Posts Tagged ‘Education’
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
MFTransparency is excited to announce a series of new resources, now available on our website in the Resources section.
This week’s featured new resource:
By now you have read the article “Flat vs Declining Balance Interest: What is the Difference?” and you are wondering how you can make the switch from the flat balance method of calculating interest to the declining balance method. This case study will show you how the Cambodian microfinance market as a whole took this important step towards transparency, due to a bold policy move by the National Bank of Cambodia in 2001. Policymakers and institutions alike, this is an important resource for those wondering what the experience of transitioning to declining balance rates might be like in your own market.
Read this new article here
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Tags: Education, Policy for Transparency, Resources
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Thursday, November 10th, 2011
MFTransparency is excited to announce a series of new resources, now available on our website in the Resources section.
This week’s featured new resource:
The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) is setting an example for regulators of microfinance markets across Africa by leading an effort to require pricing disclosure for all microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Malawi. MFTransparency interviewed Lanjes Sinoya, Principal Examiner at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, about the pricing disclosure and client protection aspects of the bill. Read this interview for an inside look at the process of institutionalizing responsible practice through policy.
Read this new article here
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Tags: Education, Policy for Transparency, Resources
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Friday, November 4th, 2011
by Joseph Kiirya
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to participate in the African Microfinance Pricing Transparency Leadership Forum in Nairobi, Kenya hosted by MicroFinance Transparency. This forum brought together policymakers, regulators, consumer advocacy associations, networks and industry actors from over 20 African countries. It was a three day-event that brought to light many of the issues surrounding pricing in microfinance, disclosure issues and the way forward if we are to achieve satisfactory levels of responsible practice in the microfinance industry.
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Tags: Conference, Education, Policy for Transparency, Responsible Finance
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Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
MF
Transparency is excited to announce a series of new resources, now available on our website in the
Resources section.
This week’s featured new resource:
For policymakers and regulators considering new pricing disclosure policy or financial institutions looking to revise their loan documentation, this case study is the place to start. The Bosnian microfinance industry is governed by a policy that specifies calculation and disclosure requirements for effective interest rates on loans and requires that microfinance institutions (MFIs) deliver clear, communicative repayment schedules to their clients. This case study assesses the effectiveness of these regulations in impacting MFI practices.
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Tags: Education, Repayment Schedule, Resources
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Thursday, October 27th, 2011
MF
Transparency is excited to announce a series of new resources, now available on our website in the
Resources section.
This week’s featured new resource:
This educational article, first in the new series “MFTransparency Pricing Fundamentals”, provides a concise overview of the concept of interest, the different methods used to calculate it and some industry standards for disclosure. Financial institutions, investors, donors and regulators alike now have a resource to draw on in understanding and communicating this critical distinction in the pricing of microloans.
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Tags: Education, Resources, Understanding Interest Rates
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Friday, August 19th, 2011
by Jordan Filko
MFTransparency authors have had great opportunities lately to guest blog for some leading industry organizations, including Oikocredit USA and CGAP. We are excited to share the concepts that we train industry leaders around the world in through these new channels. The following is an overview of two guest posts we’ve recently published.
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Tags: Education, Regulation
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Monday, July 25th, 2011
by Jordan Filko
Last week MFTransparency CEO Chuck Waterfield presented on a USAID-hosted panel on “Microfinance Investment Transparency and Evaluation” alongside MicroRate Managing Director & CEO Sebastian von Stauffenberg. The event was attended by more than 200 people in-person and virtually.
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Tags: Conference, Education, Responsible Finance
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Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
By Jessica Massie
Financial education, financial literacy, and financial capabilities are hot topics in development today. They have the attention of donors and of governments all over Africa – and all over the world. Financial education is also a key activity in MFTransparency’s enabling APR & EIR Program.
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Tags: Education, enabling APR & EIR, Financial Education, Responsible Finance
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Friday, May 13th, 2011
by Bachir Amadou
In English
La méthodologie de MFTransparency est une combinaison de collecte de données tarifaires et de diffusion ainsi que l’enseignement et la formation. Dans le cadre de notre série croissante de matériel pédagogique, nous travaillons sur le développement d’une série d’études de cas pour mettre en évidence des exemples intéressants de pratiques et politiques de tarification que nous observons dans le monde.
