India’s microfinance industry is reportedly on the verge of “collapsing,” according to the UK’s Financial Times newspaper, due to politically-triggered bank freezes on credit in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where outstanding loans reportedly measure USD 2.7 billion distributed to 6.7 million borrowers. Continue Reading »

Event Name: Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference 2010. “Putting the Poor First: Improving the Regulatory Environment, Industry Infrastructure, and Institutional Performance for Greater Impact”

Event Date: November 28-30, 2010

Event Location: Erbil, Iraq Continue Reading »

Emmanuel Chukwuma, the Anglican bishop of the diocese in Enugu, Nigeria, announced that the diocese will establish a microfinance bank that will employ 80 people and assist community residents who are already engaged in microenterprises. Continue Reading »

The Vice President of the Economic Commission of the National Assembly of Nicaragua, Freddy Torres, reportedly warned Nicaragua’s citizens in November 2010 that the country may lose up to USD 400 million if a microfinance law promoting regulation is not approved before year’s end. Continue Reading »

In India’s Andhra Pradesh state, local government officials are reportedly telling microfinance borrowers to stop repaying lenders even if they have the money to do so. The state government there has begun to increase restrictions on interest rates and arrest thuggish lending agents for fear that high rates and harassment from lenders has contributed to an overwhelming debt burden on microborrowers and suicides in the region. Continue Reading »

Three agents of the Indian microfinance institution (MFI) SKS Microfinance have been arrested for allegedly harassing borrowers in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Continue Reading »

Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Delic of Serbia recently announced that the Serbian government is reviewing a law that will allow for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the country to lend directly to their clients instead of lending through the current framework, which only allows lending through local banks. Continue Reading »

Christoph Pausch, Executive Secretary of the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) of Luxembourg, recently argued in the Financial Times newspaper for “deeper” reform of the microfinance industry. Continue Reading »

Ashoka Changemakers announced this month that it has selected 14 proposals as the winners of the SME Finance Challenge, which is hosted by Ashoka, a US-based nonprofit organization that invests in social entrepreneurship, and backed by the G-20, a group of financial ministers and central bank authorities representing 20 major economies. Continue Reading »

According to the website of the Hindustantimes Newspaper, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank of India, is preparing a report making recommendations on regulating the Indian microfinance industry, which has recently come under intense scrutiny. Continue Reading »

Haseeb Drabu, former CEO of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, a bank owned by the Indian state governments of Jammu and Kashmir, recently wrote an article published on the LiveMint website calling recent efforts by authorities to rein in the Indian microfinance industry “flawed”. Continue Reading »

CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a policy and research center dedicated to providing financial access for the world’s poor, and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), a network of international investors created to promote the practice of responsible investing, have partnered to create the following criteria for measuring the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) Continue Reading »

On the website of the LiveMint newspaper, a number of experts in India recently cautioned that legislations currently proposed in Andhra Pradesh, India, might cause a sharp drop in profitability of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Continue Reading »

CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), an independent policy and research center dedicated to providing financial access for the world’s poor, has teamed up with the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), a network of international investors created under the auspices of the UN to promote the practice of responsible investing; LuxFLAG, an organization that certifies that microfinance vehicles (MIVs) actually invest in the microfinance sector; and the European Social Investment Forum (Eurosif), a pan-European network aiming to foster sustainable development through European financial markets, to create the CGAP Microfinance Investment Vehicle (MIV) Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Awards. Continue Reading »

After announcing that Nigerian microfinance banks (MFBs) would have to fulfill stricter capital requirements in order to obtain licenses, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun to grant provisional approval for new licenses to approximately 121 out of the 224 MFBs whose licenses were revoked earlier this year. Continue Reading »

MFTransparency, a US-based nongovernmental organization launched in July 2008 that aims to provide information on credit products and pricing, the Association of Micro Finance Institutions in Rwanda and the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda, are partnering to expand MFTransparency’s Transparent Pricing Initiative to those two countries with the aim of providing training on interest rate calculations, publishing online pricing information and promoting consumer protection. Continue Reading »

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Andhra Pradesh, India, are offering many of their estimated 6.7 million borrowers the option of restructuring their outstanding loans in an effort to defuse recent popular and political hostility towards microfinance in the area. Continue Reading »

Several large Indian banks have joined forces to modify requirements on loans made to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in an effort to bring change to the lending practices of MFIs. Continue Reading »