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How India’s Microlenders Are Weathering the Liquidity Storm
November, 30 2018
India - India’s microlenders, who returned to strong growth after a period of uncertainty following demonetisation, are facing their second challenge in two years. This time it is the liquidity crunch facing non bank lenders, which could force microfinance institutions to slow growth
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Financial Inclusion: Lessons from Kenya
November, 28 2018
Kenya - Kenya is a typical example of how mobile and digital technologies can help drive financial inclusion. The country moved from a dismal rate of financial exclusion of over 40percent of adults to 17 percent between 2006 and 2016 (EfInA)
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ADB Approves $50m for Microenterprise Development in Bangladesh
November, 28 2018
Bangladesh - The Asian Development Bank approved $50 million loan to promote microenterprise development in Bangladesh through a credit line to Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation, a development finance organization, and its partner microfinance institutions
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Using Microcredit to Increase Rice Yield in Bangladesh
November, 26 2018
Bangladesh - While standard microloans tend to be geared toward business and entrepreneurial endeavors, in recent years Bangladesh has made a name for itself internationally by providing microcredits to tenant farmers
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Digital Revolution Putting Pakistan on Path to Progress
November, 26 2018
Pakistan - Pakistan is undergoing a digital revolution owing to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is a flagship project of Beijing’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), according to an article published on the World Economic Forum (WEF) website
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New EIB Study on Banking in Africa
November, 23 2018
Africa - Resilience of financial sectors and financial inclusion is improving.
But banking sectors still have a long way to go to catch up with other regions
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Uruguay's Bankingly Raises $5.25 Million Funding
November, 20 2018
Uruguay - Bankingly, one of Latin America’s leading providers of world-class digital banking channels to financial institutions, announced today that it has raised $5.25Mn in a round led by Elevar Equity, and in which The Rise Fund, through its co-investment partnership with Elevar Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst also participated
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NASCU, Mastercard Driving Financial Inclusion in Zambia
November, 20 2018
Zambia - Association of Saving and Credit Unions (NASCU), the apex organisation for all financial cooperatives in Zambia, and global payments technology company Mastercard today announced a landmark agreement to drive financial inclusion by extending formal financial products and services to underserved members of cooperatives
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Green Bonds’ Newer Shades Help Investors Meet Social Aims
November, 19 2018
Global - Green bonds help investors address the environmental, social or governance risks that can have a material effect on returns. The concept behind it is now expanding into other types of so-called labelled bonds, namely those dedicated to a specific social purpose
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H. Daya and P. Mader: India - Did Demonetisation Accelerate Financial Inclusion?
November, 17 2018
India - The claim that removing cash would improve financial access for the poor has become a fallback argument for demonetisation, despite notebandi failing to achieve its other objectives. Like many other arguments made for abolishing cash in favour of digital payments, this claim does not stand up to scrutiny
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East Africa: Borrowing by Mobile Phone Gets Some Poor People into Trouble
November, 17 2018
East Africa - Mobile money, which offers the equivalent of a basic bank account to almost anyone with any sort of phone, has long been seen as a boon for financial inclusion. So recent evidence that it is leaving problems in its wake is causing dismay. Digital credit through mobile phones is leading in some places to overborrowing, hardship and—horror of horrors—even more financial exclusion
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K. Kumar, Director at Omidyar Network: Pakistan - The Promise of Frontier Markets
November, 15 2018
Pakistan - FinTech is an exciting field anywhere in the world right now. But in certain markets, FinTech has the potential to truly shape the future of finance. In these countries — which include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, parts of Africa and Latin America — a number of factors are coming together, creating the opportunity to leapfrog from a dismal banking landscape to a digital, more inclusive marketplace
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Cambodia: Hattha Kaksekar Ltd Bonds All Purchased By Institutions
November, 15 2018
Cambodia - The first Cambodian corporate bonds to be issued by microfinance firm Hattha Kaksekar Ltd (HKL) have been completely purchased by institutional investors when subscription ended on Tuesday. This enabled it to raise 120 billion riel ($30 million) for the growth of its lending business
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How to Attract Private Capital to the Poorest Countries
November, 12 2018
Global - Development finance unlocked some $81 billion in private capital for global development between 2012 and 2015. Only $5.5 billion, or less than 7% of the total, ended up in one of the world’s 47 least developed countries
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Enhancing Financial Inclusion Among Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Entrepreneurs in Mexico
November, 09 2018
Mexico - A new report by the Institute for Business & Social Impact at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, surveys microenterprise owners clustered at the bottom of the pyramid in Mexico and investigates possible reasons for their disinterest in formal financial services
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Zimbabwe: Mobile Payment Deal for Cotton Farmers
November, 09 2018
Zimbabwe - Cotton farmers who have been struggling to access mobile payment due to lack of network in their remote areas can now access the facility after the Cotton Marketers Association and a local telecommunications company entered into a financial inclusion deal
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ShoreCap III Makes Maiden Investment
November, 08 2018
Sub-Saharan Africa - Equator Capital Partners, an impact fund manager, has announced the first investment from its new ShoreCap III fund in MFS Africa, a Pan-African fintech company, operating the largest digital payments “hub” on the continent.
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Fintech Activity in Latin America Spreads to 18 Countries
November, 07 2018
Latin America - The report Fintech en América Latina 2018: crecimiento y consolidación (Fintech in Latin America 2018: Growth and Consolidation), published today by the Inter-American Development Bank and Finnovista, identified 1,166 financial technology startups (Fintech), a rise of 66% since the first study published by the two organizations in 2017
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Why Rwanda Tops EIU Business-friendly Survey
November, 07 2018
Rwanda - Rwanda has topped its East African peers as the country with the most conducive environment for enabling its citizens to obtain access to financial services.
It is followed by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, according to a new survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
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No Silver Bullet for Women Entrepreneurs
November, 07 2018
Asia - Women’s entrepreneurship is a top regional concern in Asia, where women own more than half of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in some countries. Even where women are starting businesses at relatively high rates, however, their profits and growth are constrained relative to their male counterparts
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IFC Finances Uzbek Ipak Yuli Bank's Plan to Help MSMEs
November, 06 2018
Uzbekistan - International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, provided a local currency-linked loan of up to $15 million to the Uzbek Ipak Yuli Bank to expand lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Uzbekistan, IFC said in a press release
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Boston Is a Growing Hub of Global – and Local – Impact Investing
November, 01 2018
USA - When Jessica Brooks started at Boston Community Capital, it was one in a handful of impact investors in Boston. The kind of work the community development financial institution—now called BlueHub Capital—was doing wasn’t called impact investing then. That was 17 years ago. “Impact investing” came later.
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