Archive for the ‘Featured News’ Category

By Daniel Rozas and Vinod Kothari, Microfinance Focus , August 19, 2010 : Our earlier article on the Hidden Risks behind Microfinance Securitization raised serious concerns about the inherent and largely unrecognized risks embedded in securitizations of microcredit assets.  While we believe that this article provided a useful contribution to microfinance sector, we recognize that it is sometimes easier to be a critic ... Full story

Editorial staff at Microfinance Focus has picked out the best and most interesting read interviews based on number of readings, discussion and feedback. Need to draw a line between microfinance and loan sharking: Prof Muhammad Yunus Sustainability is the key in microfinance: Princess Máxima Creditworthiness of MFIs tops our criteria : ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, Aug 1, 2010: Seeing spectacular performance of SKS Microfinance IPO, other big players in the sector are also gearing up to explore the gains of capital market. Hyderabad based Spandana Sphoorty Financial Ltd, which is ranked 6th in the world and 2nd in India in terms of outreach by Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), could be next in IPO trail as their Board is ... Full story

By Saleh Khan, Country Director , ASA International, Nigeria This paper explores the typical risks that microfinance institutions (MFIs) face in their operations and outlines some of the steps that ASA, one of the world largest NGO MFI, takes to mitigate them. This discussion is from a practitioner’s perspective and is intended to provide examples of how a typical MFI might respond ... Full story

By Priyanka Jayashankar and Robert Goedegebuure, Microfinance Focus, July 16, 2010 : As a plethora of financial inclusion models emerge across India, vast segments of the Muslim community still remain under-banked. In recent years, a handful of leading financial players have developed Shariah-compliant funds for the Indian market. However, full-fledged Islamic banks are yet to make inroads into the microfinance sector. Many Muslims hail from low ... Full story

By Vineet Sukumar, IFMR Capital, Microfinance Focus , July 14, 2010 : In a recent post in Microfinance Focus, Daniel Rozas and Vinod Kothari have argued that microfinance securitisation does not, in reality, separate ‘pool risk’ from ‘originator risk’ and hence should not be rated very differently from the originator of the portfolio. Some of the arguments are well reasoned out such as the lack ... Full story

By Daniel Rozas and Vinod Kothari, Microfinance Focus , July 06, 2010 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently promulgated proposed guidelines for securitization by non-banking finance companies that if implemented, would essentially gut the widespread Indian MFI practice of selling (assigning) and securitizing portions of their portfolios.  One of us has already described these consequences in detail.  Not surprisingly, this ... Full story

By Sanjay Sinha, Microfinance Focus, June 15, 2010 : Synopsis : International microfinance is at a critical juncture in 2010.  As a sub-sector of the financial services industry, microfinance has evolved from the slow moving tortoise of the 1990s to the nimble hare of the early “noughties” (2000-05) and, since then, into an overcharged bull growing at 70-100% per annum in some markets.  The purpose ... Full story

By Priyanka Jayashankar & Robert Goedegebuure, Microfinance Focus, June 15, 2010: The portico of a rustic household is abuzz with the chatter of women in the midst of a joint liability group meeting convened by ESAF in Perinjnanam, an idyllic village tucked away in Thrissur district. “I used to pawn my jewellery to keep my business afloat before availing of micro-loans,” recalled a bespectacled Laila. ... Full story

By Daniel Rozas, Microfinance Focus , June 07, 2010 : Savings is a hot topic in the microfinance policy circles these days.  The CGAP blog regularly features one or another posting on savings programs.  The influential blogger David Roodman recently recommended deemphasizing cross-border MFI debt funding in favor of support for savings services.   Meanwhile, the Gates Foundation has been channeling its millions towards expanding savings, ... Full story

By Malcolm Harper, Microfinance Focus , June 07, 2010 : Microfinance, like all fashions, generates a lot of writing. Some of it is not worth the paper or the screen space which it occupies, and much of it is unashamedly promotional;  Bateman’s new book is different, and much better. He has an axe to grind, and he sometimes grinds it too hard, but he ... Full story

By Vikash Kumar, Microfinance Focus, May 18, 2010 : Microfinance Focus took an Exclusive Interview with Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands at the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit 2010, which was held in Nairobi, Kenya on April 7-10. She spoke widely with us on her experiences and views on the Microcredit Summit, her previous work in microcredit, and the way forward for ... Full story

By Vikash Kumar & Daniel Rozas * Microfinance Focus , May 12, 2010 : SKS Microfinance, India’s biggest lender to the poor, is soon to become the nation’s first microfinance company to list on the Stock Exchange. In the past 10 years, it has evolved from an NGO to a public limited company and has set many benchmarks for the industry to follow. Microfinance Focus presents ... Full story

Editor’s Note: MISFA (Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan) commissioned a study in 2009 to look at the agricultural market of Afghanistan and identify gaps and opportunities for microfinance and SME interventions and has published its findings in its bi-annual newsletter, Microfinance Times. The article presents excerpts from the newsletter. Microfinance Focus, ... Full story