Swiss firm advances Rwf 591 million to Urwego Opportunity bank

responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland recently made local-currency loans totalling the equivalent of USD 2 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) Middle East Micro Credit Company (MEMCC) of Jordan and Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB) of Rwanda.

rAMLF invested approximately RWF 591 million (USD 999,000) in UOB. Created as a result of a merger between Urwego Community Banking
and Opportunity International Bank of Rwanda, UOB is a microfinance institution
headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda. Its services include loan and savings
products, business training, HIV/AIDS training and insurance coverage. UOB’s
shareholders include nonprofit organizations Hope International, Opportunity
International, World Relief and World Relief Canada. In 2009, UOB reported to
US-based, nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) total assets of USD
10.8 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 6.4 million, return on assets (ROA)
of -6.57 percent, return on equity (ROE) of -16.5 percent and 33,900 borrowers.

Founded in 2003, responsAbility Social Investments AG is a Swiss investment company whose products aim to enable investors to earn a financial return while assisting people in emerging markets to access information and markets in sectors such as microfinance, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing, fair trade and independent media. According to calculations based on data from the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) from 2009 and 2010, responsAbility manages approximately USD 800 million in total assets. responsAbility is backed by Swiss financial institutions and a social venture capital company as founders and shareholders including Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen Schweiz, Swiss Re, Bank Vontobel AG as well as George Avenue.

The responsAbility Microfinance Leaders Fund (rAMLF) invests in large microfinance institutions (MFIs) through debt securities and equity investments. rAMLF reported to the US-based, nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) that it had USD 160 million in fund assets as of 2010. LuxFLAG, an independent organization that certifies that microfinance vehicles actually invest in the microfinance sector, renewed rAMFL’s label in March 2011.