Microfinance Partners

XacBank
Since Mercy Corps co-founded XacBank in 2001, the microfinance bank has set the standard for providing full-scale banking and financial services in one of the world's least populated countries. As one of Mercy Corps' largest financial affiliates, XacBank reaches 135,000 depositors and 58,500 borrowers in a region extending from Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, to the sparsely populated Gobi desert.

In June 2007, XacBank became the first Mongolian bank to issue a sustainability report and in August signed an agreement with the International Financial Corporation to participate in its Global Trade Finance Program. Under the program, letters of credit and guarantees issued by XacBank will be confirmed by the leading banks worldwide, providing a wider range of service for XacBank clients at competitive prices. Microcapital.org, a news and research initiative on international microfinance investment, recently listed XacBank as one of nine "industry leaders."

Partner
Partner Microcredit Organization (Partner), an independent, multi-ethnic organization founded by Mercy Corps in 2000, is the first microfinance agency after the Balkans War to work both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Partner became a profitable company after just three years of operations, and as of September 2007 had an active loan portfolio of $83.8 million and 41,000 borrowers. In December 2007, Partner ranked No. 18 on Forbes magazine's list of the world's best microfinance institutions in the world.

IMON
IMON was co-founded by Mercy Corps and National Association of Business Women of Tajikistan in 2005. IMON is the largest and strongest-performing microfinance institution in Tajikistan, operating three branches and 21 sub-branches and serving 17,600 clients with $9.8 million in loans outstanding.

ACF
Founded by Mercy Corps in 1997, ACF was chartered in 2002 by the National Bank of Republic of Kazakhstan as a non-depository, non-bank financial institution. In 2006, ACF founded ACF Credit Cooperative to carry on its operations. ACF Credit Cooperative fosters sustainable growth in the small business sector, leading to more family-wage jobs and individual financial security. Its primary activity is to provide development loans to emerging small and medium enterprises up to $100,000, and microcredit to subsistence entrepreneurs in urban and peri-urban areas of Kazakhstan.

CFPA
In May 2000, the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation began its Microfinance Project which works in impoverished counties around the country. Today the microfinance department of CFPA is the largest microfinance program in China with $6.4 million in loans outstanding to 24,000 clients.

MICRA
Founded in 2006, the Microfinance Innovation Center for Resources and Alternatives (MICRA) provides a full range of high-quality technical services and support to industry stakeholders throughout Indonesia. MICRA also offers microfinance institutional ratings and appraisals, technical assistance, research and networking, and financial services.

Kompanion
Kompanion LLC was founded by Mercy Corps in 2005 to consolidate the lending operations of five independent NGOs in Kyrgyzstan. With more than 50 offices throughout the mountainous, landlocked republic, Kompanion currently serves nearly 30,000 clients with more than $10.6 million in loans outstanding. Kompanion and Mercy Corps are pioneering the concept of strategic philanthropy by melding development activities with commercial financial services. Mercy Corps believes that community development banking will provide Kyrgyzstan with the financial services, social cohesion and development resources it needs to become an economically self-sufficient nation.

AFSG
In 2003, Mercy Corps' Ariana Financial Services Group initiated solidarity group lending to women in the most war-damaged section of Kabul. Ariana now operates in all of Kabul's districts and plans to open branches in other parts of the country.

AfK
Mercy Corps formed Agency for Finance in Kosovo in 1999 to serve micro and small business clients in western Kosovo, where destruction from the Balkan conflict was most severe. AfK continues to focus on making loans that go beyond merely subsistence businesses and create strong long-term employment prospects.

PATRA
Poverty Alleviation in the Tumen River Area (PATRA) provides small loans to enterprising low-income women throughout rural areas of Yanbian Province in northeast China. Most women use their loans to invest in farming or animal husbandry.

Borshud
Borshud was co-founded by Mercy Corps and Oriyon, a local NGO, in 2005. It is the third-largest microfinance institution in Tajikistan and has its roots in the remote Tavildara valley. Borshud provides group loans and business-planning services to its agri-based business clients.