The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working to enable interoperability among business correspondents (BCs) to promote financial inclusion in rural areas [1]. Continue Reading »

The Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA in Spanish), a Mexico-based association of Latin American central banks; the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the US-based Inter-American Development Bank Group; and the World Bank recently launched Envía Centro America, a free online tool that allows users to compare the cost and speed of sending remittances from the United States to seven Latin American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic, as well as from Costa Rica to Nicaragua. Continue Reading »

The Ugandan arm of India’s Airtel launched its mobile money platform on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, allowing its customers to use e-money to pay bills, pay for mobile credit, and receive money via mobile network. Continue Reading »

Mexico, Indonesia and Haiti are responding to the challenge of balancing financial access with security by creating tiered requirements for savings accounts. Continue Reading »

By the Economist Intelligence Unit, funded by The Multilateral Investment Fund, Corporación Andina de Fomento and the International Finance Corporation, October 2011, 72 pages, available at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=36453519.

This paper examines the microfinance business environments in 55 countries, comparing them across three categories: supporting institutional framework, political stability, and regulatory framework and practices. It is the fifth annual paper in the series, covering the 12-month period through June 2011. The research comprises data collected in 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, 11 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, seven of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, seven of East Asia, five of South Asia and four of the Middle East and North Africa. Continue Reading »

Event Name: “Mobile Money Connected Africa Forum Conference & Expo”

Event Date: May 14 – 17, 2012

Event Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Continue Reading »

Mobile payments in Kenya reportedly are out-pacing debit and credit cards, as 83.9 percent of customers who signed up for mobile phone services between July and September 2011 also signed up for money transfer services. Continue Reading »

Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappijvoor Ontwikkelingslanden NV (FMO), a Dutch development bank, has partnered with Triodos Bank, a company with branches in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain, to start an online magazine Upsides (www.upsides.com) focusing on responsible finance and sustainable development in emerging markets. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has exempted microfinance banks from participating in the Cash-Lite banking system in recognition of the challenges of training and persuading microfinance customers to use electronic and cashless banking services, such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and checks. Continue Reading »

Crowdfunding platforms, intermediary services that act as an interface between “the public” and the “crowdfunded” project, can offer increased audience size, reduced transaction costs and decreased “legislative complexities,” reportedly says Daniela Castrataro, co-founder of UK-based social media consulting agency “twintangibles” [1]. Continue Reading »

Geospatial mapping is being used to show the geographic distribution of banks, automated teller machines (ATMs) and banking agents in relation to low-income and other population groups, thus giving an indication of the accessibility of financial services to those groups. Continue Reading »

Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit organization with a focus on microfinance, has received a three-year grant of unspecified size from Credit Suisse’s Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative, a Credit Suisse program that aims to contribute to the strengthening of microfinance institutions. Continue Reading »

The Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI), a nonprofit trade group, has become the sixth partner in the Bankers Without Borders (BwB) Alliance, a volunteer program started by the US-based Grameen Foundation. Continue Reading »

Kiva, a US-based microfinance intermediary, is launching a new platform, Kiva Zip, enabling users to lend directly to microentrepreneurs around the world. Continue Reading »

K-Rep Bank, a Kenyan commercial bank focused on providing services to poor people, has spent an estimated KES 50 million (USD 582,000) to upgrade to a software system from Switzerland’s Temenos called “T24 for Microfinance and Community Banking” [1].  Continue Reading »

Obopay, a mobile payments company headquartered in the US state of California, has partnered with Warid Telecom, a Pakistan-based postpaid cellular phone service provider, to launch a mobile banking and payment service in Uganda called Warid Pesa. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria has begun taxing cash withdrawals and deposits that exceed NGN 150,000 (USD 931) per day for individuals and NGN 1,000,000 (USD 6,205) per day for corporations [1]. Continue Reading »

Mexican bank Banorte, with total assets at USD 47.6 billion as of 2010, has partnered with Rev Worldwide, a Texas-based payment solutions company, to launch a mobile-phone-based financial services program called MiFon. Continue Reading »