Symbiotics NewsWatch #217, 03 July 2012

Jul. 02	Deutsche Bank Secures Additional Investments in EFSE Microfinance Fund Deutsche Bank has successfully acquired new, private investors for a participation totalling EUR 51 million in the senior tranche of the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) microfinance fund. Source: PanArmenian Net
Jul. 02	Savers, Planners, and Entrepreneurs: Learning from Mexico about How Low Income People Manage Their Money My colleague Xavier Faz has worked in the Mexico banking sector with low income clients for nearly twenty years. In the last six months he’s probably learned more about the gap between what low income Mexicans want and need, and what the banks are offering them than ever before. Source: CGAP
Jun. 30	Microfinance is Under Threat From Greed - and It's the Poor Who Are Suffering A controversial new book alleges that microfinance has been hijacked by profiteers, writes Louise Armitstead. Microfinance, the practice of lending as little as $20 (£13) to people with no source of financing, had already attracted a raft of celebrity and political faithfuls, but an episode of The Simpsons confirmed that the sector was the ultimate “way” of good capitalism. Source: The Telegraph
Jun. 29	IFC Capitalization Fund puts in USD40 million in Mongolia’s XacBank IFC Capitalization Fund will invest up to US$40 million in subordinated debt in Mongolia’s XacBank to strengthen the bank’s capital base and increase access to finance for the country’s small and medium enterprises and middle-income home buyers. This is IFC Capitalization Fund’s first investment in Mongolia. Source: The Asset
Jun. 29	Microinsurance: Providing a More Stable Future for Small-Scale Farmers? Almost 500 million poor people worldwide, mostly in China and India, are now insured against adverse events. Andy Kuper traces the origins of LeapFrog Investment, which invests in microinsurance companies in developing countries, to his experience as a PhD student under the renowned economist Amartya Sen in the late 1990s. Source: The Guardian
Jun. 28	India: Equitas Holdings Banks on Its Housing, Vehicle Finance Units Equitas Holdings Pvt. Ltd is hoping its year-old housing and vehicle financing units will transform from being crutches to its policy-crippled microfinance business into steadfast pillars in five years. Source: Livemint
Jun. 28	BMZ and KfW bolster the Asian Microfinance Sector with USD 100 million The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the KfW Entwicklungsbank business area today launched the MIFA Debt Fund in Frankfurt am Main. It is the first fund which exclusively focuses on the refinancing of Asian microfinance institutions that operate sustainably. Source: Finchannel
Jun. 26	Sagamore Investments to Invest US $22 Million In Accion Microfinance China Accion, a pioneer and leader in global microfinance, announced today that Sagamore Investments has agreed to invest RMB 140 million (US $21.9 million) in Accion Microfinance China (AMC), a microfinance institution delivering financial services to microentrepreneurs in Chifeng Prefecture, Inner Mongolia. Source: Business Review USA