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Could Your Facebook Profile Get You a Mortgage?
March, 31 2015
Global - In the developing world, using people's social graph to determine creditworthiness is opening up billions of new people to the benefits of credit—and a chance at the middle class
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The 169 Commandments
March, 28 2015
Global - The SDGs are supposed to set out how to improve the lives of the poor in emerging countries, and how to steer money and government policy towards areas where they can do the most good. But the efforts of the SDG drafting committees are so sprawling and misconceived that the entire enterprise is being set up to fail.
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Indonesia: Four Major Banks Launch Branchless Banking Program
March, 27 2015
Indonesia - The Financial Services Authority (OJK), along with four of the nation’s largest banks, launched on Thursday a nationwide campaign on financial services without physical branches to help boost access to the banking system in rural areas
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Funding for Financial Inclusion Rises to $31 Billion in 2013 - TRFN
March, 25 2015
Global - The annual Funders Survey by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), which analyses trends in international funding for financial inclusion, found that donors had allocated at least $31 billion (20.9 billion pounds) in 2013, up from $29 billion (19.5 billion pounds) the previous year
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Tania Carnegie, KPMG Impact Ventures: Impact Investing - Three Factors to Consider
March, 24 2015
Global - KPMG interviewed a select group of leaders in venture capital, wealth management, banking and capital markets, and other areas of traditional finance. We wanted to understand their perspectives on impact investing and opportunities for government policy to stimulate the investment of more private capital in achieving positive social outcomes
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Deepening Financial Inclusion in East Africa
March, 24 2015
East Africa - According to reports, Kenya has greater access to financial points than its neighbours. In addition, the country boasts of one of the continent leaders in financial inclusion largely driven by convergence of the telecommunication sector
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Give Women Credit for Work to Strengthen Families
March, 23 2015
Global - The adage -- "a woman's work is never done" -- exists for a reason. Whether it's inside or outside the home, women's labor sustains families. How we assess women's work has long been a contested issue. In the developing world, it's especially important.
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Micro-credit Pioneer Gives Hope to Future Bosnia Entrepreneurs
March, 23 2015
Bosnia and Herzegovina - The kind of experience gathered in Bangladesh doing social business, which has been very helpful to poor people, brought Yunus’s Social Business to Albania, Brasil, Columbia, Haiti, Tunisia, Uganda, India and now Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Everybody Loves M-Shwari: So Why Isn't Everybody Using the Mobile Banking Service?
March, 23 2015
Kenya - Despite high user satisfaction, M-Shwari is not the only, or the primary, financial tool for its users: 10 percent of users store at least half of their savings on M-Shwari and 20 percent receive at least half of their loans from M-Shwari. Most users reported relying on another financial service, such as SACCO, for example, for day-to-day cash-flow management with M-Shwari playing a complementary role
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28M Filipinos Covered by Micro-insurance as of 2014
March, 22 2015
Philippines - As of 2014, 28 million Filipinos have micro-insurance coverage, according to the Insurance Commission (IC). The agency sees a continued growth in this segment as more Filipinos turn to micro-insurance for protection and financial security, especially for calamities
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CSD Report Offers Insights into How Young People Save in Developing Countries
March, 18 2015
Global - Younger youth save more than older; parental involvement is key. A new project from the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis shows, among other findings, that girls in developing countries, given equal opportunities, will save as much or more in formal financial institutions than boys
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Capital Impact for SME Fund Managers
March, 17 2015
Global - Over two-thirds of SMEs in emerging markets lack sufficient access to capital. Specialised SME investment funds are increasingly stepping in to fill this financing gap
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Sierra Leone: 70% Economically Active Salone Women Are Market People – IFC
March, 16 2015
Sierra Leone - A study launched in Freetown on Friday 13th March 2015 by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) reveals that an estimated 1.5 million Sierra Leonean business women are in the micro or small business sector. Yet, according to the study, most of these market women struggle to access finance and training they need to develop, including saving, credit, leasing and pension facilities
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Nigeria: New Research Unveils Path for Women Entrepreneurs
March, 15 2015
Nigeria - A new research by an international funded economic empowerment and poverty reduction programme, the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) has recommended direct disbursement of credit to women entrepreneurs for the purposes of setting up or expansion of their businesses
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Seeding the Market
March, 14 2015
Global - Root’s business is lending to the owners of small farms in poor countries. An estimated 450m of these smallholdings exist worldwide, typically providing a subsistence-at-best income for more than 2 billion of the poorest people on the planet.
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Pakistan: SBP to Increase M-wallets to 50m in Five Years - Wathra
March, 13 2015
Pakistan - The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has developed a strategy, in collaboration with the World Bank, to bring the total number of mobile bank accountholders to over 50 million in the next five years, said its Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra on Thursday
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Agent Network Expansion: What Can We Learn from Cote d’Ivoire?
