FS joins forces with the European Investment Bank

Frankfurt School’s International Advisory Services IAS together with a consortium of microfinance networks recently have been selected by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide capacity building and advisory services in support of the European microfinance and social enterprise finance sectors. Microfinanza Rating (MFR) was also selected by the EIB to provide evaluation and rating services in support of these sectors. The Social Inclusive Finance Technical Assistance SIFTA initiative, launched by the EIB under the European Union’s InvestEU Programme, aims to provide targeted capacity building, project advisory and market development support to financial intermediaries such as banks or other specialised financial institutions in the microfinance and social enterprise sectors. Building on the success of the EUs Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) Technical Assistance Programme, the advisory support will also promote the exchange and dissemination of best practices within the sectors at a challenging moment marked by economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an unstable geopolitical situation.

SIFTA will support microfinance and social enterprise finance providers through capacity building and evaluation services such as tailored training, workshops, peer-to-peer exchanges, study visits, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) assessments, impact assessment as well as institutional assessments and ratings related to the adoption of the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision.

Targeted capacity building and technical assistance services under SIFTA will be implemented by the EIB Advisory Services, in collaboration with  a consultancy consortium led by Frankfurt School together with its partners European Microfinance Network and Microfinance Centre, while the evaluation and rating services will be carried out by MFR.

Bruno Robino, Deputy Head of the Climate and Social Finance Advisory Division at the EIB, said: “We are confident that this new initiative will provide strategic support and strengthen the European Microfinance and Social Enterprise Finance players and ecosystems. Firstly, by providing advisory and evaluation services to microfinance institutions and social enterprise finance providers and secondly, by complementing the EIB Group’s financial products, including those available under the InvestEU Fund.”