors, the country’s huge population, abysmal inequality and recent improvements in legal requirements make the country an attractive destination for capital ...
UBX Partners with Temenos on Inclusive Banking Initiative to Transform Banking in the Philippines
May, 23 2019
Philippines - The partnership will give UBX partner financial institutions access to Temenos’ integrated and highly scalable core banking software ...
M. Zivanovic-Smith, Chief External Affairs Officer, NCR Corporation: Three Communication Shifts We Need to Bridge the Financial Inclusion Gap
May, 23 2019
Global - Communication, outreach and education are key, and to be effective, businesses and financial institutions may need to consider three shifts in their communication ...
How Green Are Your Investments?
May, 23 2019
Global - Environmental concerns matter as much as returns to younger wealth management clients. ...
Appetite for Impact Opportunities Is at a High
May, 22 2019
Global - More than 90% of investors worldwide plan to up their allocation to impact investments, says survey ...
Egypt's FRA Doubles Maximum Credit Limit for Micro-sized Enterprises
May, 22 2019
Egypt - Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has increased the maximum limit of financing provided to micro-sized enterprises from EGP 100,000 to EGP 200,000 ...
D. Khanna, Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation: 3 Ways Sustainable Finance Is Reshaping Asia's Capital Markets
May, 22 2019
Asia - This year, Asia will account for half of the world’s GDP growth. And while this has undoubtedly improved living standards and reduced poverty in recent years, such gains have come at a cost ...
Al Jazeera Launches Business Site AJ Impact
May, 22 2019
Global - The business site will focus on four key areas: global economy, inequality, technology and the burgeoning field of impact investing, which seeks to produce healthy outcomes for people and the planet as well as financial returns ...
Haiti Clean Fund Manager Appointed
May, 22 2019
Haiti - Bamboo Capital Partners has been selected as international fund manager for a $17m energy access fund by the Government of Haiti and the World Bank ...
AXIS and Innpact Launch Mauritius Impact Finance Gateway to Africa
May, 21 2019
Mauritius - Axis and Innpact have launched the first impact investing platform in Mauritius, the Mauritius Impact Finance Gateway to Africa (MIFGA), which enables fund promoters to set-up and manage impact finance vehicles in an efficient and cost-effective manner ...
NMI Managing $10m from Norway Climate and Environment Ministry to Boost Palm Farmers’ Productivity in Indonesia without Cutting Rainforest
May, 21 2019
Indonesia - The Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment recently disbursed NOK 90 million for a microfinance and technical assistance project meant to help smallholder farmers in Indonesia increase the production of palm oil without further encroaching on the rain forest ...
African Tech Startups to Get Share of Bamboo Capital Partners’ €100m Bloc Fund
May, 21 2019
Africa - The Bloc Fund, which Bamboo has said has a €100-million target size, is a “first-of-its-kind” blended finance technology impact fund which is aimed at underserved communities in emerging markets ...
Appetite for Impact Investing Is Rising… but Education Gap Remains
May, 21 2019
Global - There is clear appetite for more impact investing among the financial community, but there is equal demand for greater education and transparency in this area ...
Generation Closes $1B Growth Fund Targeting Sustainable Startups
May, 21 2019
Global - The Sustainable Solutions Fund plans to back later-stage startups that work on sustainability in at least one of three areas — environmental solutions; healthcare; and financial inclusion— and are creating financially sustainable businesses out of that focus ...
For Fintechs, Financial Inclusion Is Solving Liquidity Needs for Borrowers While Turning a Profit for Lenders
May, 20 2019
Global - Pocket Money’s global system of lenders improves access to credit while enhancing ROI with a social repayment system ...
The Number of ATMs around the World Has Fallen for the First Time
May, 20 2019
Global - The number of ATMs around the world fell for the first time last year as banks closed branches and redirected resources toward digital payments. Still, financial inclusion initiatives will continue to bolster ATM growth in developing markets ...
