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Dec 2015
Mobile Loans to Enhance Financial Inclusion in Nigeria
December, 31 2015
Nigeria - Participants at this year's Committee of e-Banking Heads (CeBIH) conference, have expressed their strong view that e-business sector will witness more financial inclusion and advancement in the coming years, driven chiefly by the concept of mobile loans ...
India: Get Ready for Fin-tech Boom
December, 31 2015
India - The world has come to the brink almost every year for 10 years and yet investors with a five-to-seven-year horizon are in the green with their investments. Ignore the noise and stay with your plan. If you don’t have one, get one ...
Sustainable Development Goals Kick Off With Start of New Year
December, 30 2015
Global - As 2015 comes to an end, and with it the 15-year cycle of the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations officially will usher in – on 1 January 2016 – an even more ambitious set of goals to banish a whole host of social ills by 2030 ...
India: Omidyar, Zephyr Peacock Invest in Swarna Pragati Housing
December, 22 2015
India - Housing micro-finance institution Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance Pvt Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series B round of funding from Bangalore- based private equity firm Zephyr Peacock and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network. ...
IFC Lends $10 Million Worth Credit Line to Nigeria’s LAPD MfB
December, 22 2015
Nigeria - IFC, the investment arm of the World Bank, will provide $10 million loan to LAPO Microfinance Bank in Nigeria to roll out agent banking that will increase access to financial services for low-income customers, small-scale entrepreneurs and rural communities. ...
FMO in the Lead to Support Job Creation in Sri Lanka
December, 21 2015
Sri Lanka - On Friday 18 December, the Dutch development bank FMO has arranged the first tranche of a USD 153 million senior secured syndicated loan for Commercial Leasing & Finance in Sri Lanka. ...
The Confederation of Indian Industy: Enormous Potential in Non-Bank Finance and Ways to Make it Happen
December, 21 2015
India - The Confederation of Indian Industry organised its 1st Annual Non-Banking Financial Companies Summit with the theme: Regulatory Paradigm & Contours of Growth – Vision 2020 in Mumbai, with The Boston Consulting Group as the technical partner. ...
Pakistan:Government Devises Strategy for Financial Inclusion
December, 21 2015
Pakistan - The government along with central bank has devised a comprehensive strategy to achieve financial inclusion through various reforms and initiatives in the banking sector, but there are challenges ahead to meet the set targets, a report published by Economic Intelligence Unit said ...
EFSE Provides EUR 10 Million Loan to UniCredit for Broadening Access to Housing Finance in Serbia
December, 17 2015
Serbia - The European Fund for Southeast Europe and UniCredit Bank Serbia are expanding their partnership. An additional senior loan of EUR 10 million, provided by the EFSE to the Bank, will serve to finance additional housing loans for private households ...
How Microfinancing Has Changed African Communities for the Better
December, 17 2015
Africa - Opportunity International, a global microfinance charity, believes it’s found the answer; changing the provision of finances to fuel education and create jobs for a whole community ...
Rwanda and Ghana: New Data from CGAP Sets Benchmark for Use of Mobile Financial Services
December, 16 2015
Rwanda and Ghana - New financial inclusion survey data from CGAP offers a first glimpse into mobile money usage in Ghana and Rwanda, where in both countries 17% of adults have active mobile money accounts ...
Pärtel Tomberg, Co-Founder, Bondora: What Trends Will Shape the P2P Lending Industry in 2016?
December, 16 2015
Global - The peer-to-peer lending market is looking for another massive growth from 2016, but before holiday season kicks in, we here at Bondora have decided to dig deeper to see what will be the underlying trends shaping the surging industry in the new year ...
Mobile Money Making its Way in Ethiopia
December, 16 2015
Ethiopia - Mobile money started to make its way in Ethiopia allowing banks and micro finance institutions to provide customers to opportunity to make and receive payments through mobile devices. Mobile money providers operate as agents taking deposits and handing out cash through the mobile system ...
Rupen Scofield, CEO, Finca: The Future of Microfinance in the FinTech Age
December, 15 2015
Global - As 2015 comes to a close, what’s in store for microfinance? What will it look like in five, or ten years’ time, and did 2015 give us a glimpse of the future? Rupert Scofield, president and CEO of leading microfinance institution FINCA reflects ...
New IFC Report Examines Challenges to Microfinance in the Arab World
December, 15 2015
MENA - A new study from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has found that external risks, security concerns, and over-indebtedness are perceived as the most serious challenges facing the microfinance sector in the Arab World ...
Competition in the Kenyan Digital Finance Market: Mobile Money
December, 14 2015
Kenya - There has been a great deal of international discourse on the topic of mobile money after Kenya’s successful implementation of M-PESA, and as we recently wrote, the success is increasingly shared by banks. This is a clear victory for Kenyan customers, who now have more options to choose from. ...
Pakistan: Financial Inclusion - Upping the Game
December, 14 2015
Pakistan - The government likes taking credit for every small positive development. However, more than the government, it's the central bank's efforts that have been the drivers behind the improvement in the country's microfinance and branchless banking. And since these two are key factors for financial inclusion, Pakistan has been doing well on The Global Microscope Rankings ...
Ethiopia: Enat Facilitates Microfinancing for Women
December, 14 2015
Ethiopia - Enat Bank S.C. has signed an agreement with two micro-financing institutions, Poverty Eradication and Community Empowerment, and Eshet Micro Finance Institution share companies. The agreement will enable the institutions to borrow from Enat at reduced rates ...
