Microfinance Focus, January 5, 2012: MFTransparency, a global initiative for fair and transparent pricing in the Microfinance industry has recently awarded ‘Seal of Transparency’ to Alalay Sa Kaunlaran, Inc. (ASKI), a microfinance institution in Philippines.

“Being a champion in promoting client protection, we keep our clients informed on the different loan products and services of the organization as well as the charges and other fees incurred when they avail of these products,” said Rolando B. Victoria, ASKI executive director.

According to the report, Transparent Pricing Initiative in the Philippines, “the lack of transparency on interest rates is problematic in many ways. It creates room for providers with different motivations to use the same pricing mechanisms to exploit poor people, charging much more than they need to cover their costs and making it difficult for the client to determine the true price of his or her loan.”

Laila Q. Deles, research associate and project manager of MFTransparency in the Philippines lauded ASKI for the commitment showed by the organization in making the microfinance market in the Philippines transparent.

According to Deles, the certification is valid only for one year. “The seal is only valid between the dates specified. After that period, the organization must update their data with MFTransparency to get a new seal. The updating of data must be done annually at a minimum, but they are welcome to update it any time that they will make changes in their pricing structure.”

ASKI is operating in 11 provinces in the Philippines. It has 38 branches serving more than 95,000 clients with loan portfolio of more than one billion pesos as of November 2011.