Banking for the Unbanked: The Growth of Fintech in Egypt
May, 19 2019
Egypt - Over the past few years, financial inclusion has been brought to the forefront in Egypt as a means for financial sector growth. Along with the increasing need for innovation and the shift towards digitisation, plenty of fintech startups have emerged in the country ...
M. Carevic, Chief Marketing Officer, Home Credit India: India Must Correct the Imbalance Arising from Financial Exclusion
May, 18 2019
India - While the government is going ahead with what can do, the private sector has a significant role to play in achieving an all-round, inclusion-predicated, transformation of India ...
An Approach to Responsible Investing
May, 16 2019
Global - When it comes to investing, you don’t have to leave your values behind. Instead, they can become a roadmap for the development of an investment portfolio ...
GIIN Debuts New Tool for Measuring Impact Investments
May, 16 2019
Global - The Global Impact Investing Network has a new measurement platform to help impact investors measure, manage and compare their investments, the non-profit organization said Thursday ...
The How-To: Measuring Outcomes of Impact Investing
May, 15 2019
Global - With the world facing different challenges, including the finite amounts of water, natural resources and land which all are already heavily tarnished by humans, as well as a less predictable climate, one of the major concerns is how to provide for nine billion people by 2050? ...
Put Equity First in Climate Adaptation
May, 15 2019
Global - Adaptation must be equitable. Policymakers must put the needs of the most vulnerable first. They should align development and climate policies and actions from local to global scales, and supply public information about risks and solutions. Scientists must elucidate links between poverty, risk and loss to allow global targets to be reset ...
Why the World Needs National Development Banks
May, 15 2019
Global - By counteracting major shortcomings of the private financial sector, national and multilateral development banks play a crucial role in supporting economic growth. Countries that already have national development banks should aim to expand their role, while others should consider establishing them ...
Financial Inclusion: Promoting Insurance among Women
May, 15 2019
Philippines - The International Finance Corp. of the World Bank Group has launched an advocacy program to promote insurance among women. In pursuing this program in the Philippines, the IFC has partnered with Insular Life Assurance Co. (InLife) in 2018 under a program called “Sheroes” ...
E. Rhyne, Managing Director, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion: Microfinance in the Digital World - Seven Questions for the Future
May, 14 2019
Global - Will fintechs take over microfinance? Can traditional microfinance lenders survive? How? Elisabeth Rhyne of the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion answers these and other burning question ...
Aim for Full Financial Inclusion in the Middle East
May, 14 2019
Middle East - Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME), women and youth continue to enjoy relatively low access to finance in the region. Some of the reasons that perpetuate this trend include social norms, low representation of women in the labour market, as well as entrepreneurship and youth unemployment ...
Disrupt Business Models to Drive Impact in Emerging Markets
May, 14 2019
Africa - Entrepreneurs are uprooting long-held assumptions and beliefs in emerging markets to deliver critical services that enable economic growth and resilience ...
Bayport Announces a Social Bond Framework and Explores the Possibilities of an Inaugural Unsecured Social Bond Issue of up to USD 300 Million
May, 13 2019
Global - The new bonds will be governed by Swedish law but denominated in USD and affiliated to the Norwegian Central Securities Depository (No. Verdipapirsentralen) (VPS). The bonds will be issued under a framework of USD 400 million to be listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Sustainable Bond List ...
Private Equity Lets No Opportunity Go to Waste
May, 13 2019
Global - Private equity may not be famed for its ethical credentials. Yet a clutch of niche firms specialising in environmental, social and governance themes has emerged to take advantage of the strengthening business case around responsible investing ...
A. Bendell, Chief Executive, Toniic: Impact Investors Fail to Measure Negative Outcomes
May, 13 2019
Global - Every human activity produces both positive and negative impacts. Unless we measure and manage the negative along with the positive, we cannot be sure we are achieving our intended net societal and environmental benefits, nor can we take corrective action ...
