AccessBank Liberia

Access Microfinance Holding AG (AccessHolding) is a commercial microfinance holding company. Its business purpose is to invest in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and to develop these investments through a combination of equity finance, holding services, and management assistance. These services are rendered by its technical partner and founding shareholder LFS Financial Systems GmbH, with which AccessHolding shares premises in Berlin, Germany.

AccessHolding establishes new MFIs together with other partners, and transforms existing non-bank microlending institutions into full-service microfinance banks. Currently, there are 10 AccessBanks operating in Azerbaijan, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Tajikistan, Rwanda, Georgia and Brazil.

LFS Financial Systems not only builds up and manages all network banks but also provides them with central support in a variety of operative areas, including key risk management functions. Active cooperation in areas such as training or product development, particularly within regional clusters, exhibits further potential for synergies and other efficiency gains. AccessHolding’s shareholders, aside from LFS, are the International Finance Corporation, the German development bank KfW, the European Investment Bank, the UK development fund CDC Group Plc., the US Tufts University Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, and MicroAssets GbR, a fund of LFS employees and other interested individuals.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a member of the World Bank Group, its primary mission being to foster and encourage private sector investment in developing and transition countries. Based in Washington DC, IFC has been a major driving force behind the development of microfinance industries in virtually all developing regions, and has long-standing experience as an investor in commercial microfinance institutions. IFC has country or regional offices across Africa, including an office in Monrovia.

IFC is a shareholder of AccessHolding and a co-investor in most of AccessHolding’s network banks. It is also providing technical assistance and debt funding to some of the banks.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) was established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa. The bank is a conglomeration of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). It currently has 77 members: 53 countries in Africa and 24 in America, Europe and Asia. Over the past years it has strengthened its involvement in private sector development-related projects in general, and its exposure to microfinance in particular. AfDB is a partner of AccessHolding.

The European Investment Bank was created by the Treaty of Rome in 1958 as the long-term lending bank of the European Union. The task of the Bank is to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the EU Member States. The EIB raises substantial volumes of funds on the capital markets which it lends to projects furthering EU policy objectives. It operates in keeping with strict banking practice and in close collaboration with the wider banking community, both when borrowing on the capital markets and when financing capital projects. As a shareholder of AccessHolding, the EIB has been closely involved in the build-up of the emerging AccessBank network in Africa and elsewhere.