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Jun 2020
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EU, EBRD to Provide €61 Mln Climate Finance to Egypt, Morocco, Eastern Partners
June, 30 2020
MENA & Caucasus - The EU is providing a total of €61.3 mln in grants to support three EBRD programmes helping businesses invest in energy efficiency, cut their carbon footprint, introduce innovative green technologies, support the circular economy and improve legal frameworks for energy and resource efficiency investments ...
Mexico's Bright to Install over 8 MW of Rooftop PV with IDB Invest Loan
June, 30 2020
Mexico - IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, has provided financing to Mexican promoter of distributed solar generation systems to support the roll-out of more than 2,500 residential rooftop arrays totalling over 8 MW ...
Nepal: IFC Provides $25 Million Credit to NMB Bank to Boost Green Financing and Access to Credit for SMEs
June, 30 2020
Nepal - The loan marks IFC’s first climate focused lending to a financial institution in Nepal, incorporating the internationally recognized green loan principles ...
New Climate Fund for Southeast Asia Targets US$2.5 Billion in Clean Energy Investment
June, 30 2020
Southeast Asia - A new climate fund backed by philanthropic donors is aiming to trigger US$2.5 billion of clean energy investment in Southeast Asia and aid the region’s green recovery after the coronavirus ...
Rise in COVID-19 Bond Issuance Fans Fears over ‘Social Washing’
June, 29 2020
Global - When it comes to social bonds, analysts are hopeful that standards should improve as issuance increases, as is happening with green bonds. Until then, they say, investors may have to take it on trust that the money will be put to socially useful ends. ...
M. Lee, NYU Stern and J. Singh, INSEAD: How to Overcome ‘Warm Glow’ and Other Barriers to Effective Impact Investment Decisions
June, 29 2020
Global - Impact investing, with its goal of delivering both financial value and social benefits, is particularly vulnerable to cognitive biases. Here are a few ways to overcome them ...
Philippines Inks Two Loans with AFD Worth P14b
June, 29 2020
Philippines - The Philippines has inked two more loan agreements cumulative worth €250 million (approximately P14 billion) to finance infrastructure development and financial inclusion in the country ...
African Venture Funding Is Expected to Slow but Impact Investors Are Boosting Health and Agri-Tech Startups
June, 26 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - With a slump in venture capital investment expected in African tech ecosystems this year, the role of impact investment firms and institutions will become vital. Essentially, it could prove a crucial lifeline for startups in Africa’s fledgling ecosystems given the expected economic crunch triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic ...
India: Arohan Financial Services Looking to Raise INR 500 Crore in PE Funding
June, 26 2020
India - Kolkata-based microfinance institution (MFI) Arohan Financial Services Ltd is looking to raise close to INR 500 crore through the private equity route in the next one-two months. The amount raised would help fund its growth plans over the next one-two years ...
EBRD Local Currency Loan for Kazakhstan’s Microfinance Organization KMF
June, 25 2020
Kazakhstan - A senior loan in Kazakh tenge, equivalent to up to US$ 40 million, will help local firms to continue their business activity and preserve jobs. Providing funding in local currency will limit borrowers’ exchange rate risks ...
EFSE Provides 43mln Euro on Loans to W. Balkans Microfinance Institutions
June, 25 2020
Southeast Europe - The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) has provided a total of 43 million euro ($48 million) in long-term loans to nine key microfinance and small business lenders in the Western Balkans in response to the COVID-19 crisis, it said on Thursday ...
S. Gulamani, Associate Director at Convergence: Five Tips for Attracting Capital to Blended Finance Vehicles
June, 25 2020
Global - Whether you are an international NGO supporting gender-smart SMEs or a first-time fund manager developing a tiered structure to meet a diverse set of impact objectives, there are certain steps worth taking to attract capital from funders and investors ...
