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Sep 2018
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Archives:
Nigeria: How to Access SME Funds
September, 30 2018
Nigeria - Daniel Adeleye shares useful tips on how small and medium scale entrepreneurs can access some of the intervention funds earmarked for the sector by the Federal Government through some of the quasi-governmental agencies like the Bank of Industry (BoI) and other ...
Hyper-Availability: The Competitive Edge for Digital Banks
September, 29 2018
Global - With downtime and unavailability significantly impacting on the reputation of a bank, fintechs are in a prime position to embrace hyper-availability and gain the competitive advantage over the incumbents. We explore the impact it is making in the local banking sector ...
India’s Shadow Banking Sector Likely to Face Shake-up After Default
September, 28 2018
India - India's burgeoning shadow finance sector is likely to face a shake-up after defaults at one major lender battered the nation's financial markets in the past week and reinforced worries about credit risk ...
This Singaporean Fintech Startup Introduced Mobile-based Microlending to Mongolia
September, 27 2018
Mongolia - Access to capital is difficult in emerging markets, especially for people without a long financial history, says AND Global co-founder ...
IFC Backs New Property Law Widening Access to Finance for MSMEs in Philippines
September, 26 2018
Philippines - MSMEs contribute at least 30 percent to the country’s GDP growth and are a key source of job creation. But only less than 1 percent of the country’s GDP goes to MSME financing ...
Poverty Level Goes Below 5% in Azerbaijan
September, 26 2018
Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan is among the 29 countries that managed to achieve poverty reduction to less than five percent, the chairman of the committee on agrarian policy of the Azerbaijani Parliament Eldar Ibrahimov said at an international conference on the "The role of the Parliament in the implementation of the sustainable development goals in Azerbaijan" ...
Kiva Is Really a Crowdfunded Bank for Refugees and Other 'Unbankables'
September, 25 2018
Global - Kiva lenders receive on average about 96% of their money back and agree not to receive interest. “It is done philanthropically,” Shah says. For many, presumably, it is their first impact investment ...
Vietnam: Microfinance Provides Leverage for Women to Escape Poverty
September, 25 2018
Vietnam - Statistics have shown that in recent years, the ratio of poor households based on the new poverty standards has reduced from 9.88 percent in 2015 to 6.7 percent in 2017, along with a strong rise in average household incomes ...
SDGs: Three Years on, Where Do We Stand?
September, 24 2018
Global - Being non-binding in nature, the SDGs are in the hands of the goodwill of countries. One only hopes such goodwill turns into passion to make the world livable for everyone ...
Indian Microfinance Gives Birth to Smaller Banking Model
September, 21 2018
India - Backlash against aggressive microlenders has encouraged new breed of flexible banks ...
Nigeria: Abia Govt. to Establish Microfinance Bank to Assist SMEs – Commissioner
September, 21 2018
Nigeria - The commissioner explained that the government would, through the bank, do disbursements to other SME bodies, so that they could have soft loans that were not normally available in commercial banks ...
Impact Banking: Microfinance Comes of Age in Kyrgyzstan
September, 19 2018
Kyrgyzstan - Over 20 years after microfinance first arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the largest players are transforming into banks to lower funding costs and increase financial inclusion. Can they convince the country’s farmers to put their cash into banks instead of cows? ...
Independent Collective of Feminists: Sri Lanka - Microfinance: Does it Empower Women?
September, 18 2018
Sri Lanka - As women were deemed to be thrifty, able to manage with meagre resources and responsible borrowers, they became the targets for such predatory lending ...
Where We Are in the Global Fight Against Extreme Poverty
September, 18 2018
Global - Just 9% of the world is now living on less than $1.90 a day. But the quest to get that number to zero is going to require more concentrated effort ...
EBRD Mulling $17m Loan to Belinvestbank of Belarus for On-lending to Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises
September, 18 2018
Belarus - The loan would include at least EUR 15 million (USD 17.4 million) from EBRD and up to EUR 35 million (USD 40.7 million) to be solicited by EBRD from other financial institutions ...
Platforms for SME & MSME to Maximize Their Business this Festive Season
September, 18 2018
Global - As sales increases, more and more inventory needs to be financed. Thus time-sensitive working capital needs have to be assessed across inventory, payables and receivables ...
Indonesia & Philippines: FMO Investment Propels Meloy Fund Past $22 Million for Sustainable Coastal Fisheries
September, 17 2018
Indonesia & Philippines - The Meloy Fund I, LP, the world’s first impact investment fund dedicated to supporting sustainable coastal fisheries in Indonesia and the Philippines, today announced a $5 million investment from FMO, the Dutch development bank ...
Investing for Impact: Profit with Purpose
September, 14 2018
Global - By looking at the bigger picture, beyond traditional metrics of success, we believe investors can aim higher ...
Crucial Moment for Fintech as Policy Makers Play Catch-up
September, 13 2018
Global - Financial technology (Fintech) has figuratively been the talk of the town for quite some time. In the past few years the industry has pioneered a new world order, where the traditional banking setup has been turned on its head ...
D. Porteous, O. Morawcznski, A. Ng'Weno: From Financial Inclusion to Employment - Four Ways Superplatforms Will Shape Africa’s Future
September, 12 2018
Global - Perhaps surprisingly, young people in sub-Saharan Africa and other low-income countries haven't embraced digital payments to the extent of their older peers. But that may be changing as "superplatforms" like Alibaba and Facebook – which can leverage their data and tech capabilities over multiple sectors – emerge in the region. David Porteous and Amolo Ng’weno of BFA and Olga Morawcynski of Mastercard Foundation discuss four ways these tech platforms will shape youth employment, financial inclusion, digital identity and other fields ...
Does Sustainable Investing Bring Weaker Returns?
September, 11 2018
Global - People are increasingly aware of responsible investing but questions remain over the returns ...
Fewer Poor People Are Saving: What Does that Mean for Microfinance and Mobile Money?
September, 10 2018
Global - Take a moment to picture this: Less than half of all adults on the planet have saved anything in the last year ...
No Savior: Can Blended Finance Work for WASH?
September, 10 2018
Gobal - With new data revealing how far off target the water and sanitation sector is in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, advocates are grappling with the question of how to catalyze more funding ...
State of Business: Growth in Microlending in Maharashtra below National Average
September, 08 2018
India - According to the MFIN data, Maharashtra saw its gross loan portfolio grow 40 per cent from a year ago at the end of June ...
First Money Microfinance Launches Debit Card to Benefit Informal Traders
September, 06 2018
Zimbabwe - The card launched by First Money Microfinance Services (FMFS) has launched a their ‘financially inclusive’ iSave Debit in a development that will help spur growth in the country’s informal economy ...
Nigeria: Leveraging Mobile Money to Drive Financial Inclusion
September, 05 2018
Nigeria - Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s 80 per cent financial inclusion target by 2020 looks unlikely to be realised, the recent surge in new offerings by mobile money operators (MMOs) in the country seems to indicate that Nigeria may not fall far too short of that mark. ...
How Restoring Mangroves Has Helped Empower Women in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines
September, 02 2018
Global - Mangroves can shield coastal communities from flooding while creating livelihood opportunities and supporting healthy ecosystems ...
World Bank to Increase Clarity Around Impact Investing
September, 01 2018
Gobal - International Finance Corporation defines ‘13 principles’ to prevent ‘dilution of the brand ...

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