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Tags: Education, Regulation, Resources, Transparent Pricing Initiative in West Africa
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Monday, December 20th, 2010
por Andres Hammer
Como mencionamos en una de nuestras últimas entradas al blog, MFTransparency en Foromic, MFT tuvo la oportunidad de participar en el Foro de la Microempresa (Foromic) organizado por el BID y FOMIN en Uruguay a principios del mes de Octubre. A raíz de nuestra participación y del encuentro entre Christian Atance de MicAméricas con Chuck Waterfield en Montevideo y con Alexandra Fiorillo en Washington D.C. durante la conferencia SEEP, son publicados bajo la sección de “Protección al Consumidor” dos artículos sobre el trabajo de nuestra organización y la importancia de la transparencia de precios en la microfinanzas.
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Tags: Client Protection, Conference, Data collection, Education, Regulation
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Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
by Alexandra Fiorillo
On September 22, 2010 I attended a side-event during the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals Summit 2010 on behalf of MicroFinance Transparency entitled “Financial Inclusion: A Path to the Millennium Development Goals.” The intimate event was hosted by the Governments of the Netherlands and the United States, together with Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, and included a wide range of practitioners from around the world.
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Tags: Education, Financial Education, Financial Inclusion, Responsible Finance
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Friday, October 8th, 2010
by Randall Weaver
Those three look strange together. What does Lisa Simpson have to do with Microfinance and Muhammad Yunus? After seeing Muhammad Yunus win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson, became interested in microfinance and visited the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
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Tags: Education
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Monday, September 27th, 2010
by Chuck Waterfield
Recently David Roodman posted an interesting discussion on his blog. You can read what he wrote here: “Quick: What’s the Grameen Bank’s Interest Rate?”
There are some very interesting points in his posting, to which I wrote the following reply. You’ll find it best to read his posting first, but even without that context, the following points are relevant. (more…)
Tags: APR, Education, Grameen, Pricing, Understanding Interest Rates
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Thursday, September 16th, 2010
by Jessica Haeussler
En español
In 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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Tags: Bolivia, Conference, Data collection, Ecuador, Education, Field Work, Latin America
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Friday, September 3rd, 2010
by Chuck Waterfield
The most recent addition to our new Resources library is Session 1 of our independent study course on transparent pricing. This series of training sessions will provide you with the tools you need to demystify transparent pricing. Featuring practical examples, screenshots from the Calculating Transparent Prices Tool and practice exercises, this educational resource provides you with classroom-quality lessons for a solid foundation in the concepts of transparent pricing.
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Tags: Education, Pricing, Resources, Transparency, Understanding Interest Rates
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
by Jordan Filko
You may have noticed that the Resources library on our website has been undergoing a metamorphosis over the past few weeks. The many educational tools, articles, presentations, videos and other materials created by MFTransparency have been looking for a home, and they are now finally moving in.
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Tags: Education, Resources
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Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
by Greg Mulligan
Just how difficult is it to calculate the true cost of a loan? For many clients of MFIs, it is nearly impossible. Despite the public image of microfinance lenders as being altruistic and philanthropic, some are as predatory as the moneylenders they are supposed replace as a better alternative for their clients. With clients with a low level of financial literacy and a market lacking standardized pricing, many MFIs, including winners of responsible business awards, issue loans with actual costs orders of magnitude higher than advertised costs.
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Tags: APR, Client Protection, Education, Financial Education, Mexico, Pricing, Resources, Responsible Finance, Understanding Interest Rates
3 Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
by Alexandra Fiorillo
Over the past two years, supporters in the industry have validated our belief that microfinance interest rates are confusing and complicated and that we, as an industry, must improve how we think about and communicate microfinance product prices. At MicroFinance Transparency, our first approach to help demystify microfinance interest rates has been to collect, standardize and disseminate information about prices in select microfinance markets.
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Tags: Client Protection, Conference, Education
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
by Jessica Haeussler
I visited AlSol, a Mexican NGO MFI serving women in mainly rural and indigenous communities in the State of Chiapas, several months ago. Together with one of AlSol’s loan officers and two tsotsil-speaking trainers I visited a solidarity group of women entrepreneurs in the community of Zinacantán, near San Cristóbal de las Casas. AlSol’s training program is targeted at illiterate women entrepreneurs below and just above the poverty line. It was fascinating to be part of the participatory training and see how openly the group of women discussed topics such as debt management, business development, and preventive health practices with the trainers. Their secret of success? They work with the trainer’s guides developed by Freedom From Hunger and adapt the details of each training session to the Chiapas context.
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Tags: Client Protection, Education, Financial Education, Mexico
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