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Feb 2014
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Archives:
Microfinance Volume Rose by Over a Third in Azerbaijan
February, 28 2014
Azerbaijan - Volumes of microfinance rose by over a third in Azerbaijan, the chairman of the Azerbaijan Microfinance Association (AMFA), Suleyman Kalyashev told Trend on Feb. 26 ...
Subika Farazi, the World Bank: Financial Inclusion of Informal Firms - Status and Determinants
February, 27 2014
Global - The results show that firm size, the level of education of the owner and whether the owner has a job in the formal sector are significantly associated with financial inclusion of informal firms. ...
Pakistan: Microfinance Industry - Savings and Savers Go Up, PMN Data Shows
February, 27 2014
Pakistan - The value of savings in the microfinance industry increased 38% in 2013 with the number of savers going up 24%, according to data released by the Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN) on Wednesday ...
Mobile Banking Spreading to Asia and Latin America
February, 25 2014
Global - Mobile money services for people without access to the traditional financial system are spreading at an increasing pace beyond Africa, according to a report released yesterday (24 February) at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. ...
India: Bandhan Building Up Capital Base Ahead of Banking Licence Issue
February, 25 2014
Mumbai, India - Bandhan Financial Services is raising Rs.260 cr debt from two multinational investors to boost its capital base ...
More Access of Micro Credit for Vietnamese Lower Income People
February, 25 2014
Vietnam - The microfinance sector in Vietnam is still developing at a healthy pace. Not only is the sector still growing, but the microfinance institutions of Vietnam are increasingly looking for better ways to reach marginalized and poor communities ...
Zimbabwe: Microfinance Institutions Urged to Comply With Laws
February, 24 2014
Zimbabwe - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has issued a circular to money lending and microfinance institutions urging them to comply with the minimum capitalisation levels announced in the 2014 monetary policy statement ...
Africa: Tigo Pioneers World’s First Mobile Money Transfer
February, 24 2014
Africa - Tigo a subsidiary of the international telecommunications and media company Millicom (Stockholmsbörsen: MIC), a leader in thirteen markets across Africa and Latin America, today announced the launch of a pioneering cross-border Mobile Money remittance service between Tanzania and Rwanda. ...
Bob Bragar, Principal, Strategies for Impact Investors: Microfinance Corporate Governance - Is It Special?
February, 21 2014
Global - Going beyond just earning profits, the double or triple bottom line that we ask MFIs to achieve makes success, and therefore governance, very complex. Moreover, microfinance’s particular history of migration from NGOs to semi-regulated financial institutions to formal banks adds challenges to achieving good governance ...
India Attempts to Reach The Under-banked
February, 21 2014
India - Next month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI, the central bank) will issue new banking licenses for the first time in nine years—a monumental step in the country's efforts to dramatically improve financial inclusion. ...
The Other Driver of Financial Exclusion
February, 19 2014
Global - According to mobile money consultant and thought leader Ignacio Mas, poverty itself isn't the biggest thing keeping the unbanked out of the formal financial system ...
The Mobile-Finance Revolution
February, 17 2014
Global - Mobile finance offers at least three major advantages over traditional financial models. ...
Myanmar: Microfinance Firms Decry Low Regulator Loan Cap
February, 17 2014
Myanmar - Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are worried a new directive by the sector’s regulator that caps loans at K500,000 could stifle small business growth and the development of the burgeoning MFI sector. ...
$20m Philippine Microfinance Plan to Give Poor Shot in Arm
February, 16 2014
Philippines - President Benigno Aquino has established a $20 million credit facility designed to benefit and help improve the lives of about one million farmers and fishermen in the country's 20 poorest provinces, according to Malacanang Palace ...
Sri Lanka: LOLC Micro Credit Ltd. Conferred Global Honour
February, 13 2014
Sri Lanka - LOLC Micro Credit Ltd (LOMC) was recently conferred the ‘Smart Campaign Client Protection Certification’, becoming the first ever Sri Lankan MFI (Microfinance Institution) to be evaluated and presented with this top global honour ...
