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Jun 2014
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Praful Shah, Advisor, Principium Consulting: Angel Investing for Impact and Profit
June, 27 2014
Global - Many people view impact investing as philanthropy or charity. They claim impact investments have little or no profit! It is a fallacy that there is no return on investment in impact investing ...
Challenges and Solutions of Kyrgyzstan’s Microfinance Sector
June, 27 2014
Kyrgyzstan - The microfinance sector has been growing since the 1990s in Kyrgyzstan, when international financial institutions, donor organizations realized that one of the effective ways to combat poverty is to ensure public access to finance. Currently, the loan portfolio of financial institutions is about 20% of GDP ...
Grants Double Income but not Empowerment for Ultra-poor in Uganda
June, 26 2014
Uganda - A new paper by Chris Blattman (Columbia) and co-authors provides optimistic new evidence on the returns to providing cash grants to impoverished women in northern Uganda. ...
India: Ujjivan to Raise Rs 350 Crore Through PE Route
June, 26 2014
India - Bangalore-based Ujjivan Financial Services, one of the highly-regarded microfinance institutions (MFI), is set to raise a record Rs 350 crore through the private equity route. ...
Microfinance Raising Consumption in Cambodia's Cities
June, 26 2014
Cambodia - Previously, these tiny loans were mostly seen as a tool to help the rural poor in the Southeast Asian country, but they are also taking root among city-dwellers ...
Psychometrics Help Ease the Huge EM Funding Gap
June, 25 2014
Global - How do you bank the “unbankable”? The question could hardly be of more importance to small businesses in emerging markets, an estimated 200m of which are starved of the finance they need to grow ...
Latin America and the Caribbean: New IDB Study Reveals Success Factors in Business Models for Low-income Family Housing
June, 25 2014
Latin American and the Caribbean - In Latin America and the Caribbean, almost 40 percent of families live in a house that is overcrowded or beyond repair, lacks a title, water, sewerage, electricity, or adequate building materials ...
Sri Lanka: NDB Gets US$200m to Finance Micro, SMEs
June, 25 2014
Sri Lanka - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and National Development Bank marked the conclusion of IFC’s largest investment, as well as its largest syndication in Sri Lanka yesterday ...
Citi, OPIC and ACBA Credit Agricole Bank Support the Growth of the Microfinance Sector in Armenia
June, 24 2014
Armenia - Citi and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (“OPIC”) today announced a $10 million lending facility, using their existing framework partnership, to support the growth of ACBA Credit Agricole Bank’s agribusiness microfinance portfolio in the Republic of Armenia ...
Stephanie Hanson, Mike Warmington, One Acre Fund: What to Read On Agriculture Microfinance
June, 23 2014
Global - Most microfinance institutions are focused in urban and peri-urban areas, but a few are starting to offer products specifically targeted at farmers ...
India: Rule Shift Sought as Microfinance Institutions Told to Eye Housing, Education Loans
June, 23 2014
India - Rising aspirations among low-income borrowers are prompting microfinance institutions (MFIs) to seek a relaxation in outdated lending rules so that they can not only diversify their offerings, but also stay competitive in a changed economic scenario ...
Mobile Money Agents in Kenya Quitting Business, Says Poll
June, 23 2014
Kenya - High operational costs, exclusivity demanded by mobile operators, numerous network down-times and insecurity are among the challenges they face, and as a result, close to half of operators polled do not see themselves staying in the agency business long term ...
India: Microfinance Institutions Showing Signs of Maturity
June, 22 2014
India - With most banks still wary of reaching out to the poor in rural India, MFIs will remain relevant for years, provided they stick to the rules of the game ...
Mali: Are Borrowers Different?
June, 20 2014
Mali - The fundamental question that the economists tried to answer in their evaluation was whether those who take microloans on average have higher returns than those who do not borrow. Is there a self-selection effect ...
Growing Ranks of High Net-Worths Committed to Social Investment
June, 19 2014
Global - The number of high net-worth individuals (HNWI), those that have $1 million (£0.6m) or more of investable assets, has grown worldwide by 15% in the last year and the overwhelming majority are seeking to use their money to have a positive social impact ...
The U.N. Has Been Undercounting the World's Poor—by 400 Million
June, 19 2014
Global - Poverty got redefined this week. The Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) released a report, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2014 (MPI), on Tuesday looking at the state of poverty in the world today. ...
