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Nov 2018
South Sudan Seeks to Widen Financial Inclusion Using Mobile Money Platform
November, 30 2018
South Sudan - South Sudan on Friday granted license to a local private company to commence mobile money and electronic cash transfer in a bid to widen financial inclusion targeting millions of impoverished people without access to financial services ...
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 ...
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) ...
Cambodia: AMK Microfinance Focus Still on Small, Micro Loans for Rural Market
November, 28 2018
Cambodia - The new shareholder of AMK Microfinance, one of the few remaining microfinance institutions (MFIs) to focus on small loans in rural areas, on Tuesday expressed a commitment to preserve its business model ...
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 ...
Pakistan: SMEs Can Avail Bigger Loans From Microfinance Banks
November, 27 2018
Pakistan - Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can now avail bigger loans from microfinance financial institutions to play an important role in jobs creation and enhanced exports ...
India: IFC Plans to Invest Around $20 Mn in Suryoday Small Finance Bank
November, 27 2018
India - World Bank's investment arm said that the proposed investment would demonstrate IFC's continued support to its financial inclusion partners, which have been impacted post demonetisation. ...
No Need for Customers of Indonesia's Illegal Lenders to Repay Loans: Official
November, 27 2018
Indonesia - Indonesia is battling a wave of unlicensed "fintech" lenders who avoid registering with authorities and often employ aggressive debt collection practices ...
Clean Power Sees First Win over Fossil Fuels in Emerging Markets
November, 27 2018
Global - Developing countries have added more clean power capacity than fossil fuel generation for the first time ever, charging ahead of wealthier nations in the global green energy push, according to Bloomberg NEF ...
Nigeria: Akeredolu Gives N550million Loan to Market Women, Artisans
November, 26 2018
Nigeria - Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN on Monday boosted the economic activities of Ondo State by giving the sum of N550 million loan to market women, various entrepreneurial groups and cooperatives societies in the state ...
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 ...
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 ...
Digital Lending to India MSMEs Can Grow to $100 Bn by 2023: Omidyar-BCG Report
November, 23 2018
India - Digital lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India can grow 10 to 15- fold by 2023 to Rs 6-7 trillion ($80-100 billion) in annual disbursements, said a joint study by philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). ...
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 ...
Egypt: CBE Launches Enhancing Financial Inclusion Program with Funding of €3.2M
November, 23 2018
Egypt - The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) launched the program "Strengthening Financial Coverage, Censorship and Supervision of Banks in Egypt" with funding of €3.2 million as a technical assistance for three years. ...
Independent Evaluation Shows that IFAD Support to Burkina Faso Has Increased Agricultural Productivity and Incomes of Households
November, 23 2018
Burkina Faso - IFAD has been one of the major partners financing rural development interventions in Burkina Faso since 1981 and has disbursed US$276.7 million out of total project costs amounting to $548.4 million when co-financing has been included ...
Nick O'Donohoe, CDC Group CEO: Q&A on Impact investing, CDC in India, and a Riskier Portfolio
November, 22 2018
Global - As the impact investing industry gains steam, questions are emerging about the role of development finance institutions in mobilizing capital toward development goals as more mainstream investors get involved ...
Usoro Usoro, MTN Nigeria Mobile Financial Services: Financial Inclusion - Lessons from Ghana
November, 22 2018
Ghana - Ghana’s state of financial inclusion has been improving; between 2011 and 2017, the percentage of Ghanaian adults with access to formal financial services increased from 29 percent to 58 percent ...
UK: Big Exchange Platform Promises Impact Investment that 'Works For Everyone'
November, 22 2018
UK - London-based Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of The Big Issue magazine, announced this week a new mobile-first investment platform that will bring a range of social and environmental impact funds direct to a retail audience for the first time ...
UAE, Jordan Sign $100m Agreement to Fund SMEs in the Kingdom
November, 21 2018
Jordan - The agreement will see around 22,000 projects funded over five years with 28,000 jobs created for Jordanian youth ...
Financing Entrepreneurs Can Build Developing African Economies
November, 21 2018
Sub-Saharan Africa - Entrepreneurs have an important role to play, even in the poorest countries, the UN's body for trade has told RFI, as African countries marked Africa Industrialisation Day, Tuesday ...
Financial Inclusion: Sandbox Set up to Help Fintechs Fix Finance in Rural Africa
November, 21 2018
Sub-Saharan Africa - A new generation of digital products has slashed the cost of remittances and helped the unbanked meet short-term household or business liquidity needs, but there has been a downside ...
Nigeria’s Central Bank Could Hamstring Local Fintech Startups With Costly New Regulation
November, 20 2018
Nigeria - New regulation requirements by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could make it difficult for some fintech companies to operate ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
India: Aavishkaar to Raise ₹225 Crore From US-Based TIAA
November, 19 2018
India - The funding from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association will help Aavishkaar-Intellecap scale up its asset management and lending busines ...
Côte d'Ivoire: Ivorian Provider Wins European Microfinance Award
November, 19 2018
Côte d'Ivoire - This year’s award recognised companies that practice “financial inclusion through technology” ...
'Impact Investing' in Vietnam Creates Social Impact as Well as Financial Growth
November, 19 2018
Vietnam - According to a recent Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) Intellecap report, Việt Nam has seen increasing market interest in impact investment, with nearly half of such impact deals made since 2015 ...
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 ...
Egypt: EALB Grants EGP 50M to Tamweely Microfinance to Fund Micro-enterprises
November, 17 2018
Egypt - The Egyptian Arab Land Bank (EALB) and Tamweely Microfinance signed a cooperation protocol under which the company will be awarded EGP 50m in the first phase to be re-lent for micro-enterprises for the most disadvantaged people and underprivileged women ...
