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Another month has passed, another update is ready for you: here is the April Provider Update.

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MALMicro Africa Ltd

This month we have some big news on Micro Africa. As we reported in the last update, Micro Africa Ltd has been acquired 100 % by Letshego Holdings Ltd, a financial services company from Botswana. In a board meeting last week, it was decided that Letshego will handle all of Micro Africa’s funding needs going forward. Consequently Micro Africa Ltd will exit as a provider on MYC4, meaning that no new loans will be uploaded for bidding. All outstanding loans will be repaying as planned.

For MYC4 it is naturally sad to say goodbye to one of the oldest and largest providers on the platform; at the same time, it is a great satisfaction to have witnessed and supported Micro Africa’s growth over the years, from being a small MFI with 4,200 borrowers to its current position as the largest credit only MFI in Kenya with more than 45,000 clients.

We will be back next week with more information on the exit, including a letter from Micro Africa.

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FMCLFanikiwa Microfinance Company Ltd

Fanikiwa Microfinance Company Ltd from Tanzania has now been a provider on the MYC4 platform for 2 months. The partnership with Fanikiwa has been impeccable so far, and more than €100,000 has already been disbursed to 64 individuals and groups. On the repayment side, investors have received around €3,000 without delays. The maximum outstanding loan balance (OLB) for the pilot has almost been reached, however, which is why Fanikiwa has had to slow down on the number of open loans. The volume is expected to increase following the pilot evaluation which is due in 1-2 months’ time.

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SISDOSISDO

In April, we finally saw the return of SISDO to the platform with around 20 new loans opened for bidding. SISDO had been paused from uploading loans most of this year; first due to its pending pilot evaluation, and subsequently due to some operational challenges that led to performance issues. Now that SISDO is back, we expect to see a good deal of new loans in the coming months seeing as SISDO has the size and capacity to manage a larger loan portfolio on MYC4 than its current €140,000. It is consequently expected that SISDO will more or less double its MYC4 portfolio this quarter.

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PRCPremier Resource Consulting

The two batches of repayments, a total of €5,250, that had been pending transfer since February, were returned to investors in the month of April. This meant that three PRC loans became fully repaid, namely Bokass Susu Enterprise, Koranch Ventures, and ChrisBud Enterprise. A number of new repayments, totalling approximately €7,500, were registered on the MYC4 platform and they are now in the process of being transferred and returned to investors as well. There is not a lot to report on the coverage of the defaulted loans, unfortunately, except that it is expected of PRC that the first recoveries should be reflected on the MYC4 platform soon.

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GACGrowth Africa Ltd

The partnership with Growth Africa was terminated in 2011, and Micro Africa Ltd has since then been responsible for the Growth Africa portfolio. The final 9 active loans were defaulted in the last week of April which means that Growth Africa no longer has an outstanding balance on MYC4. These loans had been more than 90 % repaid by the borrowers, but it was necessary to default them to avoid further interest accumulation. Micro Africa is committed to continue handling the Growth Africa portfolio, and will be meeting with MYC4 Staff in May to review the progress of the collection efforts on the defaulted portfolio.

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Those were all the news we had to share this month. If you want particular providers to be included in the monthly updates, let me know. You are also very welcome to follow me on twitter for more regular operational information, news, and interaction: twitter.com/githakurdahl

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As we close for the Easter break, here is this month’s provider update.

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MALMicro Africa Ltd

With close to €650,000 outstanding in more than 1,300 loans, the Micro Africa group is by far the largest provider on the MYC4 platform. This is also evident from the number of open loans today where 2/3rds are from one of the three Micro Africa subsidiaries (in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda). Micro Africa Ltd was recently acquired by Letshego Holdings Ltd from Botswana, and in Kenya, Micro Africa has become the largest credit only MFI. In Uganda, the institution is also growing fast, now with more than 12,000 clients and the intention to double in 2013. RML in Rwanda is in the process of converting into a deposit taking institution.

