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Jul 2014
M-PESA’s Back: Vodacom Relaunches Mobile Money in SA
July, 31 2014
South Africa - Vodacom has announced that it is relaunching its M-PESA mobile money payments system today, with a new look design for South Africans ...
India: Government Aims to Open 7.5 Crore Bank Accounts by August 15, 2018
July, 31 2014
India - The NDA government has drafted a new financial inclusion plan that aims to open 7.5 crore bank accounts in rural and urban areas and extend financial services to all citizens by August 15, 2018. ...
Zimbabwe: EcoCash Launches MasterCard Debit Card
July, 31 2014
Zimbabwe - Econet’s Mobile Money service, EcoCash, has announced a landmark agreement with MasterCard that will significantly assist in reducing cash dependence and increase financial inclusion through the provision of electronic payments in Zimbabwe ...
Amelia Greenberg, Deputy Director, Social Performance Task Force: Ten Lessons on Tracking Changes in Clients’ Lives
July, 31 2014
Global - Quality outcome data help providers answer the fundamental question: are clients’ lives improving? FSPs should strive for an accurate understanding of client conditions. This knowledge is a powerful motivator for operational and product changes that can lead to improved client outcomes ...
Sub-Saharan MFIs and the Region’s Booming Economy
July, 31 2014
Africa - Microfinance’s position as a cornerstone of capital flows to excluded market sectors is currently not under threat. The brisk pace of financial growth in SSA could rapidly change that. This is reinforced by the TNDA results, which highlight that MFIs have not been adept at adaptation and evolution, making them susceptible to market disruption. ...
Kazakh KazAgro Plans to Sell about 50 Subsidiary Companies
July, 31 2014
Kazakhstan - Kazakh agricultural holding KazAgro plans to sell 48 subsidiary companies within the second wave of privatization in the country, Novosti-Kazakhstan reported ...
Incofin Floats ProPulse Fund to Back Microfinance Cos, Targets Institutions
July, 31 2014
Global - Impact investor Incofin Investment Management (IM) has launched a new global fund dedicated to invest in microfinance firms in developing and emerging countries ...
Vijay Mahajan, CEO, BASIX Social Enterprise Group: India - Small Banks or Banks for ‘Small’ People?
July, 31 2014
India - Unless appropriate sub-limits are imposed on loans, there is a serious danger of small banks becoming banks for local big-wigs ...
In Mexico, Naïve Consumers Get Bad Loan Information
July, 30 2014
Mexico - Financial products can vary widely in cost while providing more or less the same services. The dispersion in prices for products that offer essentially the same benefits – checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, and index funds – is thought to at least partly reflect a lack of information on the part of consumers ...
Impact Investing’s Image Problem
July, 30 2014
Global - The notion of making as much money as you can and then turning around and trying to be a saint by giving it away is partly a byproduct of investor doubt that impact investing can provide both competitive performance and have a positive impact, Schueth said. ...
New Report on Integrated Health and Microfinance in India Shows the Way Forward
July, 30 2014
India - The report is part of an ongoing effort by the Health and Microfinance Alliance (led by the Microcredit Summit Campaign and Freedom from Hunger) to promote dialogue and encourage further exploration of and support for multi-sectorial approaches that integrate microfinance and health ...
ILO, World Bank Set to Increase Access to Insurance In Africa, Asia
July, 29 2014
Global - The International Labour Office (ILO) and the World Bank Group (WBG) have entered into a partnership, with the aim of providing access to improved insurance products to hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers, small businesses and individuals in Asia and Africa. ...
Ghana: BOG Intensifies Regulation of Microfinance Institutions
July, 29 2014
Ghana - The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is embarking on a massive clean-up exercise in the banking industry aimed at preventing micro finance institutions from bolting with funds of depositors ...
