Making Cents International, a social enterprise based in Washington, DC, has issued a call for proposals to lead breakout sessions at the sixth annual Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference to be held in Washington, DC, USA, beginning on September 11, 2012. Continue Reading »

Easypaisa, a Pakistani branchless banking services company, and Pakistan-based Adamjee Life Insurance Company Limited, have partnered to launch a free life insurance plan for Easypaisa clients. Continue Reading »

It has been reported that approximately 9.2 million of 32 million Indian microfinance clients have defaulted on loan repayment since 2010. Continue Reading »

The Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative, a research initiative created in 2010 by US-based nonprofit Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), has issued a call for expressions of interest for funding “to conduct rigorous, field-based research on savings products and services as well as payments and money transfer channels for the world’s poor and financially excluded” [1]. Continue Reading »

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan’s central banking authority, recently announced a new regulation allowing microfinance banks (MFBs) to lend up to PKR 500,000 (USD 5,439) to microenterprises. Continue Reading »

La Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, a Spanish university based in Madrid, is accepting applications for a graduate program titled Master in Microcredit for Development. Continue Reading »

BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee), a Bangladeshi nonprofit development organization, reportedly has announced plans to expand “pro-poor development projects in health, education, microfinance, farming and livestock sector” in Tanzania within an unspecified timeframe [1]. Continue Reading »

Participants in last week’s United Nations (UN) Global Human Development Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, have adopted an “Istanbul Declaration” that calls for unified action against global social inequities and environmental degradation at the UN “Rio + 20” Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Brazil in June 2012. Continue Reading »

Microcredit Foundation Prizma, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has received a loan of BAM 4 million (USD 2.7 million) from Sparkasse Bank, an Austrian-owned financial institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the expansion of Prizma’s microfinance operations within the country. Continue Reading »

“2011 Asia Regional Snapshot;” published by the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX); March 2012; 19 pages; available at:
http://www.themix.org/publications/mix-microfinance-world/2012/03/2011-asia-regional-snapshot Continue Reading »

CARE International, a Swiss NGO aiming to reduce global poverty; Kenya’s Equity Bank; and French telecommunications operator Orange are launching a partnership to provide savings groups with banking services using mobile phones. Continue Reading »

Two US-based nonprofits, the CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), recently released the “2011 Regional Snapshot of Microfinance Analysis and Key Trends in Africa’. Continue Reading »

A recent article in the Business Standard, an Indian financial newspaper, recaps a few highlights of the Indian microfinance industry in the year following the enactment of the Regulation of Moneylending Act in late 2010 in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Continue Reading »

NGO CARE Rwanda, a branch of Swiss relief agency CARE International (CARE), reportedly stated that the amount of rural informal savings have reached approximately RWF 1.9 billion (USD 3.18 million) as part of its Voluntary Savings and Loan (VSL) scheme targeting Rwanda’s unbanked population [1]. Continue Reading »

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a development institution of the Japanese government, has signed a subscription agreement with the First MicroFinance Bank Limited-Pakistan (FMFB-P) to invest PKR 240 million (USD 2.6 million) in the microbank to assist in FMFB-P’s expansion of microfinance operations in Pakistan [1] [2]. Continue Reading »

Freedom from Hunger, a US-based non-governmental organization that aims to alleviate poverty, and Oikocredit, a Dutch cooperative investment fund, plan to partner with six microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Andes mountains of Ecuador and Peru to implement Freedom from Hunger’s microfinance and health protection model. Continue Reading »

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), a government-owned financial institution in India, has financed INR 61.38 crore (USD 1 million) worth of solar products in the Indian state of Karnataka since 1994. Continue Reading »

Unspecified banks have recently recast loans totaling INR 7 billion (USD 136 million) for Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (Basix), an Indian microfinance institution (MFI) [1]. Continue Reading »