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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: Liquidity Before Solvency: A Guide for Microfinance Investors in the Time of COVID-19
Among microfinance investors, there's growing concern that the COVID-19 pandemic will push providers toward insolvency, with fewer loans and shrinking portfolios leading MFIs to default on their debt. But Daniel Rozas at e-MFP argues that in a crisis, preserving MFIs’ liquidity must take precedence over maintaining their solvency. To that end, he urges investors to commit to a six-month moratorium on debt repayments from MFIs.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Data + Digitization: The Key To Helping African Banks and Microfinance Institutions Support Their Customers During COVID-19
Thanks to COVID-19, the IMF projects 2020 to be the worst year for Africa's economic growth since its record-keeping began in 1970. And concerns are also mounting about the likelihood of an increase in non-performing loans, which will impact businesses, industries and individuals across the continent. Cate Rung at Pngme explores how financial technology – including a unified data API platform – can help banks and microfinance institutions weather this crisis, while delivering services that comply with social distancing measures.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
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MFIs in India: Need Social Impact Monitoring
The pandemic has necessitated the need to re-look at the tenets of MFI lending
- Categories
- Education, Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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‘Our Only Competition Is Poverty’: How Avanti Finance Aims To Create a ‘Population-Scale’ Digital Microfinance Platform in India
India has long been a hotbed of digital financial innovation. Avanti Finance is an emerging innovator in the sector, with a digital lending platform that aims to bring affordable microfinance to even the poorest customers. NextBillion spoke with CEO Rahul Gupta to discuss Avanti’s unique model, and the challenges of serving low-income customers both efficiently and responsibly.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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How COVID-19 Is Affecting Microfinance
Specifically, lower-income groups in developing countries and emerging economies face not only the prospect of abject poverty in many cases but also the likelihood that their financial systems may not be sufficiently robust to help them through these dark times.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Can Microlenders Make a Comeback?
Once hailed as a game-changer for the impoverished, microlenders are falling behind in the digital race while online lenders and commercial banks poach their turf.
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Microlenders in India See Light at End of Tunnel; Collection Rates Inch Back To Pre-COVID Levels
Collection rates are picking up, so are disbursements of small loans. Rural entrepreneurs, who suffered most due to COVID, are tweaking their small business strategies to adjust to the new normal.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Invest in Visions Mikrofinanzfonds Lends $36 Million To Indian MFIs Asirvad Microfinance, Sonata Finance
Both microfinance institutions serve low-income female customers in India, and as of June 2020, they intend to use the IIV funds to disburse microloans to their client base in order to encourage business expansion and entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific