14 microfinance institutions awarded under the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision in 2019
14 microfinance institutions were awarded under the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision, a self-regulation instrument and quality label that promotes best practices within the sector.
In 2019, a total of 14 microfinance institutions were awarded under the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision.
The code is a self-regulation instrument and a quality label that aims at promoting best practices within the sector. It was developed by industry experts, in close consultation with the microfinance sector in Europe.
The awarded institutions have been compliant with at least 80% of the weighted total of the code’s clauses and with all priority clauses. The award is valid for 3 years.
The 14 awarded microfinance institutions were:
- AgroInvest Fund LLC, Serbia
- Budapest Enterprise Agency (BEA), Hungary
- Capitalia S.A, Latvia
- C.A.R. CFR IFN, Romania
- C.A.R. Straja Lupeni, Romania
- C.A.R. Unirea Hunedoara, Romania
- C.A.R. Unirea Petrosani, Romania
- IMF Oportunitas S.L., Spain
- Initiative France, France
- Maritza Invest, Bulgaria
- Mikrofond, Bulgaria
- Microlux, Luxembourg
- OMRO, Romania
- PRIMOM Foundation, Hungary
Background
The European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit provision was developed to ensure high ethical lending standards and practices within the European microfinance sector.
The code certification is based on a detailed code evaluation report and subject to a positive decision by the Code Steering Group, which is chaired by the European Commission and is composed of voting members who represent the European Commission and the industry, as well as non-voting members, who represent the service providers involved in the programme.
Complying with, or endorsing the code is a pre-condition for accessing EU funding under the EaSI financial instruments for microfinance, such as the EaSI Guarantee, the EaSI Capacity Building Investments Window and the EaSI Funded Instrument.
Photo: In total, 39 microfinance institutions have been awarded under the Code between 2016 and 2019. Representatives from 28 microfinance institutions participated in the Code Award Ceremony during the European Microfinance Day 2019, in Brussels.