MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Smart Campaign at Accion to Close; SPTF, CERISE to Preserve Its Client Protection Standards, Online Resources

The Smart Campaign, an initiative of the US-based Accion’s Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), recently announced that it would wind down following ten years of activity. Two nonprofit partners of the initiative, the US-based Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and France-based Comité d’Echange, de Réflexion et sur les Systèmes d’Epargne-Crédit (CERISE), have agreed to continue the evolution of the Smart Campaign Client Protection Standards, thereby “ensuring that [this tool] continues to be the ‘do no harm’ foundation of social performance management” (SPM). SPTF and CERISE also will manage and seek to improve the accessibility of the Smart Campaign’s other resources in the SPTF Resource Center. While SPTF and CERISE will not accredit the client-protection practices of financial services providers, they will work with rating agencies to “coordinate on their plans for client protection assessment and rating products.”

Isabelle Barrés, the outgoing Global Director of the Smart Campaign, attests, “I am excited that strong, industry-based organizations like SPTF and CERISE are leading the next evolution of Client Protection Standards and implementation guidance. As the landscape of providers serving the needs of clients at the base of the pyramid continues to diversify, it will be critical to better understand the incentives that motivate them to adopt good practices.”

SPTF, founded in 2005, works to improve the SPM of microfinance institutions. SPM refers to the systems that organizations use to achieve their social goals, such as improving clients’ well-being. SPM strategies include defining and monitoring social goals, developing client-centric products and services, treating clients and employees responsibly, and balancing social and financial performance. For the year 2018, the NGO reported revenue of USD 3.9 million.

Founded in France in 1998, CERISE is a nonprofit that aims to support “ethical and responsible finance” in order to drive social and economic development. The organization works to help stakeholders in “inclusive finance, social business and impact-investing” achieve social impact by providing them with advisory services, portfolio analyses, benchmarking reports and social audits. In 2019, CERISE performed 107 audits under SPI4 (Social Performance Indicators 4), the fourth version of a tool for assessing the social performance of financial service providers.

The Smart Campaign, an “effort to unite microfinance leaders around a common goal: to keep clients as the driving force of the industry,” promoted the following client protection principles: Appropriate Product Design and Delivery, Prevention of Over-Indebtedness, Transparency, Responsible Pricing, Fair and Respectful Treatment of Clients, Privacy of Client Data and Mechanisms for Complaint Resolution. During its tenure, the Smart Campaign certified approximately 115 financial institutions that together served approximately 45 million clients.

Founded in 2008, CFI works with microfinance practitioners, regulators, banks, investors and academics in an effort to increase financial inclusion and promote client protection by connecting the microfinance community to capital markets, technology and advisory services. During 2018, Accion expended USD 6.3 million to support the center.

Accion is a US-based nonprofit that was founded in 1961 and seeks to alleviate poverty by offering services such as microenterprise loans and business training. The organization has 110 partner FSPs reaching entrepreneurs in 50 countries in Africa, the Americas and Asia. As of 2018, Accion reports total assets of USD 345 million.

By Jessica McLeod, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

CFI press release on the closure of the Smart Campaign
https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/cfi-celebrates-smart-campaigns-advancement-of-consumer-protection-announces-plans-to-transition-resources-to-industry-partners

SPTF press release on the closure of the Smart Campaign
https://sptf.info/images/SPTF-News-Smart-Campaign-Closure-Announccement-July2020.pdf

SPTF FAQs on the closure of the Smart Campaign
https://sptf.info/images/SPTF-News-ENG-FAQ-from-SPTF-and-CERISE-July2020.pdf

SPTF homepage
https://sptf.info/

CERISE homepage
https://cerise-spm.org/

The Smart Campaign
https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/about/what-we-do/the-smart-campaign

SPTF Universal Standards for Responsible Inclusive Finance
https://sptf.info/images/USSPM_EnglishManual_v2.1_2019.pdf

SPTF Resource Center
https://sptf.info/resources/resource-center

SPTF TA Database
https://sptf.info/resources/find-a-ta-provider

CFI homepage
https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org