China: Microcredits Boost Rural Financing
July, 29 2014
China - Currently, some rural commercial banks, rural co-operative banks, rural banks, and urban commercial banks in China are offering microcredit products. Compared to the traditional credit products, microcredits target small businesses, self-employed entrepreneurs, and farmers who are at the lower end of the industrial chain and lack collateral and guarantor ...
Kenya Women Holding to Offload Its Shares
July, 28 2014
Kenya - Kenya Women Holding is set to offload 30 percent of its stake in Kenya Women Micro-Finance Bank to its more than 600,000 members countrywide ...
Kenya: Agent Banking Key to Local Financial Inclusion
July, 28 2014
Kenya - The local banking sector has witnessed increased financial inclusion following the introduction of agent banking that has ensured more people have increased contact with banking facilities ...
Micro-Insurers Target India’s Poor
July, 27 2014
India - High quality global journalism requires investment. Losing a breadwinner on India’s notoriously dangerous roads is a real risk. So Indian truck drivers that own their own vehicles are being offered low-cost life assurance to protect their working class families in the event of a tragedy ...
Is Mobile Wallet A Distant Dream In India?
July, 27 2014
India - Despite a huge unbanked population and 700 million cell phone connections, the concept of mobile wallet will take some time to become popular in India as people are still unaware of its larger benefits like financial inclusion, even as the standards to make it functional are yet to be in place, experts maintain ...
Vishal Mehta, Cofounder & MD, Lok Capital: Challenges Lying Ahead for Impact Investing
July, 25 2014
Global - As impact investing the outlook towards impact will become more contextual and sector specific, with focus towards measuring and monitoring impact data ...
Danielle Piskadlo, Manager, CFI: Understand Your Clients – or Good Luck Amongst the Competition
July, 25 2014
Global - Fifteen years ago in the microfinance space you may have been able to get away with understanding very little about your clients. Without much competition, MFIs could probably still make a decent profit by offering one product to all their clients using only one delivery channel. Thankfully, those days are gone. ...
China Unveils Measures to Better Finance Small Enterprises
July, 25 2014
China - The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on Thursday rolled out specific measures to ease financing thirst for small and micro enterprises. ...
Nigeria: CBN Unfolds Disbursement Plans for N220 Billion MSME's Fund to States, FCT
July, 24 2014
Nigeria - From next month, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will commence the disbursement of the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Fund ...
Social Business Shows Way of Development in Myanmar
July, 24 2014
Myanmar - Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus discussed the role of social business in the development of Myanmar with the country's ministers, senior government officials and members of parliament on the final day of his three-day visit there ...
Eric Duflos, East Asia Pacific Representative, CGAP: Financial Inclusion in Cambodia is Trending Digital
July, 24 2014
Cambodia - Today, microfinance has grown steadily and now reaches 1.8 million people – a 50% increase in just three years – with half of these people making deposits. While this growth is positive and has enabled more people to use formal financial services, traditional microfinance alone will not resolve the needs of the entire population ...
Jin-Yong Cai, Executive Vice President and CEO, IFC: Achieving Impact in Development Requires Us to Venture into Tough Places
July, 24 2014
Global - Large numbers of the world’s poorest live in areas torn by conflict, instability, and violence — and the numbers are growing. Quite simply, we cannot end poverty and boost shared prosperity by 2030 unless we ramp up our work in these areas ...
Bringing Financial Services to Illiterate Populations
July, 24 2014
Global - To be successful, new digital products must adapt to the circumstances and capabilities of their target consumers. This means putting illiterate individuals at the center of the design process so that the products will work for them ...
Radhika Binani, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation: The Missing Link in Financial Inclusion - Addressing India's Financial Literacy Gap
July, 23 2014
India - Regulatory changes, client-centric products, technological innovations and responsible business practices are all pieces of the financial inclusion puzzle. ...
Bangladesh: 50 Micro-Lenders Lose Licenses
July, 23 2014
Bangladesh - The licenses of nearly 50 microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been cancelled by the regulator for breach of the set rules and regulations guiding micro-credit operations, officials said ...
