Access to Financial Services: A Review of the Issues and Public Policy Objectives. This paper reviews the evidence on the importance of finance for economic well-being, and overviews the macro-economic, legal and regulatory obstacles to access using general evidence and case studies. The World Bank, by Stijn Claessens, July 2005.
Rural Finance: Recent Advances and Emerging Lessons, Debates, and Opportunities. This report identifies the recent advances, current debates, major gaps, challenges and opportunities that confront efforts to expand and strengthen rural finance. By Geetha Nagarajan and Richard L. Meyer, 2005.
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The World Bank’s “unorthodox” approach to credit union creation in Albania and Moldova
By Pierre Olivier Colleye, ECSSD
The largest network of credit unions in Burkina Faso was serving over 330,000 members with US$36 million of deposits by the end of 2003. Only twelve percent of the members had loans, totaling about US$20 million. The institution had been set up with technical assistance from Desjardins and was following the credo of the Canadian institution and of many more who promote the establishment of credit unions: credit unions are to be primarily savings-based. They recognize the need for the poor to build up savings in a safe institution for hard times, weddings, funerals or for business opportunities or to simply smooth out members’ cash flow. Members must demonstrate that they are able to deposit a small amount into their account consistently for a certain period or demonstrate regular income (through deposits) before they can be considered for a loan. Many members don’t even apply. More importantly, the savings-based approach ensures stronger governance because an institution controlled by net-depositors is more likely to carefully manage the funds. In other words, a fairly typical credit union movement. more...
Role and Effects of Credit Information Sharing. This paper provides a brief account of models that capture some effects of information sharing on credit market performance, as well as of the growing body of empirical studies that have attempted to investigate the various dimensions and effects of credit reporting activity. By Tullio Jappelli and Marco Pagano, April 2005.
Credit Bureaus in Latin America: Expanding Financial and Other Services to the Base of the Pyramid. Credit bureaus are winning new clients, increasing transactions, and generating growing profits. Development Alternatives Inc., By Robin Young
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Arab Payments and Securities Settlement Initiative Launch Workshop and Payment Systems Conference. Discussion on the objectives, structure, methodology, and output of the project. Sponsored by the World Bank, and the Arab Monetary Fund, Central Bank of Egypt, CPSS and the IMF. Cairo, Egypt, October 2-4, 2005.
The Real Time Gross Settlement and the Automated Clearing House helping the banking sector achieve grater efficiency – Trinidad & Tobago. Trinidad & Tobago Express, August 10, 2005.
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Core and Headline Indicators on Access to Financial Services: World Bank and DFID Teams Up to Measure Access to Finance
By Stijn Claessens, FSE
The week of June 20, 2005 saw high-level political and technical meetings related to the International Year of Microcredit held in Paris and Frankfurt. Organized in conjunction with a meeting of the Advisors Group to the International Year of Microcredit as well as the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) conference "Expanding Access to Microfinance: Challenges and Actors," the World Bank, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) hosted a technical meeting on June 21 titled “Financial Access for All: Better Measurement, Monitoring and Policy Action” to further examine the critical issue of how to measure access to finance. Participants included donors, international financial institutions, policymakers and representatives from the private sector. more...
Improving the Development Impact of Remittances. This summarizes arguments made in the forthcoming book, Beyond Small Change: Making Migrant Remittances Count, edited by Donald F. Terry and Steven R. Wilson, and published by the IDB, United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Migration and Development, by Pedro De Vasconcelos, July 2005.
Crossing Borders: Remittances, Gender and Development. By Carlota Ramírez, Mar García Domínguez and Julia Míguez Morais, June 2005.
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