$10 Million Bond Will Fund On-lending to Small Businesses
May 30, 2017, Yerevan and Washington, DC – FINCA Armenia announced the issuance of its first nominal, non-documentary, coupon bonds, furthering its strategy of diversifying its funding base to promote financial inclusion. FINCA Armenia’s bond offering has the capacity of $10 million in both USD and Armenian Dram (AMD), the local currency. The first two tranches of USD 4 million and AMD 1.5 billion (USD 3 million) were both oversubscribed, showing strong investor confidence in FINCA Armenia.
After placement, both tranches were listed and admitted for trading in NASDAQ OMX Armenia secondary list of bonds (Bbond). It was also admitted to execute repo transactions with FINCA bonds. Since the listing, 21 trading transactions in the amount of USD 668,000 and one repo transaction in USD 500,000 have been executed with FINCA bonds on the secondary market.
FINCA’s bond offerings are attracting worldwide attention and interest from the investment community, including the recent offering from FINCA’s Nicaragua subsidiary. FINCA Impact Finance (FIF), which operates 21 banks and microfinance institutions across the world, is diversifying its sources of funding and will use the proceeds of these bonds to broaden its financial products and services.
FINCA Armenia has operated in Armenia for more than 17 years and has become one of the leading microfinance institutions in the country, serving 42,000 clients through 38 branches. This new funding source has the potential to make a positive contribution to the Armenian economy, enabling FINCA to invest in products, channels and technological innovations.
Andrée Simon, CEO of FINCA Impact Finance, said, “The success of this bond offering is a clear testament to FINCA’s robust financial performance and strong commitment to expand access to responsible financial services in Armenia and around the world.”
Roman Hingorani, CFO for FINCA Impact Finance, said, “We are changing FINCA’s direction by diversifying our funding base from a heavy reliance on international borrowings to more local funding sources. This will help us manage our foreign exchange and geographic risks. For customers around the globe, this reinforces our role as a reliable banking partner.”
About FINCA Impact Finance
FINCA Impact Finance is a network of 21 microfinance institutions and banks that provides socially responsible financial services and enables low-income individuals and communities to invest in the future. The majority owner of the network is FINCA International, a microfinance and social enterprise not-for-profit leader dedicated to creating economic inclusion for the poor. For more information, visit www.FINCAImpact.com.