Chinese Microcredit Firms Lend 61.8 Bln Yuan in H1
July, 23 2014
China - Outstanding loans of these companies exceeded 880 billion yuan as of the end of June, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a report ...
Tilman Ehrbeck, CEO, CGAP: Can India Achieve Financial Inclusion within the Next Few Years?
July, 23 2014
India - The new Government of India has made financial inclusion one of the corner stones in its modernization aspirations for the country. In his first budget speech earlier this month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley set the target of a financial account for each woman and each man in every Indian household by August 2015 ...
Rural Banks to Serve More Filipinos with Increased Microinsurance Benefits
July, 23 2014
Philippines - Under the new Insurance Code, benefits that may be derived from a microinsurance policy have been raised to up to 1,000 times the minimum daily wage of non-agricultural workers in Metro Manila or up to P466,000. Premium, meanwhile, is now computed at 7.5 percent of the same daily wage ...
Kenya: Capital Demand Delays Upgrade of Micro-Lenders
July, 23 2014
Kenya - Microfinance firms have kept away from converting into deposit-taking institutions in the past four years citing huge capital requirements. The Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) attributed the reluctance to inability to get new cash-rich investors able to dilute current owners down to the required level of 25 per cent ...
Pakistan: KP Launches Rs1 Bn Islamic Micro Credit Scheme
July, 22 2014
Pakistan - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday launched Rs1 billion Islamic Micro Finance scheme to provide loans to around 170,000 people for medium and small businesses in the province ...
Mark Haefele, Global Chief Investment Officer, UBS: Fighting Poverty - How the Wealthy Can Help
July, 22 2014
Global - Impact investing offers an opportunity to finance poverty reduction and other social projects that may otherwise go unfunded. But many investors feel it generates lower returns than listed assets and argue that their fiduciary duties prevent them from embracing it. This perception is not necessarily fair ...
Myanmar: Bringing Banks to the Poor
July, 21 2014
Myanmar - Some 15 percent of adults are currently borrowing an estimated US$3.9 billion from unregulated money lenders in Myanmar while less than 5pc of the population have formal bank accounts. Yet promoting financial inclusion will be no easy task ...
Africa: How to Inspire a Generation of Farming Entrepreneurs
July, 18 2014
Africa - Young people still view agriculture as a dead-end career that entails life-long labour on a farm. However, it does not have to be this way. With the right investments to support entrepreneurs in agriculture, profitable careers could await Africa's young population ...
Rwanda: Why Farmers Are Loyal to Micro-Finance Institutions
July, 18 2014
Rwanda - A number of farmers say they prefer working with micro-finance institutions rather than commercial banks as it is easier for them to secure loans from these institutions ...
India: Small Banks Will Provide Big Push to Financial Inclusion
July, 18 2014
India - Consultancy firm Deloitte today said RBI's move to allow specialised banking entities such as payment banks will go a long way in furthering the cause of financial inclusion, and prospective players, who leverage technology would get a head start ...
Global: Microinsurance - The Next Generation of Impact Investments
July, 17 2014
Global - Microinsurance, or insurance aimed at the low-income and mass markets, is a relatively nascent market with a growing client base but a small number of investors ...
South Africa: It Takes an Ecosystem - Major GE Fund Could Have Big Implications for Africa’s Venture Capital and SME Finance Growth
July, 16 2014
South Africa - Last month, GE announced the launch of a 200 million rand (USD 18.7 million) fund for South African small and medium enterprises ...
India: RGVN Microfinance Raises about Rs 42 Crore in Fresh Round of Equity Funding
July, 15 2014
India - Microfinance institution RGVN (North East) Microfinance has raised about Rs 42 crore from a fresh set of investors, led by Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI) Fund III, the Guwahati-headquartered micro-lender announced on Tuesday ...
India: JFS Chooses IBM Analytics, Cloud and Mobile Capabilities
July, 15 2014
India - IBM has entered into a six year agreement with Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a leading India-based micro finance provider, to transform its business and technology capabilities ...
