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Rwanda’s central bank urges MFIs to automate to reduce bad loans
The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) has called on microfinance institutions (MFIs) across the country to embrace automation and reduce the rate of bad loans before the end of the year.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Extending access to credit: Are alternate finance platforms creating tangible impact in India?
Having recently been brought under the regulatory ambit by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the thought was that the nascent online P2P lending sector can play a significant contribution towards furthering the cause of financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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When Nonprofits Have A Financial Emergency, There’s Now A Fund To Bail Them Out
Nonprofits and social enterprises generally lack extra funds to help out if things go wrong. Unlike traditional businesses, it’s hard to develop a rainy-day fund when donors (or investors) expect most of your money to toward changing lives.
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How responsible are India’s lenders? A new report has a few pointers
FPSB and IIM (Lucknow) unveils “Navigator of Responsible Lending- India”—a first-of-its-kind research report on consumer loans that maps major banks and NBFCs across small-ticket personal and consumer durable loans
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending
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Finance Responds to Climate Change: How ‘Recovery Lending’ Can Help Victims of Weather-Related Disasters
Natural disasters leave U.S. communities reeling – but those impacted generally have an insurance safety net. When climate-related catastrophes strike poorer populations, it is almost impossible to recover fully. In fact, every year natural disasters force 26 million people further into poverty. Stewart McCulloch of VisionFund International details a novel disaster insurance program that leverages big data climate models to support nearly 700,000 families with "recovery lending."
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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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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