Press Release: European Investment Bank to support pioneering rural microfinance fund: leading development financial institutions launch €100m Rural Impulse Fund II

The ability of poor rural communities around the world to access finance received a significant boost on 1 June 2010 with the creation of Rural Impulse II, a new specialist microfinance fund backed by leading public and private financial institutions and investors. The European Investment Bank, IFC – part of the World Bank Group, KfW Entwicklungsbank (The German Development Bank), the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) and Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) formally agreed to participate in the fund. A range of private banks and investors will also participate. The fund managed to mobilize private resources and specialist expertise from additional investors: Italian Fund of Funds 'Microfinanza 1', Belgian trade union ACV-CSC Metea and VDK spaarbank, Germany’s Bank fuer Kirche und Caritas, Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI), and others. The Fund is an initiative of Incofin Investment Management, which will act as fund advisor.