Microfinance Focus, December 23, 2011: International Finance Corporation (IFC) may lend a $4 million senior loan to CJSC FINCA MicroCredit Company (FMCC), a microfinance company in Kyrgyz Republic.

Proceeds of the loan will be used to finance the expansion of its lending to micro and small entrepreneurs under the project “Finca Kyrgyz 2”. The loan will be extended either in US Dollar or Kyrgyz Som.

FMCC is headquartered in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. It is currently present in all seven regions of the country and runs a network of 18 branches and 49 outlets thus having a nation-wide coverage.

The company has been primarily targeting underserved clients in remote, mostly rural areas with no or poor access to credit, as well as very small entrepreneurs in semi-urban and urban communities, who had no access to credit from the formal financial system.

As a result of the financial crisis and the political turmoil of 2010, term-funding for Kyrgyz microfinance companies has become scarce. IFC's term loan would provide the necessary funding to continue the growth of the Company and support its expanded product offer to local entrepreneurs.

FMCC is owned by FINCA Microfinance Holding Company, a commercial holding company, headquartered in Washington, DC and one of the largest microfinance networks in the world.

FINCA serves approximately 765,000 micro entrepreneurs, 70 percent of which are women. The shareholders of the holding company are FINCA International, Inc., IFC, KfW, FMO, Triple Jump and responsAbility.