Posts Tagged ‘Project Launch’

Pricing Transparency Launch in Bolivia

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

by Jessica Haeussler

Chuck Waterfield, CEO & President of MFTransparency; Fernando Prado, Secretario Ejecutivo of ASOFIN; Nestor Castro, Gerente of FINRURAL; signing MFTransparency’s Endorsement Statement at the transparency workshop in La Paz, Bolivia.

Last week, we officially launched our Transparent Pricing Initiative in Bolivia, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and MicroNed.  This project launch in our third Latin American country has been a great success and we’re excited about the widespread support from the diverse Bolivian microfinance community!

Stakeholders from the entire spectrum of the local microfinance industry joined us in the launch of the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Bolivia. The two local microfinance networks ASOFIN and FINRURAL are our strategic implementation partners in this effort and we are very pleased to announce that all their member institutions attended our events in La Paz and Santa Cruz. In La Paz, 71 participants attended our workshop on May 4th, including representatives from the vast majority of MFIs, among them Banco Los Andes ProCredit, Banco Sol, Banco FIE, CRECER, PRODEM and ProMujer, downscaling banks such as Banco Unión and Banca Minorista del Banco de Crédito BCP, as well as the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) and the Supervisory Authority of the Financial System (ASFI). Also in attendance were investors including  Oikocredit, LOCFUND, Bolivian Investments Management and Alphamundi Group, and other industry stakeholders such as the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), World Vision, Fundación PROFIN, Consultora IMPACTO, CONFIE, AFIN, and representatives of the local media.

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Ecuadorian Innovations in Regulating Pricing Transparency

Monday, May 17th, 2010

by Jessica Haeussler

As 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.

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Warm Welcome in Ecuador for Pricing Transparency Initiative

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

by Jessica Haeussler

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.

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Transparent Pricing Initiative in Kenya

Monday, February 8th, 2010

by Jordan Filko

Jambo! I would like to share a bit in this post about recent work in Kenya, where I spent three weeks in January with Alexandra Fiorillo (Vice President, MFTransparency) continuing the data collection process for MFTransparency’s Transparent Pricing Initiative in Kenya. Kenya is the first African country where we have implemented the Initiative and we’ve been continuing the work we began in October, when we hosted a training session in Nairobi during the Social Performance Task Force workshop. This trip has been hugely successful! I’m excited to report back and share some of the highlights of our time in Kenya.

We focused our first week in Kenya having meetings with organizations that support the local microfinance industry. The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Kenya (AMFI) has supported our work from the beginning of the Kenya project and we were happy to visit their offices to update them on our progress. As hosts of the 2010 Africa/Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit, AMFI invited us to host a session at the Summit where we will officially announce the results of the MFTransparency Kenya Initiative.  Our partnership with AMFI has helped us to access the leading MFIs, communicate our message throughout the industry and ensure that there is support for our work from within the Kenyan microfinance market. We are very excited about the Microcredit Summit and sharing the results of our project there!

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