S. K. Kumaraswamy and D. Waldron, CGAP: Financial Services for Health - Treating the Cause
June, 24 2020
Global - While there is growing innovation around financial services to reduce the attendant costs of health care, the agenda of health care financing is moving away from a reliance on out-of-pocket expenditure and toward universal health coverage ...
Philippines: ADB Grants MFI-NGO $30m Credit Facility for Micro-Entrepreneurs
June, 24 2020
Philippines - The ADB granted ASA Philippines Foundation a USD 30-million credit facility for micro-entrepreneurs from economically-lagging, environmentally-impacted and conflict-affected provinces in the country ...
A. Simon, President and CEO, FINCA Impact Finance: The Importance of Digital Microfinance for Emerging Markets in a COVID-19 World
June, 24 2020
Emerging markets - Beyond the pandemic, the importance of equalizing access through the tools fintech offers will be more top of mind than ever before – especially in emerging markets, where that type of widespread access has long been desired ...
Cleantech Solar Gets ING Debt to Back 500-MW Goal in Southeast Asia
June, 23 2020
Southeast Asia - The deal with ING Bank NV Singapore Branch is the largest green loan transaction in the Asia Pacific to date in the commercial and industrial renewables sector ...
Uzbekistan: IFC $35 Million Pre-privatization Loan to Ipoteka-Bank to Expand Lending to SMEs
June, 23 2020
Uzbekistan - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, on June 22 said it is providing a pre-privatization loan of up to $35 million equivalent in Uzbek soum to Ipoteka-bank to expand the bank’s financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Uzbekistan ...
Low-Income Countries Developing Sustainable Financial Systems: IFC
June, 23 2020
Global - The report provides a first-ever look at the drivers and innovation that underpin sustainable finance efforts in low-income countries and captures lessons that will benefit other emerging markets ...
EBRD Lends 5mln Euro to Bosnia's Partner Mikrokreditna Fondacija
June, 23 2020
Bosnia and Herzegovina - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it is lending 5 million euro ($5.6 million) to Bosnia's Partner Mikrokreditna Fondacija Tuzla (PMF) for on-lending to micro enterprises and small-scale farmers hit by the coronavirus pandemic ...
Six Fintech Innovations Will Boost Financial Inclusion Levels for MENA's Unbanked
June, 21 2020
MENA - These innovations will all improve the financial health for the region’s unbanked by democratising access to financial services, according to The State of Financial Health Start-ups report, which was endorsed by MetLife Foundation ...
Uganda: Village Groups, Saccos Need Shs300b Support, MPs Told
June, 21 2020
Uganda - Microfinance Support Centre (MSC) has told Parliament that it will need an extra Shs313b as a recovery fund to help the revival of 1,749 Savings and Credits Cooperative Societies (Saccos) and 14,842 Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLA) which have been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic ...
How Much Can Financiers Do about Climate Change?
June, 20 2020
Global - The greening trend could be a force for good in the fight to reduce climate change. But the role that financial services can play must not be misunderstood or overstated ...
Nigeria: IFC Invests $100m in Zenith Bank to Support SMEs
June, 19 2020
Nigeria - International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, yesterday said it has invested $100 million in Zenith Bank Plc to help it increase support to clients and companies whose cash flows have been disrupted by challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
India: Gross Loan Portfolio of Microfinance Institutions Rises 31% to Rs 74,371 Crore in FY20 - MFIN
June, 19 2020
India - NBFC-MFIs are the second-largest provider of micro-credit with a loan amount outstanding of Rs 73,792 crore, accounting for 31.8 per cent of the total sector portfolio ...
A. Sotiriou and P. Zetterli, Senior Financial Sector Specialists, CGAP: Survey Shows Gathering Clouds, but No Storm (Yet) for Microfinance
June, 18 2020
Global - With the survey now live for two weeks, data are still coming in from MFIs around the world, and we are only beginning to analyze the findings. That said, we can start to see the outlines of some answers ...