India: Banks Working on Setting Up 'Rural ATMS' - RBI
July, 14 2014
India - Banks are working on setting up 'Rural ATMs' for dispensing currency notes of smaller denominations, RBI's Deputy Governor R Gandhi said today ...
Malaysia: Redefining SMEs
July, 14 2014
Malaysia - The SME sector currently contributes about 33.1% of the national economy, but the Government aims to raise the contribution of SMEs to 41% by 2020 ...
Lenders Seek Myanmar Banking Entrée
July, 13 2014
Myanmar - Dozens of foreign banks are pushing to launch licensed operations in Myanmar, in a bid round closing on Monday that reveals both pros and cons of entering the fast-opening southeast Asian country. ...
Indonesia: OJK, Ministries Team Up to Handle Microfinance Institutions
July, 12 2014
Indonesia - The Financial Services Authority (OJK) on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Home Ministry and the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry to better handle microfinance institutions, which have high potential but remain untapped. ...
Microinsurance Needs a Push to Reach Potential in Thailand
July, 11 2014
Thailand - In order to expand the availability of life and non-life insurance policies to those who are unable to afford standard premiums, the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) has been promoting microinsurance in Thailand ...
Heather Henyon, Founder, Women’s Angel Investment Network: Investing on The Smallest Scale Can Lift The Middle East
July, 11 2014
Middle East - Only about a tenth of the Middle East’s needs for microfinance are currently being met, estimates Heather Henyon — and some new thinking may be needed as the sector loses some of its novelty and momentum ...
Barbara Magnoni, President, EA Consultants: Buying Insurance – With Your Groceries – in Brazil, Colombia
July, 10 2014
South America - Furthering efforts to provide tools for consumers to advocate for themselves and ask the right questions can offer a useful complement to the appropriate training of sales agents. ...
Zoe Williams, Columnist, The Guardian: How Can We Make Women Central to Economic Value Creation?
July, 10 2014
Bangladesh - The problem is not just a question of justice, so much as one of bargaining power; women with economic agency are at the cornerstone of social progress ...
Rodger Voorhies, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: How Digital Cash Is Changing Lives
July, 09 2014
Africa and Asia - As digital money technology continues to grow and evolve – particularly with increased involvement from the private sector – it’s an exciting time to be a part of the progress taking place, and to help spur change for those that can benefit from it most ...
Developing World Blazes Trail for 2.5bn with No Banking Access
July, 09 2014
Global - Developing countries such as Kenya and Brazil have blazed trails: some three-quarters of adult Kenyans are now connected to bank services via their mobile phones, for example, and Brazil opened the door to offering simple banking transactions at local shops ...
India: Banks Start Offering Loans to Bandhan Financial
July, 09 2014
India - Banks are queuing up to lend money to Kolkata-based microfinance institution Bandhan Financial Services, which was among the lucky two to secure a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April this year. ...
China's Shadow Banking System Is Moving Online
July, 09 2014
China - Peer-to-peer online lending is transforming China’s banking sector one microloan loan at a time ...
Inaccessible Credit Driving Kenyans to Seek Expensive Loans
July, 09 2014
Kenya - Majority of Kenyans, mostly in the rural areas, do not have access to affordable credit. This is despite the banking industry, a leader in the credit industry recording huge profits, in addition to unveiling various innovative financial products targeted at middle to upper income urban consumers ...
Smallholders Face Financial Worries and Fragile Food Production System
July, 08 2014
Global - With a lack of human capital and limited access to infrastructure, markets, and technologies, most smallholder farmers can barely subsist. Access to financing, markets for their products, information about pricing and weather patterns is hard to come by, and national policies rarely support smallholders' interests ...
Out of Africa: Mobile Phone Banking Surges in EM
July, 07 2014
Global - Increasing numbers among an estimated 2.5bn “unbanked” people in poorer countries are turning to their mobile phones to pay bills, transfer money and receive salaries. ...