Woori to buy Cambodian Microfinance Institution
June, 19 2014
Cambodia - Woori Bank has decided to acquire Cambodia’s microfinance institution Malis Finance for 5 billion won ($4.9 million) to accelerate its global expansion. ...
Mastercard Unveils Financial Inclusion Report
June, 19 2014
Global - The new report profiles the financially excluded and underserved in Nigeria and five other emerging markets (Egypt, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Philippines), providing insights into how to bring them into the economic mainstream ...
Kenya: KWFT Sheds Market Share to Competition, New Entrants
June, 19 2014
Kenya - The Bank Supervision Report 2013 shows KWFT, the country's largest microfinance bank with Sh21.75 billion in net assets, clung to a market share of 53.19 per cent, contracting from 61.5 per cent in the previous year ...
New Report Shows How Innovations in the Microfinance Sector Are Contributing to Goal to End Extreme Poverty by 2030
June, 19 2014
Global - The report emphasizes the key role that actors in the financial ecosystem can play in helping end extreme poverty by promoting the frameworks, systems, partnerships, and strategies that deliver the types of products and services that help build resilience. ...
MIX Appoints New CEO Jeffrey Binstock to Lead MIX into New Era of Growth for the Organization and the Microfinance Sector
June, 19 2014
United States - MIX, a leading information provider and thought leader in the microfinance sector, announced the appointment of Jeffrey Binstock as new CEO for the organization. Binstock succeeds Mårten Leijon who led the organization from 2009 to 2013. ...
India: RBI Accords Self Regulatory Organisation Status to MFIN
June, 18 2014
India - The Reserve Bank has recognised Micro Finance Institutions Network (MFIN), the industry association for the micro-finance industry, as a self regulatory organisation for NBFC-MFIs ...
IFC and Government of Chad Introduce Leasing to Help Small-Scale Business Sector Expand
June, 17 2014
Chad - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Plan and International Cooperation to lay the foundation for leasing facilities to increase access to finance for small-scale entrepreneurs for them to strengthen and expand their businesses ...
India: SKS Micro Finance Credit Rating Upgraded
June, 17 2014
India - SKS Microfinance Limited is among the largest micro finance companies in India with presence across 15 states covering 1 lakh village ...
More Tanzanians Accessing Financial Services within Five Kilometres - Report
June, 16 2014
Tanzania - At least 45 percent of Tanzanians live within 5 kilometres of a financial access point, according to the latest Geographical Information System (GIS) census launched late this week in Dar es Salaam ...
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $18m to Microfinance Institution Financiera Confianza of Peru to Support Low-Income Entrepreneurs
June, 16 2014
Peru - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has announced that it is loaning USD 18 million to Financiera Confianza, a Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI) that offers microloans and deposit services to low-income entrepreneurs ...
IFC Boosts Smaller Businesses, Women Entrepreneurs in Romania
June, 16 2014
Romania - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, approved a €35 million loan to Garanti Bank Romania to help finance the country’s small and medium businesses, with €20 million for on-lending to companies owned or managed by women ...
Silatech, Partners Launch Somalia's First Commercial Microfinance Institution
June, 15 2014
Somalia - A recent market study by the KIMS consortium showed that less than five percent of the market demand for microfinance is currently being met in the Somali territories, indicating a potential market of over two million microentrepreneur clients ...
Philippines: BSP Revises Guidelines, Mandates of Banks’ Microfinance Operations
June, 13 2014
Philippines - Philippine monetary authorities have expanded the reportorial guidelines and mandates of banks’ microfinance operations to enhance the data collection and understanding of the lenders’ exposure to microfinance clients ...
Microfinance and Business Education Key to Rural Development in Asia
June, 12 2014
Asia - More than half of Asia's population still live in rural areas, but the figure is dropping. And dropping fast. Reliant for the most part on subsistence agriculture, villagers are packing up in droves and heading to the cities ...
India: IFMR Investment Managers Receives SEBI Approval for its First Alternative Investment Fund
June, 11 2014
India - The Fund will focus on providing long term debt funding to high-quality microfinance institutions (MFIs) aimed at deepening financial inclusion in India through investments in long term senior and subordinated debt instruments of such microfinance institutions ...
IFC Invests in Private Equity Fund to Boost Small Businesses in MENA
June, 11 2014
MENA Region - IFC's equity investment will help the fund invest in SMEs in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. It will also explore opportunities throughout the rest of the region in diverse sectors, from healthcare to manufacturing ...
