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Philippines: Govt’s Micro-Finance Facility Goes Nationwide on May 31
May, 31 2017
Philippines - The Government’s micro-finance facility will be made available nationwide to micro entrepreneurs starting May 31, 2017.
The Government’s micro-finance facility will be made available nationwide to micro entrepreneurs starting May 31, 2017. Dubbed as Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3), Trade & Industry Undersecretary for Regional Operations Zenaida Maglaya said the administration’s brainchild of micro-finance facility encourages micro entrepreneurs to borrow money from P3 that will help them finance their businesses.
“P3 is intended to help the underprivileged Filipino entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses. With this program, they can access cheap and easy credit without any hassle. After filling out a half-page application and presenting necessary documents, the money can be released within the day,” Maglaya explained
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New Partnership Aims to Lift Women Microentrepreneurs in Myanmar Out of Poverty
May, 31 2017
Myanmar - From the United Nations to EY, experts have touted the power of microfinance in extending financial inclusion to women in developing countries. A new partnership between the U.S.’ Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Early Dawn Microfinance (DAWN) aims to bring that access to low-income women entrepreneurs in Myanmar.
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Zimbabwe: Most Bank Loans in Credit Registry
May, 30 2017
Zimbabwe - Eighty-four percent of loans in the banking sector have been uploaded to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s credit registry, which went live recently, the Office of the President and Cabinet, which is spearheading doing business reforms, said. The percentage figure represents 314 833 out of a total of 371 485 bank loans extended to 361 525 individuals and 9 960 firms since the RBZ’s credit registry became operational in January this year, the OPC said in an update statement yesterday
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How Rwanda Can Accelerate Uptake of Financial Technology
May, 30 2017
Rwanda - New products, including cross-border mobile money transfers, e-government payment facilities and e-savings services by telecoms, among others, have been rolled out, pushing banks to come up with more strategic interventions to stay relevant and competitive
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Global ATM Market to Grow at 9.8% CAGR from 2016 to 2023
May, 30 2017
Global - According to Global Market Insights, Inc., Global ATM market size worth USD 12.5 billion in 2015, is estimated to register a CAGR of 9.8% over the coming six years. Expanding financial service industry along with growing transactional security concerns will stimulate ATM market share over the coming years of 2016 to 2023.
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Philippines: BSP Liberalizes Micro-banking Functions
May, 30 2017
Philippines - Incoming Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the central bank will further liberalize micro-banking offices (MBOs) to operate as light branch with more functions beyond microlending
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Africa’s Quest for a Cashless Economy Gains Momentum
May, 29 2017
Sub-Saharan Africa - “Transferring the money took less than a minute,” Ahmed told Africa Renewal. A leading Liberian telecom company, Lonestar Cell MTN, launched mobile money in the country in 2013. Since then, Ahmed says, “I pay my electricity, water and cable television bills through my cell phone.” Last year, the company announced it will offer transfers in both US and Liberian dollars — a relief for customers who must currently use the US dollar for payments
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Innovation in Mobile Money: What Are the Risks?
May, 25 2017
Global - Imagine receiving a call from your bank inquiring about several mobile banking transfers on your account that had been initiated from your phone without your knowledge. This is just one example of the emerging types of fraud being experienced by mobile money users across the globe
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Zimbabwe: To what Extent Can Agricultural Economy Be Driven by Microfinance?
May, 25 2017
Zimbabwe - Recent information from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) shows that the country now has 182 registered Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), of which four have been registered to take financial deposits. The number of MFIs is likely to continue growing. What does this mean for a country that is trying to revive and grow its economy through agriculture and mining
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Rwanda: MFIs Tipped on Consumer Protection
May, 24 2017
Rwanda - The majority of microfinance institutions customers do not know their rights, a situation that exposes them to risks and also affects efforts geared at deepening financial inclusion, experts from micro-finance institutions have said
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How Technology Is Opening The Way for Financial Inclusion Of World's 2 Billion Unbanked
May, 24 2017
Global - Consider some of the services you probably rely on your bank to provide: safekeeping, payments processing, and the occasional credit. Your bank also likely facilitates certain intangibles: your sense of financial inclusion, job market participation, and household security. Without these you would easily be vulnerable to potential exclusion and economic prejudice
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IFC and Garanti Leasing Support Women Entrepreneurs in Romania
May, 24 2017
Romania - IFC, member of the World Bank Group, has provided an EUR 5 million loan to Garanti Leasing, part of Garanti Romania, one of the most dynamic financial groups on the local market, for financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owned or managed by women
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Incofin Sells 55% Equity Stake in Colombian Microfinance Institution Crezcamos to Its Founder, Mauricio Osorio
May, 22 2017
Colombia - Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management recently informed MicroCapital that its Rural Impulse Funds I and II have sold all of their shares of Crezcamos, a Colombian microfinance institution (MFI), to Mauricio Osorio, the founder and general manager of Crezcamos. While the prices of the stakes, which totaled 55.2 percent of the shares of the MFI, were not disclosed, Incofin reports that each fund earned an “attractive double-digit return.