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YEHU

Yehu Microfinance Trust

The pilot evaluation was successfully completed this month, despite some delays due to planning and hesitancy around the presidential election in Kenya. Overall, things are looking good with the Mombasa-based institution; Yehu’s own outstanding loan balance (OLB) grew by 31% in 2012, and there were also increases in terms of profit, operational self sustainability, and return on equity. Yehu has picked up its volume on the MYC4 platform this year, and the OLB is growing slowly (now at around €65,000 in 220 loans). In light of the evaluation, we are hoping to see Yehu add at least another €100,000 to its MYC4 portfolio in the coming quarter.

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TUG

Tujijenge Uganda Ltd

The bi-annual spot check of Tujijenge Uganda was completed last week. The key takeaways were that the institution is following sound risk management principles and remain committed to uplifting the bottom of the pyramid (BOP), meaning people from the poorest socio-economic group. Tujijenge Uganda remains small, however, and it is therefore not expected that its portfolio on MYC4 will grow much in the short to medium term. Its current outstanding loan balance on MYC4 is around €95,000 (in close to 330 loans) which fits well with Tujijenge Uganda’s current institutional and absorptive capacity.

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SISDO

SISDO

It has been a while since we saw new loans from SISDO on the platform. First, SISDO was paused awaiting the pilot evaluation back in January as its maximum OLB ceiling had been reached during the pilot period. Then there were some challenges in terms of performance due to operational teething problems in February. Our team in Nairobi has been supporting SISDO with the systems reconciliation and the portfolio at risk above 30 days (PAR30) is now back at 0 %. We are therefore hopeful that SISDO will start uploading loans to the platform again in the coming month.

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GMFL

Gatsby Microfinance Ltd

The bi-annual spot check of Gatsby Microfinance Ltd (GMFL) was completed last week and it showed adherence to the MYC4 model and sound credit risk management principles (incl. thorough loan appraisal and approval procedures). The institution is in the process of implementing its five-year strategic plan that focuses on efficiency of operations. Although GMFL is no longer the largest provider on the platform, it remains one of the most significant volume wise and still holds 25 % of MYC4′s loan portfolio. Similarly, MYC4 funding constitutes a large share of GMFL’s total portfolio and it is therefore mutually beneficial that the volume of uploads is kept relatively low for the time being.

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BELITA

BELITA

The smallest provider on the platform, BELITA, has been having some challenges with its portfolio performance since the middle of last year. While new loan uploads are suspended, repayments continue to come through on a monthly basis. The outstanding loan balance (OLB) is now around €31,000, meaning that another €2,500 was returned to investors this month. BELITA is working on injecting more capital into the institution and remains committed to clear the arrears. So far, no BELITA loans have been defaulted on the MYC4 platform.

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PRC

Premier Resource Consulting

Bad news this month as three PRC loans defaulted on the platform, namely Carnifresh Establishment, Nagee Ventures and Brain Box Limited, thereby making PRC’s default percentage increase from 2.57 to 3.78 %. PRC has been working with a local debt collector and a lawyer to follow up on the delinquent portfolio for a while, but this process is cumbersome and is progressing slowly. In the meantime, PRC has been asked by MYC4 to exercise the risk sharing agreement signed in 2010 which we should have more news on in next month’s update. The two batches of repayments received in Ghana in February is still in the process of being transferred back to MYC4 and investors.

For more details on PRC, see this blog post from December: Update on PRC

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BIRIMA

BIRIMA

We were asked by some investors to include an update on BIRIMA this month. BIRIMA was founded by Youssou Ndour, the Grammy-winning musician from Senegal, and it joined the MYC4 platform back in 2008. Following the default of more than 60 % of its portfolio, BIRIMA was suspended from the MYC4 platform in 2010 and is considered to be part of MYC4′s old portfolio. So far, 21 % of the defaults have been recovered for investors, with the most recent round of recoveries being returned in December 2012. The case in Senegal was handed over to legal enforcement mid last year, following another breach of agreement by BIRIMA, and we are currently waiting for the outcome of this situation to be known in the next couple of months. We will make sure to post here on the blog as soon as we have some news to share.

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Check back in the last week of April for the next provider update.

