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ACCESS TO
FINANCIAL SERVICES
NEWS
Unleashing
Investment by Encouraging African Savings. Africa has the
world's lowest savings rate, with little capital for banks to lend
to grow productive enterprise. South Africa is changing the rules by
bringing the poor into the banking system. The South African
Institute of International Affairs, July 6, 2005.
Improving Mexico’s Financial
Services to The Poor.
The World Bank approved a $64.6 million loan to strengthen Mexico’s
non-bank financial intermediaries and to expand financial services
to the poor. The World Bank, July 5, 2005.
Arab policy makers endorse regional
principles for advancing microfinance.
Policy makers from the Arab world agreed on a common agenda for
microfinance and endorsed a set of principles for advancing best
practices for the sector in the region. Jordan Information
Center, May 22, 2005.
Major victories for micro-finance -
The Good Business.
Compartamos in Mexico is Latin America's biggest provider of
micro-finance - small loans aimed at budding entrepreneurs, targeted
at areas of severe poverty. The first tranche of a bond it raised
last year was underwritten by Banamex, the Mexican subsidiary of
Citigroup. International Year of Microcredit 2005, May 18,
2005.
One Million Entry-Level Banking
Services Account Holders – South Africa.
As at 15 May 2005 over a million entry-level banking services
accounts have been opened, with almost the same number of unbanked
South African’s gaining access to formal banking services. The
Banking Association – South Africa. May 18, 2005.
PUBLICATIONS
A Decade of Pro Poor
Institution Building in Nepal – Innovations and Lessons Learned from
the Small Farmer Cooperatives Ltd. (SFCLs).
This paper presents the most significant innovations that emerged
from the SFCL system and attempts to outline the most important
lessons learnt from a decade of institution building. Rural Finance
Nepal (RUFIN), by Eckart Koch, Ram Chandra Maharjan, Jalan Kumar
Sharma, & Ulrich Wehnert, October 2004.
Use of the Formal and Informal Financial Sectors: Does Gender Matter?
Empirical Evidence from Rural Bangladesh.
This report examines the formal and informal financial sectors of
rural Bangladesh, placing a special emphasis on differences between
men and women. The World Bank, by Signe-Mary McKernan, Mark M. Pitt,
David Moskowitz, January 2005.
The Economics of Microfinance.
This book provides an overview of microfinance by addressing a range
of issues, including lessons from informal markets, savings and
insurance, the role of women, the place of subsidies, impact
measurement, and management incentives. It integrates theory with
empirical data, citing studies from Asia, Africa, and Latin America
and introducing ideas about asymmetric information, principal-agent
theory, and household decision making in the context of
microfinance. By Beatriz Armendáriz de Aghion and Jonathan Morduch,
June 2005. Abstract available at:
Comparative Review of Microfinance Regulatory
Framework Issues in Benin, Ghana, and Tanzania.
This paper explores the microfinance regulatory regimes in Benin,
Ghana and Tanzania, with a view to identifying key issues and
lessons on how the overall regulatory framework affects integration
of microfinance institutions into the financial system. The World
Bank, by Joselito Gallardo, Korotoumou Ouattara, Bikki Randhawa, and
William F. Steel, April 2005.
“Poverty-Focused” and “Commercial” MFIs Competition or Complements?
The report compares the Microfinance Institutions that focus on "the
poverty of the poorest of the poor" with commercial MFIs, that view
microfinance as a financial product. PlanetFinance–The Microfinance
Platform, April 2005.
Basel II and Microfinance: Exercising National Prerogatives.
This paper outlines the basic parameters of Basel II and the
application in emerging markets and looks at the issues at two
different levels: (1) systemic issues of Basel II implementation and
the inclusion (or not) of microfinance and (2) actual changes in
affecting microfinance. The Women’s World Banking by Kathryn Imboden,
April 2005.
EVENTS
Upcoming:
"Integrating Microfinance into Formal
Financial Markets".