March, 13 2015
Ivory Coast - More than 1,500 new agents were deployed during the project. Starting from a pool of about 4,000 airtime resellers and small shops, the agent selection process was designed to recruit those demonstrating the greatest potential for mobile money activity
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The Unbanked ‘CFO’
March, 12 2015
Global - There are 2.5 billion in the world without a bank account. That number is familiar and been reported widely. What’s lesser known is that a majority of those 2.5 billion unbanked people are women
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India: Sa-Dhan Gets Self-regulatory Organization Status After MFIN
March, 12 2015
India - Sa-Dhan, an association of microfinance institutions (MFIs), said on Thursday that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had accorded it the status of a self-regulatory organization (SRO), which will give it the powers to monitor MFIs and ensure the lenders are in compliance with the rules.
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Morocco’s Microfinance Market, ‘Stable, Primed for Growth’: IFC
March, 11 2015
Morocco - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, conducted a study on the crisis that befell Morocco’s microfinance sector from 2009 to 2011 which showed that the Kingdom’s microfinance is “stable and primed for growth.
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The 100% Club
March, 10 2015
Global - A growing number of high-net-worth individuals, family offices and private foundations are placing their entire portfolios into impact investments that attempt to drive positive and measurable social or environmental outcomes with various levels of financial returns
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India: SME Contribution to Employment Increased Threefold
March, 10 2015
India - The total employment in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector has increased over three times to 805.24 lakh in the Fourth All India Census of Small Scale Industries as compared to 249.33 lakh in the Third MSME Census
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Indonesia: World Bank’s IFC to Inject $22m in Bank Mayora
March, 10 2015
Indonesia - The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s financing arm, is said to be planning to invest Rp 290 billion ($22 million) in mid-sized lender Bank Mayora to help finance micro, small and medium enterprises in Indonesia
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TriLinc Global Impact Fund Makes Impact Investments in Africa and Latin America
March, 09 2015
Africa and Latin America - TriLinc Global Impact Fund announced today that it has approved a total of $15.5 million in trade finance facilities to companies in South Africa, Zambia, and Argentina, bringing total financing commitments as of February 28, 2015 to $74.7 million for business expansion and socioeconomic development through its holdings in Africa and Latin America.
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Global Sustainable Investing Pegged at US$21 Trillion
March, 08 2015
Global - The global sustainable investment market has grown substantially in both absolute and relative terms, according to The Global Sustainable Investment Review 2014, a report released by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA)
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How Impact Philanthropy is Shape-shifting
March, 06 2015
Global - A study by Exponent Philanthropy suggests philanthropists and family foundations are becoming more impact-oriented, doling out fewer grants but with larger dollar amounts given to only the top-performing nonprofits
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Global Impact Assets Expected to Hit $12.7 Billion for 2014
March, 05 2015
Global - Global impact investing — investments designed to generate a social or environmental impact as well as often targeting a competitive investment return — were expected to grow to $12.7 billion last year, up 20% from the previous year, according to a report released Thursday by Global Impact Investing Network
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Funding the Unfunded: India Helps Small Business Borrow to Grow
March, 05 2015
India - MUDRA bank - to be set up with $3.2 billion of capital to help microfinancing firms to lend more - should help leverage up firms which account for 40 percent of India's exports, just as India tries to rekindle growth, lenders and entrepreneurs say
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Indonesia: State Lenders to Resume Govt-backed Micro Loan Project
March, 05 2015
Indonesia - Major state-owned lenders Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Mandiri are set to resume the disbursement of micro loans (KUR), which was suspended in January following reports of rising non-performing loans (NPLs)
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India: Funding Costs of NBFC-MFIs Likely to Come Down - Icra
March, 05 2015
India - The cost of funds of NBFC-MFIs (Non-Banking Finance Company-Micro Finance Institutions) could come down by 100-400 basis points depending on the share of funding they are able to receive from the proposed Mudra (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Bank, according to Icra.
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Indonesia: BTPN Secures 300mn USD Loan from IFC, SMBC
March, 04 2015
Indonesia - International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) will lend PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk (BTPN) another 300 million USD to facilitate lending to low-income families, micro and small businesses, and women entrepreneurs, Antara News reported
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Mobile Money Goes Global in 2015 Reports GSMA
March, 03 2015
Global - In its 2014 State of the Industry: Mobile Financial Services for the Unbanked report, the GSMA highlighted the “dizzying growth” of the sector over the last few years and noted that there are now 250 mobile money services in 89 countries
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New Microfinance Bank Licensed in Kenya
March, 01 2015
Kenya - The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has granted a licence to Daraja Microfinance Bank Limited (Daraja MFB), making it the tenth microfinance bank in the country.
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