Funding of microfinance institutions (“MFIs”) by private foreign investors is at last coming into its own. But foreign funds rarely flow directly to MFIs. During the last few years a new type of intermediary has evolved, that mobilizes funds from investors in rich countries and channels them to MFIs in the developing world. Popularly known as “Microfinance Funds”, entities that raise money and channel it to microfinance institutions (MFIs) are only rarely “Funds” in a legal sense. They are therefore collectively referred to as Microfinance Investment Vehicles (MIVs). These microfinance investment vehicles (“MIVs”) are the subject of this review.