Egyptian Government Gets Digital with Payment Platform Fawry
July, 07 2014
Egypt - Launched in 2009 as a payment service that allows customers to send money electronically, Fawry is now the country’s leading electronic bill delivery and payment (EBPP) platform ...
Kenya's Mobile Innovation Brings Digital Money Closer
July, 07 2014
Kenya - Kenyan financial services heavyweight Equity Bank is planning to roll out mobile banking services in July, using innovative paper-thin SIM technology ...
South Africa’s Cashless Future Relies on Localisation, Not Innovation
July, 07 2014
South Africa - South Africa may not be at the head of the global mobile payments race but there is a swathe of hugely exciting mobile transacting applications and services being launched right now. The success of these applications will rely largely on the service providers’ ability to localise each service to suit the specific needs of the South African populatio ...
Namibia: SME Bank Readies for N$630 Million Expansion
July, 07 2014
Namibia - Namibia's youngest banking institution, the SME Bank is readying itself for the N$630 million windfall from Treasury which is set to enable a new growth for small, medium, micro, and informal enterprises in the country ...
India: IFC to Infuse Rs. 160 Crore into Micro Finance Institution Bandhan
July, 06 2014
India - International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, will infuse Rs. 160 crore into micro finance institution (MFI) Bandhan, which is to be transformed later into a full-fledged bank ...
New Private Equity Fund Targets Microfinance Institutions for Women
July, 04 2014
Global - It’s been a while in the making, but this week Women’s World Banking finally closed its first private equity fund to invest in microfinance enterprises that support women. ...
Tanzania Ahead of Kenya in Use of Mobile Money
July, 03 2014
Kenya, Tanzania - Tanzania is ahead of Kenya when it comes to mobile money use, despite the fact that Kenyans have been using mobile money solutions for 7 years ...
Nigeria: Stanbic IBTC Secures N16.3bn for SMEs, Energy Financing
July, 03 2014
Nigeria - A statement announcing the deals explained that of the total amount, Stanbic IBTC Bank would fund the SME projects in Nigeria with $75m, while $25m would be used for the funding of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects ...
Zimbabwe: Microfinanciers Shun Small Entreprises
July, 03 2014
Zimbabwe - Lending by microfinance institutions (MFIs) has remained skewed towards consumptive lending at the expense of supporting small and medium enterprises that are critical to economic development, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said ...
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Commits $15m to Private Equity Fund EuroMena III to Support Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Middle East, North Africa
July, 02 2014
MENA Region - The fund will focus on companies that create new employment opportunities and that empower women and young people. IFC will provide technical expertise on transparency and technical governance to the recipients of EuroMena III investments ...
Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO and President, OPIC: To Measure Impact Investments, You First Need to Define Them
July, 01 2014
Global - You can’t manage what you don’t measure. It’s such a fundamental rule of business that it hardly bears repeating in the day-to-day work of running a small firm, a major corporation or an investment fund ...
Mapping Financial Inclusion with FSP Maps and MIX FINclusionLab
July, 01 2014
Global - FSP Maps (financed by the Gates Foundation) and FINclusionLab (promoted by the MIX) utilize high-quality datasets on the location of financial service providers as well as demographic data to geospatially visualize financial access ...
India: Mobile Money and Digitized Payments Have Few Takers
July, 01 2014
India - InterMedia’s report, Financial services use and emerging digital pathways, focuses on the access and use of banking services and mobile money services; as well as triggers and barriers for potential uptake. ...
Indonesia Receives Us$500 Million from World Bank in Support of Financial Sector Reform Policies
July, 01 2014
Indonesia - The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$500 million Financial Sector Reform and Modernization Development Policy Loan for the Government of Indonesia. ...
EBRD Launches New Information Campaign in Kyrgyzstan
July, 01 2014
Kyrgyzstan - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has launched a new information campaign in Kyrgyzstan about the value of external advice for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ...

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