Michael Sidgmore, Panorama Point Partners: The Next Generation of Investors Seeks Purpose Alongside Profit
February, 12 2014
Global - With a $41tn wealth transfer from baby boomers to millennials come hopes for a shift towards addressing world's biggest problems. ...
Elevar Equity to Raise Third Fund, Targets $75 mn
February, 12 2014
Global - Elevar Equity, an impact investor, is looking to raise its third fund with a target corpus of $75 million by end-2014. ...
How Credit-Card Debt Can Help the Poor
February, 11 2014
Global - Credit gives people a greater ability not only to weather shocks and take control over their finances. It also helps get their money off the sidelines and into circulation ...
Antonique Koning, Microfinance Specialist, CGAP: How Greenfield MFIs Advance Market Development in Africa
February, 11 2014
Africa - The most significant effect of greenfield MFIs on market development appears to be their contribution to professional development in the banking and microfinance sectors ...
India: Parliamentary Panel Rejects Micro Finance Bill
February, 11 2014
New Delhi, India - A Parliamentary panel today rejected the bill on micro finance institutions which sought to empower the Reserve Bank to regulate them and fix interest rates ceiling on loans to be provided by MFIs ...
Absolving the 'Original Sin' of Microfinance
February, 10 2014
Global - Micro-lenders have traditionally been vulnerable to unstable local currencies, but new groups are helping them hedge ...
Peru: Acquisition of Mibanco by Edyficar, a Subsidiary of the Credicorp Group
February, 10 2014
Lima, Peru - Credicorp Ltd. announces to its shareholders and the market that its indirectly held subsidiary Edyficar has reached an agreement with Grupo ACP Corp ("ACP") to buy the shares they hold in Mibanco. ...
Cambodia's Micro-lenders See 44 Pct Lending Growth Last Year
February, 09 2014
Cambodia - Cambodia's 38 microfinance institutions reported a 44 percent increase in loan disbursements in 2013, according to a report of the National Bank of Cambodia ( NBC), the regulator of banking and finance institutions in the country. ...
Uganda’s Microfinance Sector Spreading Out
February, 08 2014
Uganda - The recent acquisition of Micro Uganda by Letshego Holdings of Botswana, coming on the back of micro-lender Finance Trust getting a commercial banking licence in November last year, backs an emerging trend towards consolidation in the country’s microfinance sector. ...
Report ‘De-risks’ Impact Investment to Open Sector Up to Mainstream
February, 07 2014
Global - A new report has set out how to de-risk impact investment, which could make the sector more appealing to a wider range of investors. The strategy has been described as a “win-win” because of the financial and social returns it offers ...
India: RBI Removes 26% Interest Rate Cap on MFI Loans
February, 07 2014
India - Reserve Bank of India has removed the 26% interest rate cap on loans given by microfinance institutions regulated by it, a demand that they have lobbied for quite some time ...
Don't Charge to Enlarge
February, 06 2014
Global - Lower interest rates improve access, the authors conclude. After three years of lower interest rates, cheaper loans bring in significantly more first-time borrowers ...
Daniel Rozas, Independent Consultant: The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales
February, 05 2014
Global - How can investors remain committed to balanced social and financial goals when passing the baton to someone else ...
Rwanda: Commercial Banks Using Agency Banking to Enhance Financial Inclusion
February, 05 2014
Rwanda - Despite facing hurdles, especially within the rural areas, agency banking, a two year old banking concept is quickly gaining acclaim, commercial banks have said ...
Indonesia: Banking by Boat Spells New Client Growth for Bank Rakyat
February, 02 2014
Indonesia - The country’s most profitable bank is tapping island markets as it sees potential microlending growth of 20 percent this year, while corporate loan expansion may slow by 10 percent to 15 percent after interest rate rises, Basir said ...
Poor Service
February, 01 2014
Global - Rising rates may seem like grim news for the poorest borrowers. But they used to be at the mercy of moneylenders who might have charged 100% or more ...

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