Cambodia: Second Corporate Bond by LOLC Listed on CSX
May, 10 2019
Cambodia - Cambodia's second corporate bond issued by microfinance firm LOLC (Cambodia) Plc officially listed in the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) on Friday, after it was completely purchased by institutional investors when the subscription period ended on April 26 ...
India: SIDBI and Equifax Launch a Microfinance Quarterly Newsletter
May, 10 2019
India - On the occasion of the launch of the report, Shri. Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director, SIDBI said, “This newsletter is the result of the great synergy between SIDBI and Equifax. The publication will give an opportunity to look into the future prospects apart from being a repository of all that has taken place in the microfinance sector in the recent past. ...
J. Pryce, CEO, Calvert Impact Capital: Missing the Forest for the Trees - Can Impact Investing Shift its Focus to where the Big Money Lives?
May, 10 2019
Global - Impact investing's focus on discretionary capital has resulted in a market that is underwhelming ($502 billion) in comparison both to the need for capital (achieving the SDGs will require between $5-7 trillion per year) and the amount of investable assets ($270 trillion) ...
LeapFrog Breaks Impact Investing Record, with $700M Emerging Markets Fund
May, 10 2019
Global - LeapFrog Investments has announced the largest-ever private equity fund by a dedicated impact fund manager, surging past its $600m target to reach $700m. The new fund invests in healthcare and financial services companies – tapping into the demand from billions of emerging consumers in Asia and Africa. This fund alone targets reaching 70 million emerging consumers. ...
India: Kinara Capital Secures Fresh Funding from Gaja Capital, Others
May, 09 2019
India - Non-banking financial company Kinara Capital has raised Rs 100 crore ($14.3 million at current exchange rates) in funding from a clutch of private equity and impact investors ...
Bangladesh: SMEs Constrained by Limited Access to Credit - Study
May, 09 2019
Bangladesh - The access to finance for MSMEs is limited in Bangladesh compared to the average in South Asia, said a study prepared by the World Bank Group and the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI). ...
Nigeria: Financial Technology is Driving Financial Inclusion.
May, 09 2019
Nigeria - The rise in technology development, coupled with the growing need to create financial solutions that are capable of meeting current financial challenges, has birthed what has come to be referred to as Financial Technology (FinTech). It synthesises both the financial and technology sector ...
E. Zabey, Director of Redefining Value, WBCSD: A Message for All Sustainability Believers - Take a Hard Look from the Outside
May, 09 2019
Global - It’s possible to make sustainability arguments more business and investor-focused, for example by talking about material risks and business opportunities. The whole exercise is about creating stable returns in the long-term, navigating in a changing world and future-proofing your business in a shifting global economy. ...
BRAC Uganda Now a Commercial Bank
May, 08 2019
Uganda - This new development is expected to tighten competition in the Tier II credit category currently dominated by Post Bank, Opportunity Bank, Mercantile Credit Bank Ltd and Top Finance Bank ...
Water.org Hits Milestone, Helping 10 Million In India Access Safe Water, Sanitation
May, 08 2019
India - Water.org announces 10 million more people in India can now turn on a tap or use a toilet in their homes due to the access to small, affordable loans made possible through a solution known as WaterCredit, helping to narrow the gap in universal water and sanitation ...
Turkey: Microfinance Funds Hope for Syrian Refugee Women
May, 08 2019
Turkey - Grameen will provide loans amounting to TL 1.1 million in total in a program to support Syrian women, including those with their own ideas to launch a business ...
India: What is the Right Recipe for Financial Inclusion?
May, 08 2019
India - The field of financial inclusion is certainly at a crossroads on account of its myopic vision of restricting its role to mere access ...
How to Make Sure Your Nonprofit isn’t Wasting its Time with Impact Investing
May, 08 2019
Global - As more and more international nonprofits explore impact investing, six questions can help them decide whether to forge ahead and how to do it ...