BRAC UPGI Receives $60 Million as 2020 Audacious Project to Lift 21 Million People from Extreme Poverty by 2026
June, 18 2020
Global - The Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI), an initiative of BRAC, will receive more than $60 million to apply toward its goal of helping another 21 million people lift themselves from extreme poverty by 2026 ...
Sustainability Goals in Focus as PRI Produces Framework for Investors
June, 18 2020
Global - The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has published a new report on investing with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing its signatories - investors that collectively have US$100 trillion in assets under management - with a new high-level framework of investor actions to shape outcomes in line with the SDGs ...
M. Vogel, Head Strategist and Portfolio Manager at FIM Partners: Investors Should Not Shrink from Frontier Emerging Markets
June, 17 2020
Frontier markets - Investors should not overlook the considerable post-Covid potential of frontier emerging markets. The reasons are straightforward: resilient government balance sheets, improving governance and promising growth trajectories ...
SFAMA Is Committed to a Sustainable Economy in Switzerland
June, 17 2020
Switzerland - The Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association (SFAMA) is clearly committed to a sustainable economy. For the Swiss asset management industry, detailed recommendations for the effective implementation of the corresponding concepts have therefore been drawn up in collaboration with Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF) ...
Africa’s Green Revolution Lures New Fund Eyeing 12% Returns
June, 17 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - Finland’s biggest mortgage lender has teamed up with financier Finnfund to launch a new investment vehicle focused on climate-friendly and social development projects in Africa ...
IFC Engages Underwriters through ESG Scorecards
June, 16 2020
Global - This will impact banks that are currently handling the roughly 300 bonds issued each year, valued at $14bn (€12.3bn), according to the IFC. It expects other issuers may follow suit ...
Sri Lanka: Pan Asia Bank, Receives Rs. 1.5 bn Green Bond from Symbiotics
June, 16 2020
Sri Lanka - Pan Asia Bank has become the recipient of an USD 7.75 million (approximately 1.5 billion rupees) Green Bond launched by the Switzerland-based Symbiotics, the leading market access platform for impact investing ...
Debt Investors Bet on Emerging Markets as ‘QE’ Begins to Travel
June, 15 2020
Global - Emerging market debt investors are betting the rally that has lifted sovereign bonds from their March lows will gain pace, as stimulus efforts from the Federal Reserve and others spill across borders and as local policymakers launch copycat measures ...
New EFSE Loan to Agroprosperis Bank Supports Ukrainian Farmers with EUR 5 million in UA
June, 15 2020
Ukraine - The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) has provided a top-up local currency loan equivalent to EUR 5 million to Agroprosperis Bank in Ukraine for on-lending to agricultural enterprises. ...
Nigerian Fintechs Bridging Financial Inclusion Gap – Report
June, 15 2020
Nigeria - Nigerian financial technology companies are branching out from payments into the provision of other services to bridge financial inclusion gap in the country, a new report has said ...
India: Microfinance Firms Poised for Consolidation after Covid-19-Induced Lockdown
June, 15 2020
India - Microfinance firms with less than Rs 200 crore of loans outstanding have indicated their intentions to be sold or to merge as they face rising stress after the Covid-19-induced lockdown destabilised their business cycle and is eroding capital ...
EU Defines Green Investments to Boost Sustainable Finance
June, 14 2020
Europe - To boost the shift towards eco-friendly investment the EU is introducing rules to define what qualifies as green or sustainable activities ...
Brazil’s Infrastructure Ministry Launches Region’s First Green Bond Rail Funding Programme
June, 11 2020
Brazil - Brazil’s Ministry of Infrastructure has launched a green bond programme that will see the proceeds used to finance transport projects throughout the country, a first for the region ...
Global Impact Investment Market Going Strong despite Pandemic – GIIN
June, 11 2020
Global - The $715 billion global impact investing market is maturing, driven by strong performance and better measurement, according to the 2020 survey released Thursday by the Global Impact Investing Network ...