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The month of February has come to an end and it’s therefore time for another provider update as promised.-

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Yehu FebYehu Microfinance Trust

As mentioned in last month’s update, it is about time for Yehu’s pilot evaluation which was initially scheduled for the end of February. Due to some planning circumstances, the evaluation was postponed to early March instead so there is not a lot of new information to share today. Yehu’s growth on the platform has been relatively slow so far, but more than 30 loans were uploaded in February, amounting to around €11,000, which is good progress. We are optimistic that we will be seeing more loans from the coastal part of Kenya in March and in the months to come.

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FMCL febFanikiwa Microfinance Company Ltd

Fanikiwa became a MYC4 provider on Monday this week and has had a flying start on the platform; 16 loans are open for bidding right now and the funds for the first 3 loans have already been transferred to Fanikiwa’s bank account in Tanzania earlier today. Fanikiwa is one of MYC4′s smallest providers and it is expected that growth will be slow, however. As mentioned previously on the blog, it is positive to note that Fanikiwa is supported by Gatsby Charitable Foundation which is also a key strategic partner for MYC4′s second largest provider, Gatsby Microfinance Ltd.

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KEEF febKEEF

The Annual Review – as well as a spot check – of KEEF was carried out in February by MYC4′s Nairobi team. While the reports are yet to be finalised, the following takeaways can be shared at this point: significant improvements were noted, particularly in terms of governance, portfolio size, asset base, profitability, and operational capacity. MYC4 loans constitute around 1/3 of KEEF’s overall portfolio, and it is expected that KEEF will increase its volume on the platform in parallel with the growth of its overall loan portfolio.

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SISDO febSISDO

Last month, we reported that new loans from SISDO were expected on the platform once the pilot evaluation had been finalised. This is still the case as there have been some delays in the process, primarily due to change of staff in key positions at SISDO. As is most often the case with new providers, there have been some teething problems operationally which is especially evident in SISDO’s relatively high PAR30 (the part of the portfolio that is more than 30 days late) on the platform. This is being addressed by our team in Nairobi on a daily basis and we expect the situation to be regularised in the short-term.

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BELITA febBELITA

The situation with BELITA remains unchanged from last month’s update. There are still challenges with the performance of the portfolio and the PAR30 remains very high. On a positive note, repayments from BELITA have been coming through without delays in February and the outstanding portfolio has therefore reduced by around €4,000 to end the month at €33,500. Eric Naivasha, MYC4′s Africa Director, is in Tanzania this week and is spending some time with BELITA’s management and staff to assist in solving the challenges and finding the best way forward.

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Mtaji febMtaji Credit Facility Ltd

Mtaji joined the platform this week, making the total number of MYC4 providers in Tanzania reach 4. The addition of Mtaji is in line with MYC4′s overall strategy to grow the loan portfolio and provider network in Tanzania this year. Mtaji has been in our pipeline for quite some time, but had kindly been asked to wait its turn while due diligence was being carried out on other, larger, institutions. It is therefore particularly exciting to finally have Mtaji live on the platform. Training of the staff began yesterday and the first loans are expected to be open for bidding tomorrow or early next week.

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PRC febPremier Resource Consulting

Since last month’s update, PRC has resumed entering repayments into the MYC4 system and there are currently two batches of repayments pending to be transferred (a total of around €6,000). We are working together with PRC to get these funds returned to investors as soon as possible. Things are unfortunately happening fairly slowly with PRC at the moment, but progress is nevertheless being made step by step. The challenges continue to be related to institutional capacity and portfolio quality as was described here on the blog in an update back in December.

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We will be back with the next provider update in the last week of March.

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This year we will introduce something slightly new on the blog, namely monthly updates with key information about the MYC4 providers. We will not cover all providers in each update, but rather select the ones where we have some news to share. Considering that this is the first update, however, we have included all the active providers below.

 

MAL

Micro Africa Ltd

Micro Africa Ltd (MAL) currently has a combined outstanding MYC4 loan portfolio of approximately €620,000 in three countries (Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda) and has now become the biggest provider on the platform in terms of volume. MAL has furthermore the responsibility for the Growth Africa portfolio which has around €600 left in 4 active loans. The efforts to recover on the defaulted Growth Africa portfolio will continue after the active loans have been cleared. It is expected that MAL will further grow its portfolio on MYC4 in the coming months in all three countries of operation.