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Impact Investing Growth Continues as Industry Begins Tracking to SDGs
May, 19 2017
Global - If you’ve heard that impact investing is growing and that investors are mapping their investments to the Sustainable Development Goals, but wondered if that’s true, now there’s evidence. The Global Impact Investing Network released its annual impact investing report this week and several of its findings point to continued growth of the sector.
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Cambodia: MFI Slowdown: Real or Illusory?
May, 19 2017
Cambodia - After several years of rapid growth, the expansion of credit provided by the Kingdom’s myriad microfinance institutions (MFIs) stalled abruptly last year, raising concerns poorer Cambodians could be pushed toward loan sharks to obtain credit or cover their debts, the World Bank said in its latest economic update on Cambodia
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Norway Development Fund Bets Big on African Finance
May, 19 2017
Africa - The $2 billion fund, which is more and more concentrating its investments in sub-Saharan Africa, placed more than half its new capital last year in financial institutions. That focus helped salvage returns last year.
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Nigeria: Apex Bank Set to Recommence Disbursement of Micro, Medium Enterprises Fund
May, 18 2017
Nigeria - The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will soon recommence the disbursement of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) to micro, small and medium businesses. Dr Mudashiru Olaitan, the Director, Development Finance, CBN stated that the apex bank is in the process of overhauling the disbursement process
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Kenya: Vodacom to Buy R35bn Stake in Safaricom
May, 17 2017
Kenya - The deal, which involves Vodacom acquiring 35% in Kenya's largest mobile network operator, is seen as a vote of confidence in Vodacom's management and is part of Vodafone's strategy to consolidate some of its African businesses under the umbrella of its subsidiary
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India: Brave Bankers
May, 16 2017
India - There has been a flurry of activity in the financial sector. As we go to press, six small finance banks - a new category of banks to advance the governments financial inclusion agenda - have started operations, out of the 10 that had got the Reserve Bank of India's, or RBI's, "in-principal" approval in September 2015
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Blockchain: A Revolutionary Catalyst for Financial Inclusiveness
May, 09 2017
Global - A recent World Economic Forum roundtable discussion reviewed how technology can help the UN reach its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, blockchain — a new distributed platform — is uniquely positioned to accelerate the movement towards greater financial inclusiveness, solving hunger and poverty, and creating sustainable jobs
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EU Bank Introduces Financial Instruments to Support Georgian SMEs
May, 08 2017
Georgia - Delivering on its key objective of private sector development in Georgia, the EIB Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund) is implementing two new programs developed jointly with the European Commission, both of which were prepared in the context of the Association Agreement of Georgia with the EU: the DCFTA Initiative East and the EU Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020: InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators
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IFC Assists Vietnam with Sustainable Agricultural Production
May, 08 2017
Vietnam - International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has invested 230 billion VND (approximately 10.2 million USD) in PAN Farm JSC to support the expansion of its seed business, which is suitable for local weather conditions in the Mekong Delta and the south central coastal regions.
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Meeting Education Finance Needs in Rural Uganda
May, 08 2017
Uganda - Paying for their children’s education is one of the biggest challenges and most important goals for rural Ugandans like Christine and Fred. InterMedia’s Financial Inclusion Insights survey found that 84 percent of Ugandans have at some point lacked funds to pay for part or all of their families’ school costs. The result is that their children are sent home and kept from school until parents are able to pay.
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Zimbabwe: Turning Goats Into 'Cash-Cows'
May, 07 2017
Zimbabwe - So, while the idea of livestock as collateral for loan may be a plausible one and one that might even be considered innovative, it is hard to imagine the use of livestock as a currency
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Fintech Trends in Emerging Markets
May, 07 2017
Global - In the developing parts of the world, fintech offers financial services to millions of unbanked people.It’s an important innovative tool in ensuring financial inclusion.
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India: The Rise Fund Invests in Dodla Dairy Limited
May, 03 2017
India - The Rise Fund, a global fund committed to achieving measureable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns, today announced it has agreed to invest $50M in Dodla Dairy Limited (Dodla), a fresh dairy product company offering a wide range of milk products throughout South India
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The Rise Fund Invests in Dodla Dairy Limited
May, 03 2017
India - The Rise Fund, a global fund committed to achieving measureable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns, today announced it has agreed to invest $50M in Dodla Dairy Limited (Dodla), a fresh dairy product company offering a wide range of milk products throughout South India
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IFC and Myanmar Central Bank Promote New Credit Reporting Regulation
May, 01 2017
Myanmar - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has successfully supported the Central Bank of Myanmar to develop a regulation for credit reporting—a key step in building up modern financial infrastructures that are necessary to improve access to credit for consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises in the country
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