EBRD Lending 5mln Euro to Romania's Agricover Credit IFN
June, 10 2020
Romania - The project will strengthen the company's funding position and will allow it to pursue growth strategy aimed at assisting smaller farmers, continue providing support to agri-business SME clients and thus reduce the risk profile of the end-borrowers ...
South Africa: Crypto-Enabled Solar Leasing Platform Sun Exchange Raises $3 Million for Expansion
June, 10 2020
South Africa - London-based private equity firm ARCH Emerging Markets Partners’ Africa Renewable Energy Fund invested the amount, marking the close of a $4 million Series A by Sun Exchange ...
India: Rising Recovery in the MFI Sector Raises Hopes of Early Economic Recovery
June, 10 2020
India - If the rising payment recovery graph of microfinance lenders is anything to go by, roughly half of the Indian economy, in terms of contribution to GDP, may be back to normal at the end of this Kharif season ...
A. Velasco, Former Finance Minister of Chile: Preventing an Emerging-Market Meltdown
June, 09 2020
Global - Emerging markets today account for more than two-fifths of global GDP measured at market exchange rates, and nearly three-fifths after adjusting for differences in purchasing power. If these economies crash, then rich-country citizens will also be the victims of an economic catastrophe long foretold and clearly avoidable ...
IFC: Impact Investing Market ‘Growing and Maturing’
June, 09 2020
Global - The impact investing market is “growing and maturing”, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has said on the basis of a new report it has compiled about the type of investment ...
R. Kaplan, CEO at Circulate Capital: Why Climate Investors May Be Missing out on a Huge Investment Opportunity to Reduce Carbon
June, 09 2020
Emerging markets - Investors have (understandably) focused on opportunities directly related to climate change, such as renewables, fuel cells, or energy efficiency, to fight climate change. But that approach is wholly insufficient: climate change is a systems problem that demands a system solution ...
Dragon Farming Secures Loan to Expand Smallholder Reach in Ghana
June, 09 2020
Ghana - Agri-Business Capital Fund, a blended-capital fund managed by Bamboo Capital and Injaro Investments, originated the loan to help the company weather COVID disruptions. ...
China: PBOC Steps Ensure Credit Flow to SMEs
June, 09 2020
China - The People's Bank of China, the central bank, launched a set of policies last week to shore up financial services for small and micro enterprises. It announced 30 supportive measures, like lower costs and faster growth of credit while encouraging financial institutions to raise more funds from the bond market ...
Cambodia: MicroFinance - $817 Million of Loans Approved for Restructure
June, 08 2020
Cambodia - Cambodia’s microfinance institutions (MFIs) have approved loan restructures valued at almost $817 million for more than 180,000 customers among a total of nearly 200,000 customers who have requested assistance since May, according to the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) ...
Latin America and the Caribbean: IDB Invest to Issue Certification for Green Transmission Lines
June, 08 2020
LAC - In addition to the environmental benefits, the GLT certification will help to attract new funds and institutional investors searching for high impact investments in the Latin America and the Caribbean region ...
India: Northern Arc Raises $50 million from US International Development Finance Corporation
June, 06 2020
India - Northern Arc, one of India’s leading debt financiers, on Friday announced that it has received a commitment of $ 50 million of debt financing from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). ...
IDB Invest Promotes Financial Inclusion and Digital Transformation in Chile through Caja Los Héroes
June, 05 2020
Chile - IDB Invest, a member of the IDB Group, has provided a $50 million loan to Caja de Compensación de Asignación Familiar Los Héroes (Caja Los Héroes), with a tenor of six years. This financing will allow Caja Los Héroes to deepen and expand its financial inclusion and digital transformation program ...