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Tujijenge Tanzania LtdTTZ

Last year, Tujijenge Tanzania grew its outstanding MYC4 portfolio from €75,000 in January to €300,000 in December. Despite a slow start to the year, it is expected that the growth will continue in 2013 and that Tujijenge Tanzania thereby will become one of the largest providers on the platform. This is a positive development considering that Tujijenge Tanzania is a well established institution with a proven track record on and off the platform; and furthermore that the country diversification of the overall MYC4 portfolio will be improved with more volume in Tanzania.

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YMT

Yehu Microfinance Trust

Yehu has had a slow but good start on the platform since joining in June last year, and its outstanding MYC4 portfolio is currently close to €60,000 in 174 loans. The average size of Yehu’s loans is around €390 which is the smallest of all active MYC4 providers. It is therefore necessary for Yehu to have a large number of loans in order to build some volume. MYC4 has scheduled a pilot evaluation with Yehu next month where growth projections for this year will be determined. The expectation at this point is that Yehu will begin increasing its volume in the next couple of months, however more information will come once the evaluation has been completed.

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TUGTujijenge Uganda Ltd

Tujijenge Uganda is one of the smaller providers on – and off – the MYC4 platform. The current outstanding MYC4 portfolio is around €90,000 where it has been more or less steady over the last 12 months. Tujijenge Uganda specialises in group loans in rural areas with a particular focus on women and youth. It was also a Tujijenge Uganda group that inspired the post Disability is not Inability here on the blog back in September. In terms of projections for this year, it is expected that Tujijenge Uganda will continue to upload loans for €15-20,000 per month and thereby maintain the current volume, or alternatively grow its portfolio slightly.

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KEEFKEEF

When KEEF joined the platform in January last year, all growth expectations were quickly exceeded; its outstanding MYC4 loan portfolio reached €350,000 in less than 6 months and KEEF immediately became one of the largest providers on the platform. At the pilot evaluation in April last year, it was agreed that KEEF’s portfolio on MYC4 should remain below €350,000 until further notice to ensure that the institutional capacity could keep up with the portfolio growth. This week, MYC4 is carrying out the annual review at KEEF and we should therefore have more information to share in next month’s provider update.

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SISDOSISDO

The newest provider on the MYC4 platform, SISDO, had a strong finish to 2012 with more than €180,000 disbursed in November and December alone. The current outstanding MYC4 portfolio is around €200,000 which was the maximum target for the pilot phase. MYC4 carried out the pilot evaluation a couple of weeks ago and we are now in the process of agreeing on the best way forward with SISDO. Once the evaluation has been finalised, SISDO is expected to resume uploads of new loans to the MYC4 platform.

 

Gatsby Microfinance LtdGMFL

Gatsby Microfinance Ltd (GMFL) is the second largest provider on the platform in terms of volume, having only recently been overtaken by Micro Africa. While GMFL was previously holding more than 40 % of the overall MYC4 portfolio, its share has now come down to 25 % which is a very positive development in terms of provider diversification and risk. The size of GMFL’s portfolio on MYC4 has not changed much in absolute amounts, however, as it has stayed around €650,000 for the most part of 2012. It is expected that 2013 will be business as usual for GMFL on the MYC4 platform.

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BELITABELITA

BELITA is another small provider on – and off – the MYC4 platform, and since joining in November 2011 focus has been on slow and controlled growth. While BELITA had a good first 10 months as a MYC4 provider, the last couple of months have been relatively challenging in terms of performance. The portfolio at risk above 30 days (PAR30) started to increase back in September and since then BELITA and MYC4 have worked hard to get the loans back on track. While these challenges are being addressed, no new BELITA loans are being uploaded to the MYC4 platform.

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Makao Mashinani LtdMML

When Makao Mashinani Ltd (MML) became a MYC4 provider two years ago, expectations were high. MML has an innovative approach to providing low-cost housing for people moving out of slum areas and MYC4 was excited to be part of funding these loans. Unfortunately, MML only managed to upload four loans on the platform before it became clear that the partnership was premature; the pipeline of new loans was insufficient. It was therefore decided to do a slow exit with MML, meaning that the four loans are being repaid on a monthly basis (around €4,500 remain outstanding) while no new loans are uploaded.

