The Al-Huda Centre for Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE), a Pakistan-based nonprofit that focuses on Islamic microfinance, has announced its expansion to Uganda.  Continue Reading »

Event Name: West Africa Microfinance Conference (WAMIC) 2013

Event Date: April 24 – 26, 2013

Event Location: MPlaza Hotel, Accra, Ghana Continue Reading »

According to a statement attributed to Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, Ghana’s Minister of State in charge of Social and Allied Institutions, local fishing communities in the Greater Accra region will be offered microfinance loans from the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), the apex body in charge of implementing the Ghanaian government’s microfinance initiatives. Continue Reading »

Event Name: Evidence on Innovations in Savings and Payments Conference and Research Workshop

Event Date: June 20 – 24, 2013

Event Location: Kampala, Uganda Continue Reading »

“Microfinance and Patriarchy: A Drift Away from Serving Women;” published by Knowledge @ Wharton; 2013; 3 pages; available at: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/createpdf.cfm?articleid=3169

This report highlights the importance of gender equality in the provision of microfinance and focuses on the negative impacts of patriarchal attitudes on lending practices. Continue Reading »

The Bank of Tanzania (BOT), the country’s banking authority, reportedly has approved licenses for CreditInfo Tanzania and Dunn & Bradstreet Tanzania, two privately-owned credit reference bureaus, to act as credit bureaus in Tanzania.  Continue Reading »

The Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), a state-owned institution, recently issued a seven-year loan of USD 1.4 million to investment holding company NMBZ (National Merchant Bank of Zimbabwe) Holdings, which owns NMB Bank Limited, for on-lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Continue Reading »

A study by Ikapadata, a South Africa-based data collection company, indicates that 20 percent of South Africans with low incomes have formal health insurance while 66 percent have no formal insurance at all, excluding those who receive coverage from their employers.  Continue Reading »

The value of mobile money transactions in Kenya reportedly reached a total of KES 1.4 trillion (USD 16.2 billion) in the financial year ended June 30, 2012. Continue Reading »

The microfinance sector in Rwanda reportedly experienced growth in fiscal year 2012, with gross loans increasing 44.7 percent from RWF 40.7 billion (USD 64 million) to RWF 58.9 billion (USD 92.7 million). Continue Reading »

“Microfinance Mapping Project – Uganda;” published by Haverford College; 2012; 10 pages; available at: http://ds.haverford.edu/wp/mappingmicrofinance/files/2012/07/Microfinance-Mapping-Project-Uganda.pdf Continue Reading »

The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based nonprofit that provides financial services to microfinance institutions, recently signed a risk and technical assistance agreement with the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), a bi-lateral development finance institution of the French government, to further GCAMF’s microfinance efforts, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Continue Reading »

Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara reportedly is urging banks in the country to “develop competing products” that will allow them to match or surpass Ecocash, the mobile banking service of South Africa-based telecommunications group Econet, instead of engaging in what he described as “fighting against technology”.  Continue Reading »

Published by Global System for Mobile Communications Association’s mWomen Global Development Alliance, Visa and Bankable Frontier Associates; 2013; 40 pages; available at: http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/GSMA-mWomen-Visa_Unlocking-the-Potential_Feb-2013.pdf

This report analyzes connections between mobile financial services and women’s financial inclusion in the developing world. Continue Reading »

The MasterCard Foundation, a Canada-based institution that was founded by US-based financial services firm MasterCard Worldwide, has announced that it will donate USD 4.3 million to The Smart Campaign, a US-based consumer protection initiative targeting microfinance clients worldwide.  Continue Reading »

The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), Uganda’s insurance industry regulator, reportedly is partnering with Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A), a multilateral platform that aims to coordinate financial sector activities among African governments, and the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), a global program hosted by Germany’s international cooperation agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), to create regulation that make access to microinsurance more efficient, mainly for low-income earners. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has agreed to extend the deadline by one year for microfinance banks (MFBs) to recapitalize as needed to avoid closing branches to comply with CBN’s regulatory framework that was revised in 2011 to limit the number and locations of branches MFBs can operate based on their level of capital. Continue Reading »

Several financial institutions in Uganda including Centenary Bank, a Uganda-based commercial bank specializing in rural finance; Opportunity Uganda, a subsidiary of US-based nonprofit Opportunity International; and PostBank Uganda, a government-owned non-bank credit institution, reportedly have partnered with Uptime Solutions Limited, a Uganda-based for-profit company providing technology solutions for financial services and enterprise development, to deploy mobile banking vans to extend financial services to more residents, mainly in rural trading centers. Continue Reading »