The idea behind PlaNet Finance was first formulated in 1997 under the name of PlaNet Bank.
In November 1997, Jacques Attali was invited to address a seminar on the fight against poverty in the world at the Aspen Institute, where he put forward a simple idea: that of creating a virtual bank, named PlaNet Bank, which would serve to refinance Microfinance Institutions (See speech by Jacques Attali at the Aspen Institute). He was aware of the topic of Microcredit after his meeting with Muhammad Yunus in 1989 in Dacca.
At the end of September 1997, Arnaud Ventura, who was then a young employee of the BNPP in Buenos Aires, contacted Jacques Attali to present his NGO-NET project, a not-for profit organisation whose objective was to use the Internet and New Information and Communications Technologies to reinforce the capacities of NGOs in different sectors (among them, health, education, and microfinance). After a few months of exchanges, Jacques Attali suggested that Arnaud Ventura draft a first version of a Business Plan for PlaNet Bank and outline the services the organisation would offer.
In February 1998, Jacques Attali presented the project to Michel Rocard, Muhammad Yunus and Massimo Ponzelli (EIB) during a lunch in Brussels. All of them supported the idea and were asked to join the future governing body of the organisation.
A pilot programme was set up in East Africa as early as May 1998. Managed by Arnaud Ventura, the program’s objective was to gain a better understanding of the needs of microfinance institutions. In September 1998, DEXIA, Michel David-Weil and Benjamin de Rothschild financed the launch of PlaNet Finance.
On October 13th 1998, PlaNet Finance was created, under the French legal status “Loi 1901” (not-for-profit organization). A small team of two people, under the management of Arnaud Ventura, settled in Jacques Attali’s office in Paris.
In March 1999, Cap Gemini, the Francophonie (via the “Fond Francophone des Inforoutes”), the World Bank (via InfoDev) bring also a financing.
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• In 1999: creation of Planet Rating, as a department of PlaNet Finance specialized in microfinance institution evaluation and rating .
• In 1999: creation in Benin of a first branch of PlaNet Finance. In 2000, creation of PlaNet Finance India.
• In 2000: beginning of the investment fund advisory services with the creation of a first internal fund, the Rotative Credit Fund
• In 2000: beginning of the training activity, under the name of PlaNet University
• Between 2000 and 2005: Development of PlaNet Finance network, PlaNet Finance counts in 2005 more than 100 employees and offices and programs in more than 30 countries.
• In 2005: creation of MicroCred, as a PlaNet Finance subsidiary dedicated to direct investment into MFIs.
• In 2006: development of investment fund advisory services with PIAM in 2006, renamed PlaNIS in 2008.
• In 2007: creation of PlaNet Guarantee, as a subsidiary of PlaNet Finance dedicated to microinsurance product development.
• In 2007: creation of FinanCités, as a subsidiary dedicated to investment into SME in France’s urban areas.
• In 2010: creation of the PlaNet Finance Foundation, under the aegis of the France Foundation. The PlaNet Finance Foundation finances projects with a strong social impact and implemented by PlaNet Finance.
• In 2010: creation of MicroWorld, which targets to become a peer to peer lending platform leader on its market.
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Based in Paris, the PlaNet Finance Group is active in close to 80 countries. It counts more than 1,200 employees worldwide.