Prime Minister Manasseb Sogavare of the Solomon Islands recently announced the launch of the nation’s third National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which covers the years 2021 to 2025. The strategy was developed by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands and is partially
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Solomon Islands, IFC Developing Comprehensive Credit Reporting System to Boost Financial Inclusion of Individuals, MSMEs
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) that is intended to improve the country’s “credit reporting legal framework,” promote financial inclusion and protect the credit reputations of borrowers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the effort, CBSI will begin supervising the Solomon Islands Credit & Data Bureau (CDB), and IFC will assist the credit bureau in implementing
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UN’s PFIP, Catalpa Launching 6-month Pilot of Olgeta, Financial Education App for Young Women in Rural Solomon Islands
Catalpa, a development organization based in Timor-Leste, is partnering with the Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP), a UN effort based in Fiji, to pilot-test an app called Olgeta, which will provide education via mobile phones to young women in rural parts of the Solomon Islands. The service will cover topics “such as leadership, financial literacy and digital marketing,” including “how to budget, bank, and save…”. The six-month pilot will target the 120 people served by two
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CBSI, SINPF Launch LoMobile, Offering Digital Access to youSave Accounts for Self-employed Workers in Solomon Islands
The Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) and the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (SINPF), a government-backed retirement trust, recently launched LoMobile, a digital savings channel that allows SINPF account holders to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PFIP Giving $450k to Solomon Islands’ Government to Digitize Tax Payments
The Pacific Financial Inclusion Program, a Fiji-based initiative of the UN that works to extend financial services to unbanked Pacific Islanders, recently granted USD 450,000 to the Solomon Islands’ Inland Revenue Division (IRD) with the goal of increasing the availability of electronic payment channels for taxes paid by “123,800 wage and salary employees, 200 corporate taxpayers and 3,684 small businesses.”
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Financial Literacy, Gender Disparity in the Solomon Islands; Savings Groups’ Impact in Ghana, Malawi, Uganda; Financial Inclusion Survey in Vanuatu
“Case Study: SolTuna – Tuna Processing, Solomon Islands;” published by the International Finance Corporation; September 2016; 20 pages; available at:
http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/d4561543-cc39-4a9d-9963-26eb5ab4169c/soltuna_updated_May2017.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
This case study investigates the connections between financial literacy and the reduction of absenteeism and other problems at SolTuna, a tuna processing plant in the Solomon Islands.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Solomon Islands’ Government Sets Goal of 80% Electronic Payments by 2020
The government of the Solomon Islands recently announced it will attempt to shift to using “electronic payment channels for [80 percent of its] payments and receipts” by 2020.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Solomon Islands’ National Provident Fund Launches youSave Retirement Savings Plan for Self-employed With Support from UN’s PFIP
The National Provident Fund, a government-backed retirement trust in the Solomon Islands, recently launched youSave, a savings plan designed to help self-employed islanders establish and contribute to retirement accounts as do “formally employed” citizens.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Australian Government, ANZ Bank, PFIP to Connect Solomon Islands’ Coconut Farmers to Mobile Banking
The Australian government; the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Bank, a publicly traded commercial bank; and the Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP), a Fiji-based initiative of the United Nations that attempts to extend financial services to unbanked Pacific Islanders, recently started a program with a budget of SBD 5 million (USD 650,000) to connect rural coconut oil producers, laborers, buyers and transport operators in the Solomon Islands with digital financial services.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 5th Pacific Microfinance Week: Next Mile Financial Services in the Pacific, September 21-25, 2015, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Event Name: 5th Pacific Microfinance Week 2015: Next Mile Financial Services in the Pacific
Event Date: September 21-25, 2015
Event Location: Heritage Park Hotel, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Event Summary: Pacific Microfinance Week (PMW) 2015 is a series of workshops, field visits and formal conference sessions focusing on providers of financial services for poor people in the Pacific region. The topics that will be discussed include digital finance and delivery channels, women’s empowerment through access to finance, enhancing the potential of non-bank financial institutions, policy and regulation, innovations in products and services, developing measures of financial inclusion, how corporate governance structures can improve organizational performance, and a special session on financial inclusion in the Solomon Islands. The most recent PMW was held in 2013.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Fiserv Extend Mobile Money Services to Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), an Australia-based bank, and Fiserv, a US-based financial services technology provider, reportedly have partnered to provide mobile money services to people lacking access to traditional financial services in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ILO, UNCDF to Expand PICAP Climate Microinsurance Program to 8 Pacific Countries
The UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) recently joined the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in its efforts to expand climate risk insurance in the Pacific region. The Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP), which was launched in 2020 by UNCDF and two other UN agencies, has supported insurers in deploying parametric coverage in Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu. Parametric insurance pays
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Development Bank (AfDB) Disbursing $1.6m for Green Finance in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire
The African Development Bank (AfDB) recently announced green finance facilities in partnership with the government of Benin’s La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Bénin (CDC) and the government of Côte d’Ivoire’s Banque Nationale d’Investissement (BNI). The aggregate value
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Opportunity for Digital and E-commerce Payments in the Pacific Region,” by Chris Statham et al, Published by UNCDF
This paper explores the challenges and opportunities associated with leveraging digital payment structures, including how such structures might promote financial inclusion and improve economic conditions in the Pacific Island region. The study focuses on six of the 14 archipelagic countries in the region that are in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IGAD, UNCDF to Research, Harmonize Remittance Policies in East Africa
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a trade bloc of eight African nations, and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) recently entered a two-year partnership intended to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CBN Rescinds Operating Licenses of 42 Microfinance Banks in Nigeria
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently revoked the operating licenses of 42 microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country. The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ethiopia, IFAD Focus 3rd Phase of Rural Financial Intermediation Programme (RUFIP) on Supporting Farmers Through Climate Change, COVID-19 Pandemic
The government of Ethiopia and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) recently launched a program with a budget of USD 306 million to support farmers that have been negatively impacted by recurrent droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic. This third phase of the Rural Financial Intermediation Programme (RUFIP 3),
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Code for Responsible Lending Assessment Tool to Incorporate Comprehensive Credit Reporting, Microfinance Institutions to Increase Frequency of Reports to Credit Bureaux
The Code for Responsible Lending (CRL), an initiative serving microlenders in India, recently began developing a new credit assessment tool for evaluating loan applications from low-income households. The tool is intended to help lenders “go beyond multiple/over lending limits and more systematically evaluate the low-income customer