BNP Paribas has granted its first loan to a Micro Finance Institution (MFI), in Indonesia, MBK Ventura, totalling USD 1million equivalent. This is MBK Ventura's first loan from an international bank, granted under commercial terms.
MBK Ventura is a MFI created in 2003, providing working capital to women from very low income households in Indonesia, to help finance their micro enterprises, enabling them to increase their family's income and living standards. A unique feature of MBK Ventura is that virtually all the staff, including its CEO are women. MBK Ventura has 134 000 women clients and is targeting 1 million clients by 2012, following the Grameen methodology that suggests each client could deliver five new prospects. The average working capital provided to clients is approximately 100 USD, the loan by BNP Paribas will allow lending to another 10,000 women.
In December 2008, MBK Ventura was ranked No 1 among 1,300 microfinance institutions registered with the Mixmarket, the microfinance database of the World Bank. This calculation takes MBK's targeting, profitability, and transparency into account.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country with a population of 240 million, with 40 million living below the poverty line. The average monthly gross salary in Indonesia is around 118 USD.
The transaction took place as part of BNP Paribas pro-active global micro finance strategy. Our activities started in France 17 years ago through Adie, the French microfinance institution. BNP Paribas' international microfinance activities began in 2002 in African countries such as Guinea and Morocco, refinancing MFIs. In June 2006 the bank decided to create a department dedicated to Microfinance. Microfinance is an important part of BNP Paribas' corporate social responsibility strategy.
Find regular information on actions of the BNP Paribas group and its employees as regards social responsibility and environmental on the blog: forachangingworld.com
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the 6 strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's*. With a presence in 85 countries and more than 205,000 employees, 165,200 of which in Europe, BNP Paribas is a global-scale European leader in financial services. It holds key positions in its three activities: Retail banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. The Group benefits from its four domestic markets: Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg. BNP Paribas also has a significant presence in the United States and strong positions in Asia and the emerging markets.
* Within its peer group