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You Need a Banking Law to Create a Bank for the Poor
Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and a proponent of 'social business', a not-for-profit business model to combat unemployment and other social evils, does not mince his words when it comes to micro-credit for the poor. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is dismissive about some recent innovations in the microfinance sector and warns about the direction they are taking. He also believes that micro-credit should be kept outside political influence to run it as a sound financial institution. "The best scenario," he says, "is when a micro-credit bank is owned by the poor." Excerpts from an interview with Shamni Pande:
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- South Asia
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28M Filipinos Covered by Micro-Insurance as of 2014
As of 2014, 28 million Filipinos have micro-insurance coverage, according to the Insurance Commission (IC). The agency sees a continued growth in this segment as more Filipinos turn to micro-insurance for protection and financial security, especially for calamities.
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- Asia Pacific
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Viewpoint: To Reach India’s Rural Poor, Why Not Try Television Banking?
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was envisioned to provide universal financial inclusion to rural and urban households. The mission includes not only providing universal banking access to all households but also micro-insurance. The government and commercial banks have accomplished the remarkable feat of opening 12.8 crore accounts within the last six months. While this is a laudable achievement, a number of issues related to servicing these accounts, mostly in remote and far-flung areas, may need to be addressed.
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- Technology
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- South Asia
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NexThought Monday – Everybody Loves M-Shwari: So why isn’t everybody using the mobile banking service?
M-Shwari, a mobile service that offers access to formal credit and savings in Kenya, has received tremendous attention from the media, as well as praise from digital financial services advocates. But has this attention led to strong consumer awareness, and if so, has that awareness translated to improved financial access? InterMedia shares the results of their long-term evaluation.
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What Brazil and Malaysia Can Teach the U.S. About Financial Inclusion
When people think about financial inclusion, their minds tend to go first to highly-publicized unbanked regions in Africa and parts of Asia. But many people right here in the United States lack access to traditional financial services.
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Table-Banking Bridges the Financial Inclusion Gap in Kenya
Whichever way you look at it, Kenya and by extension the East African region is undergoing a major transformation as far as financial inclusion goes. In October last year, the Central Bank of Kenya released a report on development regarding the access and consumption of financial services in Kenya. The FinAccess 2013 Survey revealed that Kenya's financial inclusion landscape has undergone considerable transformation.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MTN Uganda Responds to Mobile Money Fraud Story
In a rather unusual move last week, MTN Uganda called a Press Conference, the venue of which would be Stanbic Bank Boardroom at Crested Towers in Kampala.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Weekly Roundup – 6 Mobile Finance Innovations (That Have Nothing to Do With Apple): While the U.S. obsesses over the latest gadget, mobile finance accelerates around the world
Lately, the digital payments conversation in the U.S. seems to revolve around whatever Apple is doing. But while we discuss the latest gadget, mobile finance innovation is exploding in countries around the world. We highlight six intriguing recent developments affecting countries from China to Kenya in this roundup.
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