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.
(more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Responsible Finance’
Responsible microfinance: Regulators agree on the fundamental questions to be answered
Friday, November 4th, 2011African Policymakers Outline the Way Forward in Transparent Pricing
Monday, October 24th, 2011by Jordan Filko
Earlier this month MFTransparency hosted the African Microfinance Pricing Transparency Leadership Forum in Nairobi Kenya. This was the first event of its kind, bringing together policymakers, regulators, networks and a host of industry experts to discuss issues related to pricing transparency in African microfinance markets. More than 120 people comprised this carefully selected participant group, representing 24 different African countries. MFTransparency compiled country teams that would be able to achieve the two main objectives:
(more…)
Financial Education: From Rwanda to Russia
Friday, September 16th, 2011
DFID Financial Sector Deepening Project Uganda & Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU)
by Dasha Kuts
Dasha Kuts is an Intern with MFTransparency’s Financial Education Program. She is also a Financial Service Expert for the International Resource Group, working on the USAID-funded Microlinks website.
MFTransparency has been instrumental in developing useful tools and processes to improve financial education and consumer protection in the microfinance sector. Recently, I got involved with the Financial Education Program that is being conducted by MFTransparency in Rwanda and Malawi.
MFTransparency to Speak at the Global Microcredit Summit
Friday, August 5th, 2011By Jordan Filko
MFTransparency CEO Chuck Waterfield and COO Alexandra Fiorillo will both speak at the Global Microcredit Summit to be held November 14-17, 2011 in Valladolid, Spain.
(more…)
Conférence malienne sur la protection du consommateur en microfinance
Friday, July 29th, 2011by Mélina Djre
Lors de mon séjour au Mali dans le cadre de l’Initiative sur la Tarification Transparente, j’ai eu l’occasion de participer à l’Atelier National sur la Protection des Clients, organisé conjointement par l’Association Professionnelle des Institutions de la Microfinance du Mali (APIM/Mali) et Terrafina Microfinance. Les objectifs de cet atelier étaient d’informer les acteurs maliens de la microfinance sur les principes de protection des clients de la Smart Campaign tout en les encourageant à intégrer ces principes dans leurs structures et leurs principales opérations de façon concrète.
(more…)
Microfinance Investment Transparency and Evaluation – USAID Seminar
Monday, July 25th, 2011by 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.
(more…)
Financial Education: Key Component to Responsible Pricing
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
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.
(more…)
New Tool: Putting Transparency Into Practice
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
by Jordan Filko
This week MFTransparency and the Smart Campaign published a new tool called “Putting Transparency Into Practice: Communicating About Pricing“. This tool helps define transparent and responsible pricing and provides several additional resources for MFIs looking to comply with the pricing standards outlined by the Client Protection Principles.
Usury Rates in Colombia
Thursday, January 27th, 2011by Alex Perez
MFTransparency’s Transparent Pricing Initiative in Colombia is meeting with great success, 22 MFIs having already submitted their data and 4 more currently underway with the data collection process.
(more…)
A Powerful NGO Model Everyone Should Know About
Thursday, October 21st, 2010I recently came across an article in the online Harvard Business Review titled “The Most Powerful Green NGO You’ve Never Heard Of.” The title itself was enough to pique my interest but most exciting was to learn about the parallels that exist between MFTransparency’s business model and that of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). The article states, “the UK nonprofit began in 2000 with a simple idea: ask the world’s largest companies to publicly share information about their carbon emissions and the actions they’re taking to manage them.”
(more…)
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.
(more…)
MFTransparency Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of AFMIN in Accra, Ghana
Thursday, October 14th, 2010The African Microfinance Network (AFMIN), the association of microfinance networks in Africa, recently organized its 9th annual conference, which also marked the 10th anniversary celebration of the organization. The conference was held in Accra, Ghana on October 5 – 9, 2010. With the theme “Access to Financial Services: Reaching the Poor and Excluded,” the conference gathered over 400 participants from Africa and around the globe.
(more…)
MFTransparency Joins Financial Inclusion Side-Event at the United Nations
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010On 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.
(more…)
Aligned Objectives of MFIN & MFT
Thursday, October 7th, 2010The Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) is one of the organizations that MFTransparency has partnered with on the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India. MFIN has played a big role during the data collection process by motivating its members to participate. MFIN is a self- regulatory body floated by the top microfinance institutions (MFIs) of the country, with 43 non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) as its members. MFIN’s objective is to work with regulators to promote microfinance, enhance responsible lending and institutionalize the process of credit information sharing. MFIN has also designed a Code of Conduct for its members. Mr. Vijay Mahajan, Chairman of the Microfinance India Network, says of the code, “Proper enforcement of the code of conduct would lead to greater financial inclusion. The aim is to stop multiple lending, which leads to delinquency.”
(more…)
Agree or Disagree: Profit Margins in Microfinance Should be Limited
Friday, October 1st, 2010by Jordan Filko
The Microfinance Club of New York (MFCNY) and ACCION USA recently co-hosted the first event in a series of debates on current issues in the microfinance industry. This debate addressed the question of whether profit margins in microfinance should be limited. MFTransparency CEO & President Chuck Waterfield and Grameen Foundation Vice President for Microfinance Camilla Nestor argued on the side in favor of limiting profit. Michael Edberg, Director of Investments for MicroVest, and Brian Cox, CEO of MFX Solutions, argued against limiting profits. Jacob Haar of Minlam Asset Management served as the skillful moderator of this heated debate.
(more…)
Progress of the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India
Friday, September 3rd, 2010We are excited to announce that 80 microfinance institutions in India have indicated their interest in participating in the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India by submitting product pricing data to MFTransparency. Of these, 65 data submissions have been completed and approved by the senior management of the institution and the remaining 15 are underway. While our official deadline for data submission has now passed, we are still accepting data from MFIs who need a few extra days to complete their submission.
(more…)
A Conversation with Mr. Vasudevan PN, Founder and Managing Director of Equitas Microfinance India
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
MFTransparency spoke with Mr. Vasudevan PN, Founder and Managing Director of Equitas Microfinance India, about the need for transparency in microfinance, what responsible finance means, and policies that can help to further promote transparency in the Indian microfinance market. Equitas Microfinance is a member of MFIN, and was the first institution to submit data as part of MFTransparency’s Transparent Pricing Initiative in India. Located in Chennai, Equitas Microfinance is one of the largest MFIs in India with a Gross Loan Portfolio of INR 6,050,000,000 (approx. US$ 131,521,739) and a total of 880,000 active clients.
(more…)
Microfinance in India: A Colorful Market in a Colorful Country
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Working on the Transparent Pricing Initiative in India is a very different experience as compared to any of MFTransparency’s other country initiatives. The microfinance market in India is unique in many ways related to outreach, products and practices that all affect pricing. In this post I will introduce you to some of the factors that give this colorful market its character.
(more…)
Responsible Pricing: The State of the Practice
Thursday, August 5th, 2010by Jordan Filko
Yesterday the Smart Campaign published the paper “Responsible Pricing: The State of the Practice,” co-authored by MFTransparency Vice President Alexandra Fiorillo. We are proud to have contributed our research and guidance to the content of this paper, which outlines the progress of the microfinance industry toward transparent and responsible pricing.
(more…)
Microfinance in West Africa Grows Up
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010We are seeing today the explosion of microfinance institutions in West Africa. But as I look back, I remember that it hasn’t always been this way.
(more…)
Blog RSS Feed