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MFTransparency Blog  

  • Pricing Transparency Launch in Bolivia

    Published on May 20, 2010

    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!

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    Countries: Bolivia
    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: Pricing Initiative
  • Explaining the Price Curve

    Published on May 14, 2010

    If you have perused our data, you may have noticed the market average curve present on all our country graphs. This curve is so fundamental to MFTransparency that its characteristic downward slope is even represented in our logo. This is the curve relating interest rates to loan size, and it is extremely important in analyzing the price of microloan products.

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    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: Understanding Prices
  • MFTransparency at the Microcredit Summit in Nairobi, Kenya

    Published on May 10, 2010

    Last month I attended the 2010 Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit in Nairobi, Kenya to represent MFTransparency along with Chuck Waterfield and Alex Fiorillo. As my first Microcredit Summit, this was an exciting event for me.

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    Countries: Kenya
    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: MFT Event
  • Bringing the Transparent Pricing Initiative to South America

    Published on April 11, 2010

    Hola 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.

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    Countries: Bolivia, Ecuador
    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: Pricing Initiative
  • Interest Rate Transparency in Brazil: Addressing Cultural Questions

    Published on March 30, 2010

    Brazilians, as I’ve learned from having lived in the Northeast of the country over the past several months, love credit. Common are the signs sitting in most São Paulo storefronts that advertise the interest rate of products by the “vez”. The number of “vezes” or “aprestações” is the number of months across which the full price of a product can be divided, giving the consumer the number of installments in which one is allowed to pay for a good that can range from a car to a cellular phone to a t-shirt to a plate of beans and rice.

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    Countries: Brazil
    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: Regulation & Policy, Understanding Prices
  • MFTransparency Receives Ford Foundation Grant to Promote a Fair and Transparent Microfinance Industry in Latin America

    Published on March 22, 2010

    MFTransparency has received grant from the Ford Foundation to promote fair and transparent pricing in the microfinance industry in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. The effort, known as the Transparent Pricing Initiative, will launch later this month.

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    Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador
    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: Pricing Initiative
  • New Research from World Bank Highlights Tradeoffs in Microfinance

    Published on March 19, 2010

    Asli Demirguc-Kunt, a chief economist at the World Bank, recently posted an article entitled “Microfinance: Dream versus Reality”. Her post provides an overview of the tough tradeoffs faced by microfinance institutions: between serving the poorest clients and achieving financial sustainability (and profitability).

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    Category: MFTransparency Blog
    Tags: Investments, Regulation & Policy, Responsible Finance