Some exciting recent accomplishments of MFTransparency‘s Latin America team are the data launch conferences we recently hosted in Ecuador and Bolivia. In this blog post, I’d like to share a summary of the Ecuador conference which took place in Quito on November 30. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Ecuador’
MFTransparency Launches Microloan Pricing Data at Industry Conference in Quito, Ecuador
Thursday, January 13th, 2011Entrevista con Paul Arias, Gerente General de CREDIFE
Thursday, October 28th, 2010MFTransparency y su socio estratégico, la Red Financiera Rural (RFR) lanzaron la Iniciativa de Transparencia de Precios en Ecuador con 3 talleres en Quito, Ambato y Guayaquil en abril del presente año, la cual está patrocinada por la Fundación Ford para promover precios responsables y transparentes en la industria de las microfinanzas en América Latina.
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MFTransparency en Foromic
Monday, October 18th, 2010por Andres Hammer
La semana pasada tuve la oportunidad de asistir por primera vez al Foro de la Microempresa (Foromic) organizado por el BID y FOMIN, el cual se llevo a cabo en Montevideo, Uruguay. Fueron tres días de interesantes sesiones donde tuvimos la posibilidad de establecer contactos con los representantes del sector microfinanciero de Latino América y el Caribe.
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Data Collection and Development of Educational Materials in Bolivia and Ecuador
Thursday, September 16th, 2010In one of my previous blog posts, I shared our plans to host a conference to present the results of our Transparent Pricing Initiative in Bolivia in early September. As it is critical for us to include all key stakeholders of the local microfinance industry in this conference, such as the local microfinance networks, regulatory institutions, investors and participating MFIs, we agreed to move the conference date to October 21st, so as to allow for full participation. I have just returned from a field trip to Bolivia to assist the remaining MFIs with the completion of their data submissions, meet with the local networks ASOFIN and FINRURAL to finalize the conference agenda and view the conference facilities for the event. I also had the opportunity to continue discussing the development of educational materials for the Bolivian microfinance sector with a number of local institutions.
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Parada Numero 3 en Latino America: COLOMBIA
Monday, August 16th, 2010Ecuadorian Innovations in Regulating Pricing Transparency
Monday, May 17th, 2010As I mentioned in my last blog post, I would like to share some insights on Ecuador’s regulatory framework for the microfinance sector and advances in the area of transparency.
Regulations that Support Transparency in Pricing
Ecuador’s regulatory framework already includes several mechanisms for facilitating transparency in pricing. For instance, financial institutions can only charge interest on the remaining balance of a loan, which effectively outlaws flat interest rates. Moreover, regulated institutions are no longer allowed to charge fees. Both these aspects make loan pricing more transparent, allowing borrowers to better understand what they are paying and to compare between the different products available to them. In all marketing materials, financial institutions are required to specify the nominal and effective annual interest rate, the frequency of interest payments and the loan term (Regulación No. 153 del Directorio del Banco Central del Ecuador). The regulation also establishes that all product documentation has to clearly specify the loan amount, term, payment frequency and the nominal and effective annual interest rate. The formulas to calculate these figures are defined in the regulation as well.
Warm Welcome in Ecuador for Pricing Transparency Initiative
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
I have just returned from a two-week trip to launch the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Ecuador and Bolivia. I am happy to report that the launch was successful in both countries. The Initiatives in South America are funded by the Ford Foundation to promote fair and transparent pricing in the microfinance industry in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. As my job with MFTransparency primarily involves managing the South America work, the launch of our Initiative in the first two countries this year was an exciting experience for me. I also finally got the chance to meet our Board member María Sara Jijon who has been incredibly supportive and a great inspiration. In Ecuador, the local microfinance network Red Financiera Rural (RFR) is our strategic implementation partner and we greatly appreciate their support in this Initiative.
Bringing the Transparent Pricing Initiative to South America
Sunday, April 11th, 2010Hola from Quito! I have recently moved to Ecuador, where I’m currently organizing the preparations for our South America projects. Peru was the first country where we kicked off our Transparent Pricing Initiative in early 2009. This year, we’ll bring the Initiative to Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Argentina. Our 2010 South America projects are sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and in the case of Bolivia also by MicroNed.
As part of the MFTransparency Transparent Pricing Initiative we will host a series of workshops in Ecuador and Bolivia in late April and early May. The first workshop will take place in Quito on April 27th, followed by the same event in Ambato and Guayaquil on April 28th and 29th, respectively. Our team will then travel to Bolivia and host workshops in La Paz on May 4th and 6th and in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on May 5th. At these events Chuck Waterfield, Founder and CEO of MFTransparency and Alexandra Fiorillo, Vice President of the organization, will share with key stakeholders of the local microfinance sectors the new industry standard for calculating interest rates for microcredit products. We’ll also explain how each MFI can actively participate in our Transparency Initiative and benefit directly from our Bolivian and Ecuadorian Market Data.
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