Microfinance Focus, September 8, 2011: Citi announced today new funding, grants worth US$ 200,000, for the Banking With The Poor (BWTP) Network to promote financial inclusion in Asia. The BWTP Network, Asia’s microfinance network, is an association of a diverse range of microfinance stakeholders committed to improving the quality of life of the poor through promoting and facilitating their access to sustainable financial services.

The US$ 200,000 grants provide by Citi Foundation will enable the BWTP Network to provide secretariat services to the APEC Business Advisory Council’s Advisory group On Financial Inclusion and also build its capacity to support BWTP members consisting of microfinance institutions, commercial banks, central banks and microfinance networks from 12 countries across the region.

Erlijn Sie, General Manager of the BWTP Network, chaired a session on remittances and cross-border microfinance at the Forum, and stressed the importance of Citi’s ongoing support to their work: “Millions of people in this region are working abroad and their remittances are vital to many economies, yet they are still excluded from the formal financial system. BWTP plans to draw greater attention to this issue by facilitating dialogue between financial institutions and regulators, and this is just one example of many valuable initiatives that we are able to undertake thanks to Citi.”

Previous Citi Foundation support for BWTP totaling over US$2 million includes lead sponsorship of the Asia Microfinance Forums, the development of Microfinance and Disaster Management training materials, and the Citi Network Strengthening Program.