MFIN Launches Revised Code of Conduct for Microfinance Institutions in India at Inclusive Finance India Summit 2015
December, 12 2015
India - Microfinance Institutions Network, the Self Regulatory Organisation of the RBI regulated NBFC MFIs has launched the revised Code of Conduct for Microfinance Institutions in India today at the Inclusive Finance India Summit 2015 ...
World’s First Impact Focused Equity Crowdfunding Portal Launches in Africa, to Support SMEs
December, 10 2015
Africa - Small and medium-sized enterprises are the primary job creation engine in Africa, accounting for over 95% of firms and 60%-70% of employment. Yet, SME’s on the continent report access to finance as the biggest obstacle to growth. Malaik, an impact-focused equity crowdfunding portal, test launched today, to connect investors interested in impact investment opportunities and entrepreneurs raising equity finance ...
UAE: Microcredit Summit Campaign, AGFUND to Organize Microcredit Summit 2016
December, 08 2015
UAE - Around 700 people from Africa, the Middle East, and beyond will gather from March 15 to 17, 2016, in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., for a 3-day conference focusing on financial inclusion and microfinance services that reach the most vulnerable and marginalized and help improve their lives ...
Indonesia: Govt Offers Micro-loans with Daily Installment for Street Vendors
December, 07 2015
Indonesia - The initiative to disburse micro-loans for street vendors is in line with the government's target to disburse Rp 30 trillion ($2.17 billion) worth of KUR before the end of 2015 and around Rp 100 trillion to Rp 120 trillion next year. ...
M.Mohieldin, the World Bank Group: Finding the Missing Millions Can Help Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
December, 07 2015
Global - While intending to speak about SDG target 16.9 on legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030, it became obvious that the importance of robust identification goes beyond its intrinsic value: it also enables the achievement of many other SDGs, such as financial inclusion, reduced corruption, gender equality, access to health services and appropriate social protection schemes ...
Somalia: MicroDahab to Lend Solar Powered Water Pumps Under New Microfinance Initiative
December, 07 2015
Somalia - MicroDahab MFI, a microfinance subsidiary of Dahabshiil Group, has announced a collaboration with SolarGen Technologies to create the first 'ijarah thumma Iqtina' ('lease to purchase') sustainable energy product in Somalia. ...
Fullerton Myanmar Welcomes IFC’s Investment, Expanding Access to Microenterprises
December, 07 2015
Myanmar - Fullerton Finance (Myanmar) Company Limited, a licensed microfinance company in Myanmar, announced that IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has made a $1.2 million equity investment in the company to help the microfinance provider expand lending to smaller businesses and individual borrowers. ...
Nandagopal Rajan, Columnist, The India Express: India Will Lead The World In Digital Financial Inclusion - Bill Gates
December, 07 2015
India - Microsoft founder Bill Gates said recently that in a couple of years India will lead the way in digital financial inclusion. Speaking at a panel discussion on Transforming India through digital financial inclusion, Gates, in association with NASSCOM, said they were helping the government implement its projects in sector ...
Nepal: The Himalayan Times 10 Years Ago - Switzerland Ready to be a Facilitator
December, 07 2015
Nepal - More than 66 million of the world’s poorest people — 84 per cent of them women — received micro loans last year to start or expand micro businesses, according to a report of the Microcredit Summit Campaign ...
Dai-ichi Life Invests in First Microfinance Bonds Issued by the EBRD for Institutional Investor
December, 07 2015
Global - The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company has purchased $100 million of Microfinance bonds issued by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the international financial institution that invests in projects in 36 countries, from central Europe to central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean, becoming the sole investor in the bond that supports EBRD’s funding to micro or small-sized enterprises ...
Foreign Aid Needs to Help Them, Not Us
December, 04 2015
Global - Earlier this year Foreign Minister Julie Bishop released a booklet on women's empowerment to commemorate International Women's Day. It made mention of the Micro-enterprise Development Program, which was partly funded by the Australian government and which has helped some poor women living in rural Nepal gain access to credit loans. ...
The Solar Company Making a Profit on Poor Africans
December, 02 2015
Kenya - M-Kopa plans to be a $1 billion company by selling solar panels to rural residents—and providing them with credit ...
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Launches Climate Resilience Credit Line: First Tranche to Bank Eskhata in Tajikistan
December, 02 2015
Tajikistan - New financing mechanism will be introduced in Tajikistan to counter effects of climate change ...
Microfinance Opportunities to Alleviate Poverty in Tonga
December, 02 2015
Tonga - The event has brought together vendors, mainly women, from around Tonga, who are part of the TDB’s Microfinance program aimed at helping alleviate poverty in Tonga ...
Li Peilin, Vice president, CASS: The Development of Microcredit Can Promote Public Entrepreneurship
December, 02 2015
China - On the China Microfinance Union-sponsored 2015 China Microfinance Forum, Li Peilin, vice president of CASS, said the central policy guidelines and the people in joint efforts, microfinance and inclusive financial undertakings will make further achievements ...
Expanding Rural Finance to Colombia’s Impoverished Farmers
December, 01 2015
Colombia - Rural finance is emerging as one of Colombia’s most pressing development challenges as the country moves toward a peace agreement to end a 50 year-long civil war and looks to provide for the impoverished rural areas, considered by many to be one of the causes of the conflict ...
Rice University: Impact Investing Is Making Headway in Latin America
December, 01 2015
Latin America - Impact investing, an investment strategy that generates financial returns while directing funds to entities providing goods and services to the poor, is making headway in Latin America, according to an issue brief from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy ...
S. Zhussupov, Chairman, KMF: Kazakhstan - The Major Challenge of Microfinance
December, 01 2015
Kazakhstan - In contrast to traditional banks, microfinance institutions have a direct interest in the success of their clients’ businesses. This unique relationship benefits both sides ...

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