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Kompanion Financial Group Completes Equity Raise with Investment from FMO and Triodos Investment Management
Kompanion Financial Group, one of the largest microfinance institutions in the Kyrgyz Republic both by loan portfolio and number of clients, has concluded an equity raise selling a 35% stake to international investors. The shares were purchased by Netherlands based investors FMO and Triodos Investment Management, with the latter investing through Triodos Fair Share Fund and Triodos Microfinance Fund. Kompanion’s founder Mercy Corps will remain majority shareholder and hold a 65% stake. The funds will be used for growth capital in the lending operations and support Kompanion’s transformation to a licensed banking institution.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Banking Africa’s Unbanked Population is Not the Solution to Improved Inclusion
Banking Africa’s unbanked population–adults who don’t use formal banks or semi-formal microfinance institutions to save or borrow money–may not be the solution to providing wider access to financial products and services.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Nigeria’s Next Challenge: Bank Us Please
Like any other country, Nigeria has its problems. However, Nigeria perched now as Africa’s “Golden Child” with a GDP of $510 billion, ballooning past South Africa who has numerous economic challenges ahead.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Weekly Roundup – 2/20/15: A Turning Point in the Evolution of Microfinance?
There has been plenty of research questioning the social impact of microcredit. But the latest studies in the American Economic Journal feel far more momentous. Conducted by prominent poverty researchers, and covering six countries on four continents, they consistently undermine the sector’s core social impact claims. NextBillion will cover the Feb. 27 event on the research and the path ahead.
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- Education, Environment, Impact Assessment
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Consumer Protection in Microfinance Exceeds 15-Million-Client Mark via Smart Certified Institutions
It’s been an exciting few months for client protection in the microfinance industry. FINCA Kyrgyzstan, MBK Ventura in Indonesia, SKS Microfinance in India, and a number of other MFIs around the world demonstrated that they successfully integrate the client protection principles into their practices and joined the rapidly growing list of institutions that are Smart Certified. Today, we’re pleased to share that the number of clients across all the Smart Certified institutions surpassed the 15-million-client benchmark.
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- Uncategorized
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Low-Income Filipinos Can Rely on Microinsurance When Disaster Strikes
The domestic insurance industry posted a stellar growth performance in the past year, registering an estimated 28 million Filipinos protected by microinsurance.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Competing with the ‘Bank of Mom’: What makes informal finance so popular – and how can financial services providers respond?
After tracking the financial activities of lower-income Americans for a full year, the U.S. Financial Diaries project found that informal financial mechanisms were enduringly popular - even when formal alternatives were used. What makes them so appealing - and how can financial services providers respond? We discuss these issues in part two of our Q&A with FAI Executive Director Jonathan Morduch.
- Categories
- Education
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Vikram Akula’s Next Big Gig
On January 29, the board of SKS Microfinance, the country's only listed microfinance entity, approved the company's proposal to apply for a licence to set up a small finance bank, a new category of lenders that the Reserve Bank of India has created to drive financial inclusion. A few kilometres away from the SKS office in Hyderabad, Vikram Akula, who founded the company in 1997 and had to unceremoniously exit in 2011, is giving final touches to the application for a small finance bank for his start-up VAYA Finserv.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia