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Bangladesh government plans to strengthen Grameen Bank
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said the government plans to strengthen Grameen Bank further so that the Nobel Prize winning microcredit lender becomes more relevant in changing times.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Is Maharashtra the Next Andhra Pradesh for the Microfinance Industry?
Microfinance companies in Maharashtra are seeing early signs of trouble, reminiscent of a crisis that gripped the sector in 2010 when repayments came to a virtual standstill in Andhra Pradesh revealing poor lending practices by the industry.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Does Automation Eliminate Bias From Small-Business Lending?
Problem: Though women own a third of U.S. small businesses, they get less than 20% of the loans made through the bank-centric, federally backed system that distributes a lot of credit to such firms.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending
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Kresge Investing $14 Million to Community Finance Institutions Serving Low-Income People
The Kresge Foundation announced today $14 million in investments to six Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) and Development Finance Agencies (DFAs) working to expand opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities through an initiative called Kresge Community Finance (KCF).
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing, lending
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Women Struggle to Repay Loans Taken From Microfinance Institutions in India
The demonetisation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes has severely affected women who had borrowed loans from microfinance institutions. While some of them have resorted to mortgaging gold and sell household items to pay weekly instalments, there have been cases where some attempted suicide as they were unable to bear the burden of repaying the loans.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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Unlocking Human Potential: How Psychometric Scoring Can Turbocharge Financial Inclusion
EFL Global aims to enable lending to underserved borrowers around the world. The firm pioneered psychometric credit scoring, a screening tool designed to identify traits key to successful entrepreneurship. In this email Q&A with NextBillion Senior Editor James Militzer, Jared Miller, CEO of EFL Global, talks about efforts by his company and others to “turbocharge” financial inclusion.
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- Uncategorized
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Payday Loans Emerging As Nascent Market in India
Payday loans are decried a scourge, a menace and our dubbed "loan sharks" in the US and UK. With very high interest rates of 45%-50%, payday loans are given in advance of the next pay cheque and cater to blue collar workers, who are paid on a weekly basis. In India, payday loans are at a nascent stage and just taking off with a host of startups like RupeeLend, MoneyinMinutes, QuickCredit, Money4You.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending
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German Lender MyBucks Eyes Kenya Banking Licence in Race for Clients
German micro-lender, MyBucks, is eyeing a deposit-taking licence from the Central Bank of Kenya in a bid to grow its local clientele base.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa