Afghan-owned Credit Unions Stimulate Market Growth in Conflict Areas
May, 31 2011
Kabul, Afghanistan - Despite weekly, sometimes daily, security risks across parts of Afghanistan, the country's Islamic investment and finance cooperatives (IIFCs), or credit unions, are providing increasing levels of working capital to small and medium-scale business owners and farmers. In the last quarter alone, 30 IIFCs distributed nearly 8,000 loans worth US$7.4 million and increased total membership by 10%. ...
Brazil: Major Microlaboratory Against Poverty
May, 31 2011
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Microcredit in Brazil still has huge potential for expansion, even though microloans have already grown much more than traditional credit in the last eight years ...
India: Equifax Launches Microfinance Credit Bureau
May, 30 2011
Mumbai, India - Equifax Credit Information Services, the joint venture between Equifax and six leading Indian financial institutions announced the launch of a new microfinance credit bureau in India today. The bureau is aimed at supporting the efforts of financial institutions, specifically microfinance institutions (MFIs), to provide financial services to un-served and underserved segments of the Indian population ...
Philippines: Debt Repayment Still High
May, 29 2011
Manila, Philippines - Microfinance has continued to enjoy a high repayment rate -- proof that the poor make good debtors -- but industry players stressed a need for vigilance given the practice of “multiple borrowings. ...
Indonesia Banks Chase Microloans
May, 28 2011
Subang, Indonesia - Top banks in Indonesia are rapidly rolling out hundreds of microlending branches across the archipelago in the latest push by financial institutions to expand their reach—and boost earnings—by serving the less affluent. In Indonesia, the country's biggest banks, including Bank Mandiri and Bank Danamon, are powering growth in the market, which they say is under-served and lucrative ...
US Increases Access to Microfinance for Lebanese Micro and Small Businesses
May, 27 2011
Beirut, Lebanon - Ambassador Maura Connelly attended the commencement of the second phase of the Lebanon Investment in Microfinance (LIM), a $12 million U.S. funded program that provides loans to small businesses, farmers and others so that they can grow their own businesses and create jobs, the US Embassy announced in a communiqué on Friday morning ...
Philippines: Stronger Rural Banks Seen
May, 26 2011
Manila, Philippines - the rural banking sector will see fewer banks as mergers and consolidations continue, but will be armed with more resources as they reach out to the millions of Filipinos still without access to the country’s financial system ...
Peruvian Cooperative Law Becomes Reality
May, 26 2011
Lima, Peru - The government of Peru earlier this month passed landmark legislation that recognizes the not-for-profit status of credit unions and other cooperatives and grants them tax exemption ...
Nigeria: Cash Withdrawal Limit, A Challenge to MFBs
May, 23 2011
Lagos, Nigeria - Although many may see the cash withdrawal and lodgment limit pegged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as specifically directed to transactions with Deposit Money Banks (DMB), microfinance banks as customers to these banks and cash carriers will also be affected ...
Cambodia's Micro-credit Trap
May, 23 2011
Hong Kong, China - The circumstances there have drawn critics to accuse microfinance institutions of handing out loans with little regard for the ability of borrowers to make repayments. ...
Abrupt Fall From Grace
May, 21 2011
New Delhi, India - Tracing the Decline of SKS Microfinance Holds Lessons for the Entire Industry. ...
Philippines: Tax Exemption Urged for Microinsurance
May, 20 2011
Bacolod City, Philippines - Microinsurance companies are urging the House of Representatives to enact a law that will exempt microinsurance from taxes to bring down its cost and directly benefit Filipinos, a press release from Congress said ...
World Bank to Finance Safety Net for a Million People in Niger
May, 19 2011
Washington DC, USA - The World Bank ’s Board approved today a new credit of US$70 million to implement a comprehensive social safety net system in Niger, where an estimated 60 percent of people lived below the poverty line in 2008 and over half the population lacks food security. The funds will support about one million people over five years in a country hard hit by frequent drought and high food prices ...
