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Philippines: High Bank Density and Bigger Profits
January, 31 2011
Manila, Philippines - The Philippines appears to be one of the most "over-banked" countries in the world. A study made for the Bangko Sentral by Dr. Johnny Noe E. Ravalo shows that there are five banking offices in every municipality or city.
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China: Rural financial reform needed to ease poverty: ADB
January, 30 2011
Beijing, China - China needs to reform its rural financial system if it is to tackle poverty in the countryside and allow agriculture and local businesses to play a strong, long-term role in the domestic economy, says a new book from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
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MFIs to Provide Suicide Cover of 5lakh: AP Govt
January, 27 2011
Hyderabad, India - The Andhra Pradesh government has a legislation on its mind that would make it compulsory for the Microfinance companies to pay a compensation of $10,966.39 to families of borrowers who commit suicide because of debt burden
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Colombia: For the Poor, a New Way to Protect Against Disaster
January, 24 2011
Barranquilla, Colombia - Microfinance was going to be the answer to poverty. Is microinsurance now the new panacea?
Before a sales team for Liberty Mutual fanned out into a crime-infested slum to sell insurance, the venders bowed their heads, asking god to bless their work and protect them from thieves
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Kenya: MFIs Seek Access to Data on Serial Loan Defaulters
January, 24 2011
Nairobi, Kenya - Microfinance institutions are seeking to access information on serial loan defaulters to avoid giving credit to blacklisted borrowers, but commercial banks are hesitant to share their data on bad debtors with the micro lenders
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India: SKS Microfinance Oct-Dec Net Down 38.41 pct
January, 24 2011
Mumbai, India - SKS Microfinance, India's largest and only listed microfinance lender, said on Monday it posted a 38 percent drop in net profit for Oct-Dec to 341.55 million rupees on total income of 3.85 billion rupees
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Interest cap for Indian Small Loans
January, 20 2011
India - India's central bank has recommended an interest cap and tighter lending guidelines for the country's crisis-ridden microfinance companies
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India: RBI Relaxes Rules to Ease Liquidity Crunch in MFIs
January, 19 2011
Mumbai, India - India's central bank has temporarily relaxed asset classification rules for bank loans to the microfinance sector, a move that it said will allow them to continue lending to the industry. Under the new rules, restructured loans to the microfinance sector, can be classified by banks as standard assets, even though such loans are typically unsecured, the Reserve Bank of India said in a notification on Wednesday
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Creation Investments Closes Global MFI Fund At $32M
January, 17 2011
Chicago, Illinois - Creation Investments Social Ventures Fund I, a global microfinance-focused private equity fund, has made a final close at $31.8 million. The fund is now eyeing investments in Asia, besides Latin America and Eastern Europe
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India: IFC Invests Rs 160 Crore in Bandhan MFI
January, 16 2011
New Delhi, India - International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank's investment unit in the private sector, will pick up stakes in Bandhan Financial Services, India's fourth-largest microfinance company, investing Rs 160 crore
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Sacrificing Microcredit for Megaprofits
January, 14 2011
Dhaka, Bangladesh - In the 1970s, when I began working here on what would eventually be called “microcredit,” one of my goals was to eliminate the presence of loan sharks who grow rich by preying on the poor. In 1983, I founded Grameen Bank to provide small loans that people, especially poor women, could use to bring themselves out of poverty. At that time, I never imagined that one day microcredit would give rise to its own breed of loan sharks
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Innovation for the Swiss Financial Industry
January, 13 2011
Zurich, Switzerland - responsAbility is launching responsAbility Ventures I, the first venture capital fund under
Swiss law investing in companies with development impact. The new vehicle gives
qualified investors access to promising early-stage markets at the base of the global
income pyramid, investing in companies with high growth potential and development
impact
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Bangladesh to Probe Microfinance Provider
January, 13 2011
Mumbai, India - Bangladesh's government said it would probe Grameen Bank for possible misappropriation of aid funds, more than a month after a documentary film alleged that the microfinance provider illegally diverted funds in the 1990s.Lamiya Morshed, executive director at the Yunus Centre, a resource center for Grameen group's nonprofit businesses, said the bank hadn't received any official correspondence about the probe.
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India: SKS Microfinance Cuts Lending Rates
January, 11 2011
Mumbai, India - SKS Microfinance Ltd. said it has reduced its "effective" rate of interest to 24.55% a year across India from Tuesday. SKS said also that it now won't collect charges for any credit shield, as well as loan processing fees and card fees
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Pursuing a Balanced View of Microfinance
January, 11 2011
Geneva, Switzerland - Responding to the coverage of the Indian microfinance crisis. A press release from the Sangham, a group of the world's largest private microfinance investment fund managers, including: BlueOrchard, Deutsche Bank, Developing World Markets, Grassroots Capital, Incofin, MicroVest, Oikocredit, responsAbility, Symbiotics, Triodos Bank, and Triple Jump
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Philippines: Commercial Banks Offer Credit Bureau Services to Rural Banks
January, 11 2011
Manila, Philippines - In the absence of the national credit information system as mandated by the Credit Information System Act (CISA), rural banks are encouraged to avail of the credit information services offered by the Bankers Association of the Philippines-Credit Bureau Inc. (BAP-CB)
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India: Ujjivan Raises Rs.40 Crores through Non-Convertible Debentures
January, 05 2011
Bengaluru, India - Bangalore-headquartered, Ujjivan Financial Services, a leading microfinance institution with pan-India presence, has raised INR 40 Crores of debt capital through issuance of listed, secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to DMW (Cyprus) Limited , a member of the Developing World Markets (DWM) group of companies. Unitus Capital is the exclusive financial advisor and sole arranger of the issue
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Netherlands: SNS REAAL launches Impact Investing
January, 03 2011
Utrecht, Netherlands - SNS REAAL, the Dutch bancassurance company, today announced that SNS Asset Management, its institutional asset manager, has transferred its microfinance and related impact investment activities to a new unit, SNS Impact Investing
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