On Friday 24th April, a group of nine inclusive finance fund managers (BlueOrchard, DWM, Incofin, Microvest, Oikocredit, responsAbility, Symbiotics, Triodos and Triple Jump - most of which are long-standing e-MFP members) issued a Memorandum of Understanding, entitled “Coordination among MIVs in response to Covid 19”. This is a complex and much-needed collective initiative, and will act as the foundation of the sector’s response to the challenges of Covid facing financial institutions and their clients around the world.
As e-MFP has advocated, a joint investor process for rescheduling or otherwise deferring debt repayments for financial institutions serving the world’s poor is arguably the most critical effort to support financial institutions that serve the world’s poor. The MOU - which provides for four tiers of intervention depending on the underlying health of the investee institution - represents a crucial convergence and alignment among key players that together represent 90% of total impact investment in financial inclusion. It acknowledges too that sacrifices and costs will have to be shared, and that collective action, transparency and partnership are the only ways to achieve the collective goals: protecting vulnerable clients and helping them to prosper once this crisis is passed.
Together with the MOU, the parties have also adopted the standardized Crisis Assessment Tool (CAT),which MFIs can use to provide their investors up-to-date information on the impact COVID has had on their operations and financial position. Such standardised reporting not only reduces the time and effort required for the MFIs, it also lays the foundation for building a common platform for analysing the situation globally, providing crucial input for donors and funders to allocate resources where they are needed most.
e-MFP welcomes and endorses this collective response, and sees it as the start of what will be a long process. We also welcome comments or engagement on this process, which can be posted on our new www.covid-finclusion.org discussion platform. Finally, we call on all our investor members and friends to endorse and join this initiative and the concrete principles and processes it contains, and we will continue to work with all our members to further support a focused and effective response.
Download the press release here
Download the MOU here
Download the crisis assessment reporting tool here
As e-MFP has advocated, a joint investor process for rescheduling or otherwise deferring debt repayments for financial institutions serving the world’s poor is arguably the most critical effort to support financial institutions that serve the world’s poor. The MOU - which provides for four tiers of intervention depending on the underlying health of the investee institution - represents a crucial convergence and alignment among key players that together represent 90% of total impact investment in financial inclusion. It acknowledges too that sacrifices and costs will have to be shared, and that collective action, transparency and partnership are the only ways to achieve the collective goals: protecting vulnerable clients and helping them to prosper once this crisis is passed.
Together with the MOU, the parties have also adopted the standardized Crisis Assessment Tool (CAT),which MFIs can use to provide their investors up-to-date information on the impact COVID has had on their operations and financial position. Such standardised reporting not only reduces the time and effort required for the MFIs, it also lays the foundation for building a common platform for analysing the situation globally, providing crucial input for donors and funders to allocate resources where they are needed most.
e-MFP welcomes and endorses this collective response, and sees it as the start of what will be a long process. We also welcome comments or engagement on this process, which can be posted on our new www.covid-finclusion.org discussion platform. Finally, we call on all our investor members and friends to endorse and join this initiative and the concrete principles and processes it contains, and we will continue to work with all our members to further support a focused and effective response.
Download the press release here
Download the MOU here
Download the crisis assessment reporting tool here