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Premier Resource ConsultingPRC

As we reported in an update last month, Premier Resource Consulting (PRC) is currently experiencing challenges in terms of institutional capacity and portfolio quality. No major improvements have been made since then in relation to the portfolio performance; however, the bundled repayment that had been pending in the MYC4 system since November did come through last week. The backlog of repayments which has been the source of frustration for investors over the last 4-5 months has thereby been cleared. We will be back with more information on PRC in next month’s provider update.

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Growth AfricaGAC

MYC4 and Growth Africa mutually agreed to terminate the partnership approximately one and a half years ago when Growth Africa decided to exit the lending business. A handover agreement was then made with Micro Africa (MAL) who took over Growth Africa’s MYC4 portfolio. As mentioned above, MAL continues to manage this portfolio which at this point has less than €600 outstanding. Recoveries on defaulted loans will continue after the active portfolio has been cleared.

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Back in January, we set out some targets for the year ahead. We wrote:

A key opportunity for 2012 is portfolio growth. We have spent the last 1-2 years on improving the MYC4 business model, our organisational capacity and procedures, as well as our local partner network, meaning that our focus has been on quality rather than growth. We feel that we are now ready to start growing again, and we are experiencing a pull from MFIs that are interested in joining the MYC4 platform. Rest assured, we will not forget our (tough) lessons learned: quality must always remain at the centre of attention, and we strive for controlled growth with good quality loan providers.

The best way to measure our growth is to look at the Outstanding Loan Balance (OLB), that is the total outstanding principal on our active loans. When we started the year, we had an OLB of around 1.2 million euro in 1,200 loans; last week we hit the 2 million mark and we now have more than 3,000 active borrowers. Our overall goal for the portfolio is to end the year at €2.5 million – a target that is still within reach provided that the growth of the year’s first 9 months continues through this fourth quarter.

Another challenge at the beginning of the year was a lack of portfolio diversification country and provider wise. More than 53 % of the portfolio was at the time concentrated in Uganda while Rwanda (17 %), Kenya (11 %), Ghana (11%), and Tanzania (8%) shared the rest. The key issue at the time was that one provider, Gatsby Microfinance Ltd, was alone holding 43 % of the total portfolio. In this regard, the picture has also improved: the Uganda portfolio is still large at 49 %, but it is now held by three different providers and Gatsby’s share is slowly coming down (currently at 37 %); the Kenya portfolio has been growing steadily all year with the introduction of three new providers – KEEF, Yehu Microfinance Trust, and SISDO – and increased activity from Micro Kenya. It is now at 29 % and still growing, even with the exit of Fusion Capital, Growth Africa, and Makao Mashinani well underway; the third focus country for MYC4 is Tanzania where the portfolio has traditionally been small. The results of increased activity from Tujijenge Tanzania and the introduction of BELITA to the platform can be seen on the portfolio size which has grown to 14 %. It is furthermore expected that a couple of new MFIs from Tanzania will be joining the platform in the short to medium term. Evidently, the portfolios in Ghana and Rwanda have been reduced significantly in the same period (to 2 % and 5 % respectively), but we see that as a positive development as we deepen our presence in the three focus countries.

Outstanding Loan Balance and concentration of the MYC4 Portfolio

In terms of the portfolio quality, we were happy to report on another strong quarter in the recent Portfolio Performance update. The main challenge at the moment continues to be the liquidity situation on the platform – the loans in need of funding are plenty, but the capital available to fund them will need another boost if the growth is to continue.

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Another three months have passed, so here is the quarterly update on the performance of the MYC4 portfolio.

Let us start with the good news. Loans disbursed in the last two years by our current providers continue to return more in interest than what is lost in defaults. This portfolio now shows a net return of 3.5 % before currency. It is also positive to note that €547,058 were disbursed in the quarter which is the highest volume of disbursements in two years (all partners included).

Out of the almost €4.2 million disbursed since Q2 2009, 71 % has now been repaid, 24 % is being paid back on time, 3 % is repaying late, and 2 % has defaulted. This is visualised in the graph below which shows the current status for the loans disbursed in each quarter by the active MYC4 partners.

