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What’s Ailing Sri Lanka’s Microfinance Industry – And Could Fintech Provide a Solution?
In Sri Lanka, microfinance interest rates can be as high as 72 percent – outpacing even loan sharks, whose rates average around 40 percent. This often traps clients in severe debt and perpetuates cycles of poverty – while MFIs themselves often enjoy high profits, low expenses and lack of competitive pressure. Suthaharan Perampalam and Mithula Guganeshan of Sparkwinn explore the potential of fintech (and better regulations) in changing this dynamic.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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Social enterprise Pollinate Energy has provided 20,000 urban poor families with affordable, green energy
In 2012, six young Australians — Jamie Chivers, Monique Alfris, Ben Merven, Katerina Kimmorley, Emma Colenbrander, and Alexie Seller — came together to see if they could find a way for children living in a slum in North Bengaluru, to have light to study.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
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Indonesia’s Fintech Lending Boom Exploits Shortfall in Bank Loans
The emergence of these peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms has so far been welcomed by Indonesia's financial regulators which see them as offering a much needed service to cash-strapped businesses and consumers at a time when Southeast Asia's biggest economy has been hobbled by sluggish bank lending.
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Grameen America Celebrates 10 Years of Empowering Women through Microfinance as it Announces Foray into Impact Investing
Previously, Grameen America had been funded largely by traditional philanthropy and concessionary capital from foundations, charitable organizations, individual investors, and commercial lenders. The organization’s adoption of impact investing as an additional means of funding comes at a time when impact investing—defined by the Global Impact Investing Network as “investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return”—is on the rise.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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India urges state banks to improve lending practices
The ministry said that it wants lenders to work on improving customer responsiveness, responsible banking, deepening financial inclusion and digitalization, and staff development. At the heart of all this would be a drive to weed out corruption and improve efficiency.
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending, public policy
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How Impact Investing is Advancing Affordable Housing
For millions of people, especially for the 13.2 million who have worked with the organization to build new or updated homes, Habitat for Humanity is a household name. But many don't realize that the international charity that put “sweat equity” on the map is also pioneering a different approach: A pair of funds that invest in businesses that advance affordable housing via financial products and services. Jyoti Patel, global director-capital markets at Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, discusses the funds and their wide-ranging impact.
- Categories
- Investing
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Mastercard’s New Platform Helps Kenyan Micromerchants Get Credit–And Restock Faster
Without a financial history, small shop owners struggle to access loans. A new project from Mastercard helps them build up a track record of payments through digitizing their orders from local wholesalers.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microfinance sector looks to shake off demonetisation blues by March
Loan repayment took a severe hit in the cash-based sector after the government announced note-ban in November 2016. The situation deteriorated further when small borrowers in five states including Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra stopped repaying loans after the respective governments announced farm loan waiver.
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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