In a recent press release, the National Treasury of the Republic of South Africa, the body responsible for managing government finances, released a policy document titled, “The South African Microinsurance Regulatory Framework,” to address the “challenges to improve access to insurance and consumer protection for the lower income families in the country” [1].
Category: Trends/Challenges
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Articles From UK’s The Guardian, Nigeria’s Business Daily Online Praise Potential of Mobile Banking, Microfinance Across Africa
According to a recent story published by The Guardian, a British newspaper, the African continent is now home to more than 500 million mobile phones and is experiencing a wave of innovation in the field of mobile banking.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Experts Weigh Risks and Benefits of Microsavings as Microfinance Menu Expands
A recent article posted on the website of The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, describes microsavings as a critical facet of microfinance and a way of offsetting “microcredit’s discredit.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Bank of India to Loan $22m to Microfinance Institution Bandhan Financial Services Amid “Opening Up of Bank Credit”
The government-owned United Bank of India (UBI), recently sanctioned a loan of INR 100 crore (USD 22.5 million) to Bandhan Financial Services, a microfinance institution (MFI) in India [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: InVenture Offers Expansion Capital to Support Small Enterprises in their Graduating from Microfinance to Traditional Banking
InVenture, a US-based microfinance service focused on investing in small enterprises in poor countries, recently announced a revised operations model and a “peer-to-peer” fundraising website.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Hold Workshop on “Equator Principles” for Thai Banks Regarding Environmental and Social Risk Management
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced it is supporting the Thai Bankers’ Association to help its members better manage environmental and social risks in lending operations and improve the sustainability of financed projects rather than the sustainability of lending services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Economist Angela Luci Argues Microfinance can Empower Women in Non-Financial Arenas, Fight Discrimination
A recent entry on the Gender Debate blog cites the report “Microfinance: Champion in Poverty Alleviation and Failure in Female Empowerment” by Alexandra Dobra to argue that most microfinance services only focus on the financial empowerment of women, wasting their potential to promote the “full and equal participation of women in all spheres of society including decision-making and access to power” [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Boston Consulting Group Publishes “Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile Financial Services” for Telenor, Exploring Effects of Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Serbia Over the Next Decade
Boston Consulting Group, a US-based management consulting firm, recently released a study it conducted for Telenor Group, a Norwegian communications service provider with operations in 11 European and Asian markets, looking at what effect mobile financial services may have through the year 2020 [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Working Paper, “Small vs. young firms across the world: contribution to employment, job creation, and growth” by Meghana Ayyagari, Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Vojislav Maksimovic Explores Economic Contributions of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
In a recent World Bank policy research working paper, Meghana Ayyagari, Vojislav Maksimovic and Asli Demirgüç-Kunt offer a database on the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and young firms to total employment, job creation and productivity growth across 99 developing economies.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroRate Latin America Approved as Microfinance Rating Agency in Peru, Celebrates 14th Anniversary
MicroRate Latin America, the Lima-based arm of the evaluator of microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently announced that it has been approved as a rating agency by Peru’s Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Pension Fund Managers (SBS), which reportedly makes it the only regulated rating agency in Peru that specializes in microfinance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EU, UN Urge African Governments to Reach Out to Marginalized Women in Rural Areas with Microfinance, Securing of Property Rights
At a recent meeting in Rwanda on gender-responsive budgeting held in conjunction with the European Union and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), African governments were urged to reach women in rural areas through microfinance schemes and otherwise involving women in financial services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Economics Professor Abdul Bayes Argues Microfinance Improves Rural Markets in Bangladesh
Abdul Bayes, a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh, recently argued in Bangladeshi newspaper The Financial Express that non-government organizations (NGOs) have improved the credit market in rural Bangladesh by increasing the use of microcredit from institutional sources as opposed to informal sources like friends, family members and moneylenders which may charge an “exorbitant rate of interest” [1].
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Financial Access: State of the Art in Nepal, by Nara Hari Dhakal, Published on the Microfinance Gateway
By Nara Hari Dhakal, published on the Microfinance Gateway; 2011; 8 pages; available at
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m/template.rc/1.9.52121?cid=PS…
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dariu Foundation Increases Microfinance Lending in Vietnam Amidst Inflationary Pressures, Rising Interest Rates
The Dariu Foundation (TDF), a Vietnam-based microfinance institution (MFI), amidst double-digit inflation and increasing domestic interest rates, has seen a 25-percent increase in the number of new clients served and a 47-percent increase in the number of loans disbursed during the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Développement international Desjardins (DID), Financière agricole du Québec – Développement international (FADQDI), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Collaborate on $20m Agricultural Microfinance Project Funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Haitian Government
Développement international Desjardins (DID), a Canadian corporation that provides technical support to and investment in developing and emerging countries, recently announced that it is joining efforts with two agriculture nonprofits in a USD 20 million project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Haitian government to establish an agricultural finance and crop insurance system in Haiti.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Editorial Touts Financial Literacy, Microsavings to Increase Financial Inclusion in Indonesia
A recent editorial in The Jakarta Post, a newspaper in Indonesia, examines the issue of access to financial services in Indonesia and highlights financial literacy as an important element in increasing financial inclusion [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Wall Street Journal Article Highlights Foreign-Exchange Risks for Microfinance Institutions, Hedging Solutions Offered By The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX)
The Wall Street Journal, a US-based newspaper, recently commented on the potential of illiquid currencies and volatile monetary policy to have a negative impact on the loan portfolios of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Bank (EIB) Sponsors Research Programs on Rising Risk in Microcredit
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has submitted a call for proposals to select university centers that wish to conduct research on the theme of the rising risk of microcredit, which include possible cause factors, warning signals, current states and future prospects.