Inside the Quest to Measure the Impact of Impact Investing
May, 08 2019
Global - Attempts have been made for years to systematize and popularize various flavors of impact measurement, but no single method has achieved mass adoption. The latest move toward standardization comes from one of the industry’s biggest investors and is built around calculating impact in dollars ...
WB Proposes Cambodia’s 1st Corporate Bonds Issue
May, 07 2019
Cambodia - “The IFC investment in the first Khmer Riel bond in Cambodia is to help create a domestic corporate bond market in Cambodia and to support the company in raising funding to finance the growth of its lending program to micro borrowers including farmers and women borrowers in the rural areas,” the IFC said in its filling ...
How Bank Charges Hinder Financial Inclusion in Nigeria
May, 07 2019
Nigeria - Arbitrary charges effected on Automated Teller Machine, ATM, cards and other services rendered by banks have been identified as a possible factor that may hinder Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive ...
Fixed Income: Bite-Sized Sukuk with Blockchain
May, 07 2019
Global - Traditionally, it has been difficult for retail investors to access bonds and sukuk due to their high cost and huge lot sizes. But this is changing as more players are exploring the use of blockchain to increase access to the fixed-income space ...
USA: Blackstone Sets up Impact Investing Arm
May, 07 2019
USA - The group will pursue four investment themes within impact investing: health and well-being, financial access, green technologies and sustainable communities ...
Nigeria: CBN Grants La Fayette National Microfinance Banking Licence
May, 06 2019
Nigeria - Apparently determined to build on its success over the years, Advans-La Fayette Microfinance Bank has secured a national microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). ...
What’s Microfinancing Doing in Blockchain Space?
May, 06 2019
Global - The beauty of blockchain is that it’s steadily making its way through communities and now seeking to engage 1.7 Billion unbanked productive individuals through making funds accessible to micro, small and medium enterprises ...
S. Cohn Rupp, Head of Impact Investing at Tiedemann: Towards a Hippocratic Oath for Impact Investing
May, 06 2019
Global - Impact-first philanthro-capitalists are being swamped by finance-first investors. We must hold new entrants to the same high standards for commitment, rather than accepting that impact is no different than traditional investing ...
How Companies Get Cheaper Loans for Doing Social Good
May, 05 2019
Global - Global issuance of loans linked to ESG performance surged almost seven-fold last year to $36.4 billion, riding a wave of global demand for financing options that let companies promote themselves as socially responsible. ...
Indian NBFC Dvara KGFS Raises $14m Led by Stakeboat Capital
May, 03 2019
India - The company said that the fresh funds will be used for the acquisition of Varam Capital Pvt Ltd, investing in enhancing the fintech capability of the company and strengthening the management team ...
Africa Must Unleash the Power of its Financial Markets
May, 02 2019
Africa - A broad, all-inclusive financial market that makes it easy for investors will be the key to fostering financial inclusion, economic development and raising the capital needed to scale businesses and boost infrastructure ...
Is Cryptocurrency the Answer to Financial Inclusion Issues?
May, 02 2019
Global - Whilst Bitcoin has the goal of destroying the fiat monetary system there are other noble goals. Providing financial inclusion for the huge amount of people left unbanked is one of these ...
Bangladesh: Is Microfinance the Solution to Informal Employment?
May, 02 2019
Bangladesh - Microfinance can work as a controller to the growing “push” factors of rural-urban migration. Microfinance can create new sectors of business in the rural area which can ultimately create decentralization, reducing the unemployment level and motivating self-employment ...
In a Kenyan Refugee Camp, Business Ideas but Little Access to Credit
May, 01 2019
Africa - Commercial financial services tend to ignore the refugee market - despite its potential profitability. That limits refugees' ability to safely bank the small savings they make, remittances from friends and family abroad, or to tap into business opportunities ...
Impact Investing Trends in 2019 Include Greater Focus on Gender
May, 01 2019
Global - Impact investing is not just growing, it is evolving. At the same time, the definition of the practice is being shaped and molded by new products and practices, creating tension among some players about what it is and what it should be ...

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