T. Obiakor, Research Fellow with the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa: Agency Banking and Off-Grid Energy - Banking the Unbanked through Solar
June, 05 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - In rural Africa, off-grid renewable energy products are gaining momentum - but their upfront cost can make them inaccessible to low-income customers. Thanks to agency banking, financial services and solar companies are providing a bridge to both energy access and greater financial inclusion ...
S. Brown, Global Head of Emerging and Frontier Markets at Refinitiv: How COVID-19 Will Reshape Islamic Finance Markets
June, 05 2020
East Asia & Pacific - Beyond its immediate economic implications, COVID-19 is also forcing the Islamic finance industry to adapt to rapidly evolving market conditions and speeding up the pace of emerging trends such as digitalization to mitigate the impact of the outbreak ...
India: Liquidity Tap Opens for Micro Lenders and Housing Finance Companies
June, 05 2020
India - The two key refinanciers with specific mandates are granting loans from the Covid-special refinance window opened by the RBI, raising hopes of improved liquidity for the two cash-starved segments — real estate and small borrowers ...
Grameen Foundation, J.P. Morgan Deliver COVID-19 Relief to Filipina Entrepreneurs
June, 04 2020
Philippines - Grameen Foundation announced the launch of its COVID-19 RELIEF (Response to Enhance Livelihoods of Individual Entrepreneurs and Families) in the country to provide immediate relief and longer-term recovery support to 3,500 women entrepreneurs running microenterprises ...
Water Unite Impact Launches to Fund Global Water Sanitation and Recycling Firms
June, 03 2020
Global - Today, Water Unite has announced the launch of the Water Unite Impact, an investment vehicle with planned capitalization of $100 million, that will invest into private sector water, sanitation, and plastics recycling firms globally. ...
SEA Digest: FMO, Rabobank Extend Loan to Agrocorp; Myanmar’s DAWN Bags $7.5m
June, 03 2020
Southeast Asia - Dutch development bank FMO and Rabobank have extended a $50-million sustainable loan package to Singapore-based Agrocop International while Myanmar-based microfinance firm DAWN has received a $7.5-million local currency loan ...
India: To Address Issues Faced by Them, Small Finance Banks Plan to Set Up Separate Industry Body
June, 03 2020
India - Small finance banks (SFBs) are planning to join forces to set up a separate industry body so that the common issues being faced by them can be better represented to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government ...
D. Waldron, CGAP: The Box, Not the Tools - Managing Credit Risk in Asset Finance
June, 02 2020
Emerging markets - Pay-as-you-go solar companies and other asset finance providers are using cutting-edge tools to manage credit risk, but many lack the risk culture, governance structures and processes to use them effectively ...
J. Winiecki and M. Anand, BFA: Four Lessons Utility Providers Can Learn from the Financial Inclusion Sector
June, 02 2020
Global - The financial inclusion experience provides a number of lessons for essential services providers that are seeking to enter the digital age and reach the underserved. We believe there is incredible untapped potential for innovation at the nexus of fintech and micro-utilities. ...
China: Microlending Companies Seek Closer Cooperation with Banks
June, 02 2020
China - By seeking funds from banks and other financial institutions, microlending companies will not only ensure compliance but also reduce financing costs ...
Sri Lanka: ComBank Raises Another Rs.10b to Support COVID-19 Affected SME Exporters
June, 01 2020
Sri Lanka - The Bank has obtained a short-term loan of $ 50 million from a development finance institution for this purpose, and said these loans would be provided at an annually reviewed concessionary interest rate of 8% per annum ...
India: MFIs See 50% Recovery in June as Rural Borrowers Avoid Using Moratorium
June, 01 2020
India - Income from the harvesting season, along with the essential nature of rural occupations, has helped rural borrowers become more resilient to the Covid-19-induced economic slowdown ...
W. Leslie, Former Senior Advisor at IDB: Can Caribbean Microfinance Survive COVID-19?
June, 01 2020
Caribbean - How can the microfinance sector in the Caribbean navigate this crisis and seize the opportunity to promote the further development of the industry ...

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