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Financial Health Means More than Financial Inclusion
Here’s a sobering data point for you, courtesy of the recent EMERGE conference in New Orleans: 138 million people in the United States are financially unhealthy. They are not exclusively from the lower-income brackets, either. In fact, one-third of households with income of $100,000 (or more) struggle to manage their financial lives.
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- Uncategorized
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Here Are 5 of Africa’s Most Financially Inclusive Countries
Fnancial inclusion is vital in achieving inclusive sustainable growth and development as well as reducing poverty. Globally, about 2 billion people do not have a bank account but, Africa has been experiencing great advancements in financial inclusiveness. According to The World Bank, 34 percent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa had an account in 2014 compared to 24 percent in 2011.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bank of Ghana to weed out unscrupulous microfinance institutions
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is strengthening its licensing requirements in order to weed out unscrupulous microfinance institutions from the system. Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku, the Governor of Bank of Ghana, said recent events had shown that unregulated and poorly supervised financial systems might lead to risky behaviours and undermine the growth process.
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- Uncategorized
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda: Stop Cheating Clients, Minister Urges Microfinance Institutions
The minister for Microfinance, Mr Kyeyune Haruna Kasolo, has warned microfinance institutions to stop cheating the general public by charging very high interest rates on loans.
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- Uncategorized
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Borrowing and Saving – Not Two Sides of the Same Coin
From a mathematical point of view, borrowing and saving are mirror images. In both cases many small payments allow for one or more large payouts. Only the sequence differs. But after traveling to India and Kenya as part of a research project, we were struck by vast differences in the way people make borrowing and savings decisions - and these have profound implications for financial service providers.
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Nigeria clamps down on money transfers to the country
The Central Bank of Nigeria has suddenly changed its policy toward money transfer operators, effectively blocking many services used by Nigerians to send money to and from the country.
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- Uncategorized
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- cash transfers
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U.S. Small Business Administration and Grameen America Partner to Provide Microloans for Entrepreneurs
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Grameen America, Inc., a leading nonprofit microfinance organization, today announced a renewed partnership to extend a capital pipeline to underserved American entrepreneurs. Effective immediately, Grameen America will join SBA's Microloan Program as an intermediary lender recipient of $2.5 million.
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- Region
- North America
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World’s First Islamic Endowment Crowdfunding Platform Launched
Tun Abdullah Badawi, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, has launched the Waqf (Islamic Endowment) crowdfunding platform or WaqfWorld. Described as the “worlds first” the new platform was announced at the 12th World Islamic Economic Foundation Forum (WIEF) held in Jakarta this past week The platform was developed in partnership with EthisVentures.com.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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- crowdfunding, philanthropy