The conference objectives are to introduce the theme and start the
thinking, discussion and action around the theme, to structure a
conference that will really foster discussion and to use the 2005
conference as a planning platform for the 2007 conference. Sponsored
by MFRC, GTZ, SIDA, the University of Pretoria, the Association of
Microfinance Institutions of Uganda, the Bank of Uganda. Cape Town,
South Africa, 29 August 29-1 2005.
HBS-ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership for Microfinance.
The HBS-ACCION program will address a variety of issues confronting
microfinance leaders, including: succeeding in highly competitive
markets; maintaining a social focus in a commercial context.
Organized by Harvard Business School and ACCION International.
Boston, USA, April 17-22, 2006.
From Moneylenders to Microfinance, Southeast
Asia’s credit revolution in institutional, economic and cultural
perspective - An interdisciplinary workshop.
It will set out to examine the region's credit revolution in
historical, institutional, economic and cultural perspective.
Organized by Asia Research Institute, Department of Economics and
Department of Sociology of National University of Singapore.
Singapore, October 7-8, 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.
Towards an End to Global Poverty: Empowering Communities and
Individuals through Financial Inclusion -- International Year of
Microcredit Conference.
The Conference will
provide an opportunity to share the practical lessons and discuss
the wider issues such as how business, community and government
organizations can develop strategic partnerships to promote
inclusive financial services. Organized by the United Nations
Association of Australia. Australia, August 29 – 30, 2005.
Business
Development Services (BDS).
BDS practitioners and funding
agencies engaged in designing and implementing projects to support
small enterprise development will present their experiences, current
activities and future plans, along with new ideas and approaches
that may increase effectiveness. Organized by the ILO. Italy,
September 19-23, 2005.
CGAP/UNCDF
Donor Training - Building Financial Systems for the Poor: How Donors
Can Make a Difference.
A 5-day Training Course for Donor Staff, Socially Responsible
Investors and Policy Makers. The course focuses on the role of
donors in supporting financial systems that work for the majority.
It will discuss current trends in microfinance. Organized by CGAP
and UNCDF, Jordan, 4 – 8 December 2005.
EVENTS
Past:
Minutes
from Access to Finance: Role of Guarantees. Participants discussed the role of
guarantees for increasing access to finance in emerging markets. The
discussion series is a collaborative effort of the Financial Sector
and Infrastructure Networks. The World Bank, The Financial Sector
Learning Program, June 13, 2005.
Workshop on
Regulation and Supervision of Financial Cooperatives/Credit Unions.
The “Delegated” Supervision Model.
This event
focused on legal and regulatory framework and key issues on the
“delegated” supervision model such as mechanisms, costs and
resources. Organized by the World Bank in collaboration with
Développement international Desjardins (DID), Washington D.C., June
7, 2005.
Wall Street Women Team up with United Nations
on Microfinance.
The financial industry joined the United Nations today to discuss
how the growing microfinance sector can benefit from the expertise
of Wall Street. The event was held as part of the UN’s International
Year of Microcredit. Organized by United Nations Capital Development
Fund in collaboration with
Financial Women’s Association, Women Advancing Microfinance and
Women’s Association of Venture and Equity, 85 Broads and Women’s
Bond Club of New York. New York, June 10, 2005.
NEWSLETTERS
Global News.
Is monthly newsletter by PlaNetFinance.
NEWSBRIEF. The
Official Newsletter of the Micro Finance Regulatory Council.
CGAP PORTFOLIO.
A bi-monthly newsletter issued by CGAP with the latest microfinance
trends.
ADB Finance for the
Poor. A
Quarterly Newsletter of the Focal Point for Microfinance by the
Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Microinsurance.
A quarterly Newsletter by a working group chaired by the
International Labour Organization (ILO).
The
MicroBanking Bulletin.
Benchmarking source for the microfinance industry used by investors,
donors and other service providers to facilitate greater
standardization and a better understanding of the development of the
microfinance sector.
