| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | 20th Street, Sinkor Monrovia, Liberia |
Key people | Klaus Mueller Managing Director & CEO |
| Products | Loans, Checking, Savings, Investments, Debit Cards |
Number of employees | 380 (2023) |
| Website | Official website |
AccessBank Liberia (ABL), is a commercial bank with a focus on lending to micro and SME (MSME) companies. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Liberia.
ABL obtained a commercial banking licence in 2009. As of Feb. 2024, ABL has a loan portfolio of 16 Mio USD, customer deposits of 18 Mio USD and an equity of 11 Mio USD. The bank has 20.000 borrowers (mostly micro entrepreneurs) and disburses 2.000 loans monthly (mostly micro loans, denominated in Liberian dollars, with an average disbursed amount equivalent to 800 USD). ABL has 10 branches in Monrovia and several other regions of Liberia.
The bank's equity is owned by the following shareholders:
74% Access Microfinance Holding AG
14% African Development Bank
12% European Investment Bank
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.
Currently, AccessHolding has equity stakes in banks operating in Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia, Rwanda, Tajikistan and Georgia.
The African Development Bank is a multilateral institution, whose objective is to contribute to the sustainable economic development and social progress of the African countries.
The AfDB Group development agenda is made of five key strategic priorities: to Feed Africa, to Light Up and Power Africa, to Industrialize Africa, to Integrate Africa, to Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending arm of the European Union. The EIB is one of the biggest multilateral financial institutions in the world. It works closely with other EU institutions to foster European integration, promote the development of the EU and support EU policies in over 160 countries around the world.
The European Investment Fund (EIF), established in 1994, is a financial institution for the provision of finance to SMEs, headquartered in Luxembourg. It is part of the European Investment Bank Group.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions companies and projects that achieve the policy aims of the European Union through loans, equity and guarantees.
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credit history. It is designed to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty. Many recipients are illiterate, and therefore unable to complete paperwork required to get conventional loans. As of 2009 an estimated 74 million people held microloans that totaled US$38 billion. Grameen Bank reports that repayment success rates are between 95 and 98 percent. The first economist who had invented the idea of micro loans was Jonathan Swift in the 1720’s. Microcredit is part of microfinance, which provides a wider range of financial services, especially savings accounts, to the poor. Modern microcredit is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank founded in Bangladesh in 1983. Many traditional banks subsequently introduced microcredit despite initial misgivings. The United Nations declared 2005 the International Year of Microcredit. As of 2012, microcredit is widely used in developing countries and is presented as having "enormous potential as a tool for poverty alleviation." Microcredit is a tool that can possibly be helpful to reduce feminization of poverty in developing countries.
Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient. ID Ghana is an example of a microfinance institution.
Accion is an international nonprofit. Founded as a community development initiative serving the poor in Venezuela, it works with local partners in different countries to develop and scale digital financial solutions for underserved people globally.
The Regional Policy of the European Union (EU), also referred as Cohesion Policy, is a policy with the stated aim of improving the economic well-being of regions in the European Union and also to avoid regional disparities. More than one third of the EU's budget is devoted to this policy, which aims to remove economic, social and territorial disparities across the EU, restructure declining industrial areas and diversify rural areas which have declining agriculture. In doing so, EU regional policy is geared towards making regions more competitive, fostering economic growth and creating new jobs. The policy also has a role to play in wider challenges for the future, including climate change, energy supply and globalisation.
An export credit agency or investment insurance agency is a private or quasi-governmental institution that acts as an intermediary between national governments and exporters to issue export insurance solutions and guarantees for financing. The financing can take the form of credits or credit insurance and guarantees or both, depending on the mandate the ECA has been given by its government. ECAs can also offer credit or cover on their own account. This does not differ from normal banking activities. Some agencies are government-sponsored, others private, and others a combination of the two.
Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) is a microfinancing agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.
An international financial institution (IFI) is a financial institution that has been established by more than one country, and hence is subject to international law. Its owners or shareholders are generally national governments, although other international institutions and other organizations occasionally figure as shareholders. The most prominent IFIs are creations of multiple nations, although some bilateral financial institutions exist and are technically IFIs. The best known IFIs were established after World War II to assist in the reconstruction of Europe and provide mechanisms for international cooperation in managing the global financial system.
Development financial institution (DFI), also known as a Development bank, is a financial institution that provides risk capital for economic development projects on a non-commercial basis.
IDFC Bharat Ltd is a microfinance bank, operating in the Tamil Nadu area of South India. Since 1993, it has provided small loans to women without access to formal credit and who typically have daily incomes of less than INR 80 (US$2) per day.
Hattha Bank (HKL) is a Cambodian bank and microfinance institution in Cambodia.
AccessBank is a bank headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan, that operates as a financial institution within the banking sector of the country. It has a network of over 32 branches across Azerbaijan, offering various banking services to individuals and businesses.
Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), is a private company, based in Brussels, Belgium.
Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) is a leading Bulgarian development and commercial bank with headquarters in Sofia. It is one of the largest development institutions in Southeast Europe that provides financing and professional advising for the purposes of development. It is the largest Bulgarian financing facility provider to banks operating in the country, the sole national loan guarantee provider, and the only microfinance provider. Further to that, its direct lending commercial business division ranks as the 14th commercial bank in terms of assets in Bulgaria, with 850 million euro in assets as of June 2011.
Access Microfinance Holding AG, often referred to as AccessHolding, is a commercial microfinance investment and holding company based in Germany. AccessHolding specializes in start-ups and early-stage microfinance institutions (MFIs). It will establish new MFIs together with other partners, and transform existing non-bank microlending institutions into full-service microfinance banks.
AB Bank Rwanda (ABR), is a microfinance bank in Rwanda. The bank is one of the licensed banks in the Republic of Rwanda.
Selcom Microfinance Bank Tanzania (SMBT), previously known as Access Microfinance Bank Tanzania (AMBT), is a microfinance bank located in Tanzania. It is licensed by the Bank of Tanzania, the central bank and national banking regulator.