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 ...
Cashless India Is Not Happening; Here’s Why
November, 16 2018
India - Policymakers looking to eliminate financial exclusion should be mindful of the reality that half of the world is dependent on cash, say experts ...
Burkina Faso: Ensuring Food Security, Network of Rural Cooperative Lenders Collaborate to Increase Resilience
November, 16 2018
Burkina Faso - The agreement between USAID DCA and Faîtière des Caisses Populaires du Burkina (FCPB), a nationwide network of savings cooperatives and microcredit institutions, has already supported $3.1 million in lending throughout rural Burkina Faso, with millions more to come ...
Philsys Aims to Accelerate Financial Inclusion Among Filipinos
November, 15 2018
Philippines - Aside from providing each citizen and resident alien valid proof identity, one of the main objectives of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) is accelerate the government’s programs for financial inclusion ...
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 ...
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 ...
New Report by the London Stock Exchange Group Puts SMEs' Funding Gap in Africa at More Than $140 Billion
November, 13 2018
Sub-Saharan Africa - The report recognizes four challenges to raising capital for SMEs on the continent for them to be able to survive, and possibly scale up; inefficiency of African capital market in supporting SMEs, low capacity and the need for upskilling and training, minimal visibility to a broad investor base, and an absence of government-led strategies to develop the SMEs ecosystem ...
India Prime Minister Says Financial Tech Needs to Be a 'Movement' — Not a 'Mechanism'
November, 13 2018
India - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the development of financial technology, or fintech, should be a movement that can improve the lives of the world's most marginalized people ...
Cambodia: Bank Loan Portfolios Set to Be at Least 10% in Local Currency
November, 13 2018
Cambodia - Cambodian commercial banks are showing a stronger preference to provide riel loans to microfinance institutions (MFI) as they rush to increase the share of local currency in their loan portfolio to at least 10 per cent by the end of next year ...
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 ...
R. Scofield, President and CEO, Finca International: Impact Investing - Prioritizing Change over Profit
November, 12 2018
Global - Rather than impact investing being defined by those who demand strong financial returns, those of us truly invested in impact need to set ourselves apart. ...
Citi and Banco Guayaquil Sign $20 Million Loan Agreement Benefiting Microfinance in Ecuador
November, 12 2018
Ecuador - The agreement is part of a $250 million strategic agreement between Citi and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to fund inclusive finance programs in emerging markets. OPIC seeks out private capital to promote the development of strategic sectors with high social impact. ...
Malaysia: RM78.74 Mln for Women’s Development
November, 10 2018
Malaysia - The Sabah government will be allocating RM78.74 million for the development of women in Sabah through various programmes and activities ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
India: Manappuram Finance Allows Equity Infusion up to Rs 150 Crore in Asirvad Micro Finance
November, 08 2018
India - Asirvad operates in the microfinance sector. The capital infusion will facilitate in business growth of the subsidiary. Being the largest business, after gold loans, microfinance is strategically important to the company, Manappuram Finance added ...
Pakistan: CCP Approves Alipay’s 45% Stake in Telenor Microfinance Bank
November, 08 2018
Pakistan - The antitrust watchdog has allowed Alipay – an affiliate of online shopping giant Alibaba – acquisition of 45% stake in Telenor Microfinance Bank Limited, facilitating the company in starting its operations in Pakistan by the end of current year ...
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 ...
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) ...
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 ...
Kenya: Western Union Reinforces M-Pesa's Inclusion Stronghold by Unlocking Global Pay-outs
November, 07 2018
Kenya - Western Union has partnered with Safaricom, Kenya’s mobile network and wallet provider to allow 28 million M-Pesa users to send outbound money transfers overseas ...
China’s CFPA Microfinance Raises $140m in Series C Led by The Rise Fund
November, 07 2018
China - The latest funding round adds The Rise Fund to CFPA’s list of big-ticket investors, which now include Ant Financial, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, IFC, Sequoia Capital China, High Impact Capital Advisors, and Renda Puhui ...
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 ...
IFC, Tamweelcom Help Support Microbusinesses and Women Entrepreneurs in Jordan
November, 06 2018
Jordan - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $10 million loan in local currency to a leading microfinance institution in Jordan, part of an effort to support smaller businesses and entrepreneurs, including women ...
Christopher Hirst, Palladium: Why I Don’t Believe in the SDGs (and How Impact Investing Is Changing my Mind)
November, 06 2018
Global - The current funding levels for the SDGs don’t come close to what’s needed—impact investing may be the key to closing the gap ...
Nigeria: Osun Disburses over N4bn to MSMEs in 6 Years as Micro Credit Agency Digitizes Loans
November, 05 2018
Nigeria - The number of MSMEs in the State of Osun has increased by 182% in the last seven and half years. This is evident in the massive efforts of the Rauf Aregbesola administration to revamp the economy and boost the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the State ...
Cambodia: Prasac Microfinance Institution to Receive $40 Million Loan
November, 01 2018
Cambodia - The ADB has approved $40 million loan to Prasac microfinance institution to expand micro and small, medium-sized enterprise lending, according to the report ...
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. ...
India: MFIN Insists All Micro Lenders to Sign Common Microfinance Code
November, 01 2018
India - Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), the sector's lobby group, plans to name and shame lenders who do not sign the common microfinance code for banks, small finance banks and specialised microfinance firms, in an effort to make the code an workable idea. ...
Start-Up to Foster Financial Inclusion and Affordable Remittance Services in Sub-Saharan Africa
November, 01 2018
Africa - The unbanked population in Sub-Saharan Africa could soon find support in the form of DMC, a blockchain-based platform that aims to make the business of mobile money transfers more affordable while also encouraging financial inclusion ...

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