Islamic Finance Could Aid Development
May, 19 2011
London, United Kingdom - Combining social principles with the power to provide financial assistance, Islamic microfinance has huge, untapped potential ...
India: Filling the Gap in Micro Housing
May, 18 2011
Mumbai, India - After micro finance, micro housing is becoming a buzz word. The sector is not only attracting domestic companies, but also luring foreign financial service firms and institutional players. Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance Ltd, backed by US hedge funds, started operation a month before. It plans to offer home loans for houses priced below Rs 5 lakh ...
Microfinance 101 - Part 2 of 3: What Women Want from Microfinance
May, 17 2011
New York, USA - In the second of this three-part blog series focused on the topic of microfinance, I again sit down with Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking and a leader in the microfinance industry, to learn what women want and need from microfinance. ...
Water.Org Pioneers Microloans For Water And Sanitation Access
May, 16 2011
Kansas City, Missouri - Water.org has launched WaterCredit.org, an online resource to educate stakeholders about the growing intersection of international microfinance with the water and sanitation crisis. By applying the concepts and best practices of micro-lending, organizations like Water.org are reaching an ever-increasing number of people living in poverty with safe water and sanitation at a faster and more efficient pace compared to traditional charity ...
Bangladesh: Muhammad Yunus Resigns from Grameen Bank
May, 13 2011
Dhaka, Bangladesh - Dr. Yunus, 70, said he was relinquishing his post to prevent undue disruption of the bank’s work. Deputy Managing Director Nurjahan Begum will take over from Mr. Yunus until the board names a chief ...
World Bank Vet Seeks $60 Million To Back Entrepreneurs
May, 10 2011
New York, USA - The microfinance sector, once praised as a powerful tool for eradicating poverty, is in the midst of well-documented turmoil. In the Indian state of Andrha Pradesh, a rash of suicides by indebted villagers provoked a backlash against the industry. ...
State Bank of Pakistan Launches 10m Pounds Financial
May, 10 2011
Karachi, Pakistan - Shahid H Kardar, governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), launched on Monday a 10 million pound Financial Innovation Challenge Fund (FICF) and unveiled the first round of the fund on Government to Person (G2P) payments ...
Philippines: Microfinance Loans of Banks hit P7B in 2010
May, 07 2011
Manila, Philippines - Loans extended by banks engaged in microfinance posted a double digit growth of 16 percent in 2010 as financial institutions involved in microfinance continue to move out of urban areas in Luzon to far flung areas in the Visayas and Mindanao, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday ...
India: SKS Microfinance Posts Loss Of Rs 69.7 Crore In Q4
May, 07 2011
Mumbai, India - Not surprisingly, India’s only listed microfinance lender, SKS Microfinance Ltd, posted a loss of Rs 69.7 crore in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2010-11 compared to a net profit of Rs 62.9 crore during the same period previous year, as the company went through poor repayment rates and also faced a new policy regime in Andhra Pradesh, which is its main market ...
Cambodia: Credit Bureau for Overlap in Loans
May, 06 2011
Phnom Phem, Cambodia - Overlapping loans continue to plague Cambodia’s small lenders, but plans to launch a credit bureau this year may alleviate these concerns, industry insiders said yesterday ...
India Central Bank Sets 26 Per Cent Cap on Microfinance Loans
May, 03 2011
Mumbai, India - India's central bank on Tuesday announced an interest rate cap of 26 percent on micro loans for up to 50,000 rupees ($1,124) and broadly accepted a panel's recommendations for the sector in a move that could provide a boost to embattled microfinance firms. ...
EBRD Supports Local Currency Lending in Georgia
May, 02 2011
Tbilisi, Georgia - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of the Republic of Georgia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 25th April 2011 to launch the EBRD’s Local Currency Lending Programme in Georgia ...
India: Spandana Debt Recast Cleared
May, 02 2011
Mumbai, India - A consortium of private lenders has approved Spandana Sphoorty Financial's debt restructuring worth Rs 2,296 crore and has increased the loan tenure to six years from three years, according to documents available with ET. ...