Support Programme for Enterprise Employment and Development (SPEED), a Ghanian NGO that provides technical assistance and development services to microfinance institutions (MFIs), has introduced a ratings service for smaller financial institutions in Ghana. The initiative has been supported by GTZ, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH, the international sustainable development enterprise owned by the German federal government, and DANIDA, the Danish International Development Agency.

The ratings service will examine the activities of smaller financial institutions such as rural and community banks, credit unions, financial NGOs, Susu collectors and savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) that provide microfinance. It will look at their proficiency in the areas of governance and decision-making, risk management, as well as their products, services and client friendliness. Through the examination it is hoped that the service will promote the institutions to produce regular financial statements, as well as a more efficient and profitable client service.

Ghana is now the second country in Africa after Uganda to have such a ratings service.

SPEED was launched in 2006 with the help of GTZ and DANIDA has three main business areas: the Business Development Service, which provides non-financial business services to small, micro and medium enterprises; Technical Assistance to financial institutions with a microfinance component, which provides capacity-building support; and the SPEED Funding Facility Limited (SFFL), which is a wholesale refinancing operation.

Amy Rennison, MicroCapital writer

Additional Sources:
The Statesman:
http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=5063&section=2

AllAfrica.com
http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=5063&section=2