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Author: Daniel Rozas

Recently, I was reading the Economist and came across Charles Keating's obituary.  That name means little to most readers outside the US, but for me it reminded of an idea that's been percolating in my mind for quite some time now:  while rich countries offer valuable lessons for microfinance regulation, those lessons alone won't be enough.

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Author: Daniel Rozas

A recent article by the Economist hails a study in Bangladesh by Shahidur Khandker as "the biggest study so far [which] finds that microcredit helps the poor after all."  Within the sector, the article has been widely circulated as proof that, indeed, microfinance does work.

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Author: Clarmondial

As the microfinance industry has grown, there has been an increasing focus on the non-financial impacts that microfinance institutions (MFIs) can have. While the industry developed to tackle socio-economic issues through providing access to finance, its impressive growth led to increasing evaluation of MFIs potential social and environmental impacts. As a result, MFIs are increasingly expected to consider a broader spectrum of issues in their operations.

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Author: e-MFP

Every November, the European Microfinance Week (EMW) brings together a high-level group of decision-makers, opinion-leaders and practitioners from the microfinance industry to discuss the state of the sector and the way ahead in the coming years. This past November, the e-MFP team went one step further, and conducted a poll of attendees on the key trends affecting the sector and its level of preparedness to address them.

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Author: Solene Morvant-Roux
This part II of a two-post blog, summarizing some of the key findings of an edited volume that has just been released (Guérin I. Morvant-Roux S. Villarreal M. (eds) (2013) Microfinance, debt and over-indebtedness: Juggling with money, London: Routledge). More details about the book can be found here. Other project publications may be found at microfinance-in-crisis.org.

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Author: e-MFP

NpM tax report image

NpM, Platform for Inclusive Finance is a Dutch membership organisation focusing on the promotion of inclusive finance. What the member organisations have in common is their contribution to assisting the poor in getting access to finance.

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Author: Daniel Rozas
It’s a question that comes up at nearly dinner discussion of microfinance: why are the interest rates so high, and how can poor clients afford them? So, you have the answer – interest rates are high because operating in difficult environments is costly, and because those costs have to be recouped from small loans.

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Author: Sanjay Sinha
Relatively light and supportive regulation of microfinance, systematic and graded requirements for deposit taking, and a positive approach to foreign private investors make Cambodia a very popular destination for international social investors. Not surprisingly, over the past decade, Cambodian microfinance has gone from a largely NGO domain to a haven of commercial microfinance where international NGOs remain but mostly (now) as commercial investors gradually cashing in on their grant investments of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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