MicroLINKS Connections.
A monthly publication by USAID. This newsletter is an up-to-date
source of information on the microenterprise work USAID Missions and
partners are doing across the world.
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.
The Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern
Europe
produces a publication on current microfinance
issues in Central and Eastern Europe.
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 with UNDESA for the
International Year of Microcredit 2005.
Microcredit Summit E-News.
Microcredit Summit E-News, a publication of the Microcredit Summit
Campaign.
LINKS
N EW
The Microfinance Regulation and Supervision Resource Center.
CGAP and the IRIS Center had
launched this site to bring together a growing collection of data,
legal texts, key references, opinion pieces, and relevant links on
the financial sector policy framework and the microfinance
environment for 50 countries.
Good and Bad Practices in Microinsurance.
This site hosts a series
of case studies developed by the ILO’s Social Finance Programme on
behalf of the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance.
The Rating Fund – The Microfinance Rating and
Assessment Fund.
This website is maintained by The
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), The Consultative Group to
Assist the Poor (CGAP) and The European Union.
CGAP - Building
Financial Systems for the Poor.
CGAP is a consortium of
28 public and private development agencies working together to
expand access to financial services for the poor in developing
countries.
Development Gateway.
This
site includes resources on the provision of financial services to
entrepreneurs and micro business in developing countries.
Finance Research: Access to Finance.
This website is maintained by the World Bank’s Development Research
Group.
Global Development Research Center - Virtual Library on Microcredit.
Articles and links to the principle organizations active in the
field of microfinance.
How to Improve Access to Finance for Small Firms?
This online discussion was moderated by Thorsten Beck and Asli
Demirguc-Kunt of the World Bank. The discussion focused 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 for small
firms. December 6 - 20, 2004.
Imp-Act.
Imp-Act is a
Global action-research program designed to improve the quality of
microfinance services and their impact on poverty by developing
impact assessment systems.
International Year of Microcredit 2005.
The Year of Microcredit 2005 calls for building inclusive financial
sectors and strengthening the powerful, but often untapped,
entrepreneurial spirit existing in communities around the world.
Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern
Europe and the New Independent States (MFC).
The MFC
supports microfinance institutions in CEE and the NIS in their
efforts to alleviate poverty, create employment, and stimulate the
economy through the development of microenterprises and
self-employment.
Microfinance Gateway.
Information for and about the microfinance industry, including
research and publications, specialized resource centers,
organization and consultant profiles, and the latest news, events,
and job opportunities in microfinance.
MicroSave and Market-led Microfinance.
This website offers practical guidance in the form of research
papers, briefing notes, training toolkits and other resources on
market-led microfinance.
PlanetFinance.The mission of Planet Finance is to support microfinance programs
in countries with operations of Planet Finance.
Rural Finance Learning Centre.
This website is dedicated to providing access to the best materials
for capacity building in the field of rural finance.
The Banking
with the Poor Network.
Network of some 20
national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGOs from
countries in Asia. Its objective is to link microfinance with the
financial system.
The Journal of
Microfinance.
The Journal's purpose is to influence practice by focusing on
experiences and lessons learned from the field, published every 6
months.
The
Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX).
The MIX aims to promote information exchange in the
microfinance industry. The MIX Market strives to facilitate exchange
and investment flows, promote transparency and improve reporting
standards in the microfinance industry.
The
MicroFinance Network.
The
MicroFinance Network (MFN) is a global association of leading
microfinance institutions committed to improving the quality of life
of the poor through the provision of credit, savings, and other
financial services.
The SEEP Network is
an organization of private and voluntary organizations that support
micro and small business and microfinance institutions in the
developing world. Its mission is to advance the practice of micro
and small enterprise development among its members, their
international partners, and other practitioners.
World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU).
WOCCU is
a representative organization and a platform for knowledge exchange
and development for credit unions worldwide.
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