Portfolio Performance Current Partners (click to enlarge)

Now to the bad news. MYC4 investors continue to be hit hard by currency losses. This topic has previously been explored here on the blog in the posts As the Shillings Slide and Gatsby Uganda introduces new loan products in response to the sliding shilling. Click on the two links to read more about how the current rough patch of the East African currencies are affecting MYC4 investors, and also how one provider has decided to react to these developments by offering higher returns to investors.

When currency gains/losses are included in the equation, the net return for investors becomes -3.4% on the portfolio disbursed by the current MYC4 partners in the last two years (see graph below). For loans disbursed in 2010, the result will not change much as 89 % of these funds have already been repaid. The 2011 portfolio still has 62 % of the funds outstanding, thus the picture can still change for these loans in the next couple of months depending on the development of the currencies.

Profit/Loss Current Partners, incl. Currency (click to enlarge)

The final graph includes the historical perspective by showing the performance of the entire MYC4 portfolio since the beginning. The performance of the 2008/2009 portfolio has been analysed in detail in the previous portfolio performance posts, particularly in the one focusing on 2010.

Portfolio Performance All Partners (click to enlarge)

Finally, as we also reported last quarter, the active partners have all resolved to improve the MYC4 portfolio quality by reducing the Portfolio at Risk (PAR), i.e. the part of the outstanding portfolio that is more than 30 days late, from 15 % to below 5 % in 2011. At the end of Q1, the PAR was reduced to 11 % while Q2 ended with a PAR of 8 %. In Q3, we have witnessed a small increase in the PAR to 12 %. In the last three months of the year, we will strengthen our focus on reducing the PAR to below 5 %.

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Whether you are a social or commercial investor on MYC4, or perhaps something in-between, one of the thrilling – and at times frustrating – things about investing on the platform is to follow the performance of your own loan portfolio. Which of my loans have been fully repaid? Are any of my loans at risk of defaulting? What is the net result of my investments?

We are often contacted by investors who are trying to find the answer to the last question. They are rarely looking for fancy ratios or complicated calculations, yet they do not feel that their MYC4 account supplies the simple information they need. If you are one of those investors, this basic tutorial should help you solve the problem.

You will find the data you need on your Profit and Loss page. Log on to www.myc4.com, click on My Account, and go to Profit and Loss in the left hand menu. Here you will see your profit and loss for 2011. Select All Years.

There are a number of figures here which may be of interest to you, but to calculate your result you only need the following:

  • Earned interest after tax and currency
  • Defaulted principal
  • Recovered principal
  • Currency gain/loss on principal

As the text indicates, the figure for earned interest is already accounting for withholding tax and currency, however there is almost always a currency effect on the loan principal as well. An important parameter to remember is therefore currency gain/loss on principal.

The actual calculation should be done as follows: Earned interest after tax and currency minus Defaulted principal plus Recovered principal plus Currency gain on principal OR minus currency loss on principal.

Here are a couple of examples with data from two MYC4 investor accounts:

Example 1

  • Earned interest after tax and currency: 4,009.27
  • Defaulted principal: 353.77
  • Recovered principal: 0.00
  • Currency gain/loss on principal: -1,718.80

Net result: 4,009.27 – 353.77 – 1,718.80 = 1,936.70 euro.

Example 2

  • Earned interest after tax and currency: 994.52
  • Defaulted principal: 3,426.99
  • Recovered principal: 98.87
  • Currency gain/loss on principal: -83.82

Net result: 994.52 - 3,426.99 + 98.87 – 83.82 = -2,417.42 euro.

Note that if you are an investor with defaulted loans in Côte d’Ivoire, it may be necessary to make an additional calculation. The MISCOCI coverage from MYC4 came into your account as a money upload, not a recovery. You will therefore need to adjust the Recovered principal figure by adding the MISCOCI amounts (look under Transfers on your account statement for 2009). In the second example above, the investor received 1,906.50 euro back through this coverage, making the net result  -510.92 euro instead of -2,417.42.

Let me know if you have a good idea for another aspect of investing on MYC4 that you would like to have explained or clarified here on the blog. Remember that you are also always welcome to write to us at info@myc4.com with any questions you may have.

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