Pakistan: Microfinance Banks - New Rules to Help Curb Money-Laundering
June, 11 2014
Pakistan - The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued revised prudential regulations for microfinance banks (MFBs) to further improve their governance structure, consumer protection practices and anti-money laundering policies ...
India: ‘Full Financial Inclusion a Pipe Dream’
June, 10 2014
India - Six of India’s senior bankers and heads of microfinance institutions (MFIs) gathered at Mint’s first annual South India Banking Conclave to discuss the issue of making financial inclusion sustainable and how to address the challenge of combining profitability with inclusion. ...
Morocco: The Experimenters Strike Back
June, 10 2014
Morocco - A new experimental study by Bruno Crépon, Florencia Devoto, Esther Duflo and William Pariente investigates the impact of a microcredit programme in rural Morocco ...
Cambodia: ANZ, MFI Partner to Bridge Financial Sectors
June, 10 2014
Cambodia - ANZ Royal Bank and local microfinance institution Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) on Monday entered into the first partnership of its kind in Cambodia in a bid to bring together clients from either side of the financial spectrum ...
Jamaica: What the BOJ Now Needs to Do
June, 09 2014
Jamaica - For the better part of last week, experts from all over the world exchanged experiences about innovative strategies for financing small, medium and micro enterprises ...
Pakistan: Microfinance’s Relevance in ‘Fight Against Poverty’
June, 08 2014
Pakistan - With the number of active borrowers reaching an all-time high of almost 3 million, microcredit outreach in the country grew 5.9% in the first quarter of 2014, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Microfinance Network (MFN) for January-March ...
Myanmar: UNDP Moves Out of Microfinance
June, 06 2014
Myanmar - The United Nations Development Progrmme (UNDP) transferred its Myanmar microfinance assets to Pact Global Microfinance Fund at a Nay Pyi Taw ceremony on June 4 ...
Jennifer Riria: The Entrepreneur Who Empowered Kenyan Women
June, 05 2014
Kenya - Today, she is group chief executive of Kenya Women Holding, a microfinance, banking and insurance group that works with 900,000 women, employs 2,800 people and since inception has disbursed $1.3bn of loans, each one averaging less than $600. ...
Jacqueline Wakhweya, USAID: Studying the Past, Looking to the Future - Transforming Microfinance in Uganda
June, 04 2014
Uganda - In a nutshell, I think that the biggest accomplishment was transforming the thinking on what microfinance was. ...
Rwanda: Micro-Finance Sector Thrives Amidst Capacity Challenges
June, 04 2014
Rwanda - In September last year, the country embarked on a new journey that is envisaged to take the economy to a middle-class ...
India: Bandhan Financial Services Plans IPO in Next Three Years
June, 04 2014
India - Bandhan Financial Services, the micro-finance outfit which has been granted provisional bank licence by the Reserve Bank of India, plans to tap the capital market for its banking entity by launching its Initial Public Offering (IPO) within three years of starting operations ...
Making Microcredit Thrive
June, 03 2014
Global - Lack of education accounts for a great deal of abject poverty in the world. Basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter dominate the daily thoughts of those caught in destitute circumstances. The short-term goal of survival takes precedence over the long-term goal of starting a business. ...
Ghana: Tigo Partners, IFC and the MasterCard Foundation to Expand Mobile Financial Services
June, 02 2014
Ghana - Tigo Ghana, one of Ghana’s largest cellular operators, has entered into a $2 million advisory services agreement with the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and The MasterCard Foundation to develop and expand mobile financial services in support of wider financial inclusion in Ghana. ...
India: Think Out of Box to Reach the Unbanked
June, 02 2014
India - Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, chairman and managing director of microfinance organisation Bandhan Financial Services, which recently bagged a banking licence, hopes that the new government at Centre would raise governance standards in the country ...
Cambodia: Loans Bring Trust, Not Rate Cuts
June, 02 2014
Cambodia - Three of Cambodia’s largest financial institutions were granted $105 million in loans during last month alone ...
Many Filipinos Still ‘Financially Excluded and Underserved’
June, 02 2014
Philippines - A study conducted by MasterCard, “The Road to Inclusion: A Look at the Financially Excluded and Underserved,” found that millions of people, even among Southeast Asia’s young, economically active and thoroughly “wired” populations, were still not reached by or were not interested to be part of the banking system. ...

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