Unraveling the Mysteries of Microfinance Interest Rates

SMDP 2014 Webinar Series

The SMDP Webinar series took a bit of a hiatus the past few months but now were back and ready to announce several useful and fascinating upcoming webinars. The SMDP webinars cover a wide range of topics from microfinance, enterprise development, social enterprise and savings groups and more.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Microfinance Interest rates

June 19 – 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EDT (GMT -5)

Chuck Waterfield, Microfinance Transparency

It’s been more than seven years since the Compartamos IPO stunned the industry, generating consumer protection efforts, including creation of Microfinance Transparency (MFT), founded by Chuck Waterfield to shine light into the murky waters of microfinance interest rates and pricing. Chuck and his team at MFT have enabled hundreds of lenders to come clean on the prices they are charging their clients to borrow money, but the process has not always been easy. During our June 19th SMDP Webinar we will talk to Chuck about what motivates different MFIs to participate in the act of divulging prices and the push and pull forces that stakeholders from donors to networks to regulators use to foster transparency and price fairness. Chuck will also introduce MFT’s Truth in Lending Tables (TILT) which provides complete and comparable data from hundreds of MFIs on the true prices charged to microfinance clients. We will also ask Chuck, who has been a leading practitioner for nearly three decades, to prognosticate about where the industry is going and what are the most important internal and external threats we may be facing.

Chuck Waterfield, CEO, Microfinance Transparency (MFT)

Chuck Waterfield has 25 years experience in microfinance, with a mixture of practical field experience (six years starting MFIs in both Haiti and Bolivia) and experience leading network strategy development (serving as microenterprise director for both MEDA and for CARE International). He developed Microfin, the most popular financial planning software in the microfinance industry and teaches business planning courses around the world, with more than 3,000 microfinance professionals having been trained in his courses. His current work as an independent consultant includes clients across the industry.

Currently on faculty of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, he was formerly on the faculty of the Boulder Microfinance Training Program for ten years and Southern New Hampshire University’s Microenterprise Development Institute for eight years. In addition to Microfin, he has a broad range of products and publications including the SEEP FRAME Tool, the CARE Credit and Savings Sourcebook, and CGAP Handbook on Management Information Systems. In 2008, he founded MicroFinance Transparency and works as the CEO.