Access To Financial Services

NEWS

Mooted law hopes to make banks even more accessible in South Africa. New bill aims to open way for companies to reach out to low-income and historically disadvantaged communities. All.Africa.com, January 25, 2005.  

Short-term home loans are the solution for Tanzania. Tanzania is one of the few countries in the world without institutional housing finance facilities. Prospective house owners acquire property through a two-stage process starting with land acquisition. This may take years of waiting if land is to be obtained from the public sector. All.Africa.com, January 18, 2005.

Time to go beyond rhetoric - Africa. The article highlights the argument that the recipients of microcredit are only given the means of “getting there” without being given the dexterity of “remaining there”. Business in Africa, January 14, 2005.

Looking for a loan? Try your local NGO - India. The Government is considering a law to enable non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trusts and public associations to provide credit, savings and leasing service to the poor directly. New Delhi, January 12, 2005.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Asset-Building for Microenterprise through Matched Savings. This paper describes the theory behind asset-building policy for the poor. By Mark Schreiner, December, 2004. 

Crafts, Trades and SMEs Need Better Access to Finance. Future economic recovery will depend on the possibility of crafts, trades and SMEs to exploit their potential for growth and employment creation. By European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME), October 2004. 
 

The Effect of Interest Rate Controls in Other Countries.  This research was undertaken in the USA, the UK and in France and Germany. The US experience facilitates comparison of the credit markets in states which have no rate ceilings with those that do and provides the opportunity to examine the impact of the imposition or removal of ceilings.

Financing Patterns Around the World: Are Small Firms Different?  By using a firm-level survey database covering 48 countries, this paper investigates how financial and institutional development affects financing of large and small firms.  Not limited to large firms, the database includes small and medium firms and data on a broad spectrum of financing sources, including leasing, supplier, development and informal finance.  By Thorsten Beck, Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt and Vojislav Maksimovic. Revised August 2004. 

IPES 2005 - Unlocking Credit - The Quest for Deep and Stable Bank Lending. Chapter Fourteen Access to Financing for Small and Medium Enterprises. SME entrepreneurs identify lack of access to credit as the most important obstacle to the development of their businesses.  The 2005 Report on Economic and Social Progress in Latin America, is a publication of the Research Department of the IDB.

Strengthening Innovation and Technology Policies for SME Development in Turkey. Opportunities for Private Sector Involvement. This report describes Turkey’s current position relative to other countries in the region, identifying the key challenges to promoting innovation in the economy and highlighting specific actions where the private sector has the opportunity. International Organization for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED).  By Glenda Napier, Sylvia Schwaag Serger, Emily Wise Hansson, December 2004.

Tackling the ‘Frontier’ of Microfinance Provision in Kenya: Reaching Remoter Areas with Financial Services. This study reviews the Microfinance history in Kenya, showing a five model approach to reach rural areas. Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath.  By Susan Johnson, June 2004. 

Task Force on Revival of Cooperative Credit Institutions.
Rural cooperative banking and credit institutions play an important role in meeting the growing credit needs of rural India. The task force hopes to recommend an implementable action plan for reviving the Rural Cooperative Banking Institutions.  GOI, December 2004.

The Power of Prizma’s Poverty Scorecard: Lessons for Microfinance. Prizma’s poverty scorecard is powerful; that is, it does a good job of identifying clients who are likely to be poor. Because the scorecard was derived from a Living Standard Measurement Survey, it also estimates absolute, expenditure-based poverty rates. By Mark Schreiner, Michal Matul, Ewa Pawlak, and Sean Kline, January 6, 2005.

EVENTS

UPCOMING:
The Latin/Caribbean Meeting in 2005. The Latin/Caribbean Meeting in 2005 will be promoted as the official event of the International Year of Microcredit. The conference will focus on the role of sustainable microfinance for the very poor in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the goal of cutting absolute poverty by half by 2015. Santiago, Chile, April 19-22, 2005.

SME Financing 2005. The objective of the conference is to identify the opportunities for financing Small and Medium Enterprises in Central Eastern Europe, to find solutions for the issues of poor capitalization and financing building on the experiences in the European Union. Budapest, April 21-22, 2005.

International Cooperation to Seize Innovation Opportunities for SME’s
The International Network for SMEs - INSME is organizing its first Annual Meeting. The event will focus on further step to ensure a continued open multilateral dialogue, to foster an exchange of experience and mutual learning among public and private sector players so as to facilitate concrete cross border cooperation at international level on these themes. Barcelona, April 2005.

2005 World Credit Union Conference. This conference will focus on International Governance Principles for CUs, asset liability management –from the basics to the big time, global regulatory trends, innovative cross border services and the evolution of European co-operative banks. Organized by WOCCU Rome, Italy, July 24-27, 2005. 

Conferences on Basel II for SMEs: The future of access to finance for SMEs. A series of 60 conferences to help SMEs understand the impact of Basle II rules on the financial environment and take appropriate actions. September 2004 to July 2005. 

EVENTS
Past:
How to Improve Access to Finance for Small Firms? Online discussion moderated by Thorsten Beck, Senior Economist, and Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Finance Research Manager, both of the World Bank. The discussion will focus on the obstacles that small firms face in getting bank loans and other formal sources of external financing; and best practice examples and proposals to effectively expand access to formal financing and help remove financing constraints for small firms. December 6 - 20, 2004.

Microfinance in the Arab World: Shaping the Industry’s Future. The theme of the second conference was "Continuing to Shape the Industry’s Future: Client-Driven Microfinance." Sanabel Microfinance Network of Arab Countries. Cairo, Egypt, December 6-8, 2004. 

NEWSLETTERS 

Rural-SME.net e-newsletter.  Rural ETINET is a network comprised of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), with SME representatives and organizations that work with SME businesses in rural areas.

CEREM Newsbrief.  Newsletter of recent and forthcoming events, trends, training sessions and publications in the microfinance sector.  CEREM is published by Appui Au Developpement Autonome (ADA) a member of the Microinsurance Working Group, initiated by CGAP.
 

INSME news. IN Small and Medium Enterprises news is a monthly newsletter sent out by the INSME Secretariat with information about its current activities and issues related to innovation and technology transfer for SMEs.

Microfinance Matters: Building Inclusive Financial Sectors. This newsletter shares effective practices and expertise on building inclusive financial sectors in the context of UNCDF’s designation by the General Assembly as joint coordinator for the International Year of Microcredit 2005 with UNDESA.

Microcredit Summit E-News. Microcredit Summit E-News, a publication of the Microcredit Summit Campaign.