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GIC-Backed Bandhan Bank’s Indian IPO to Raise Up to $689 Million
Bandhan Bank Ltd., the first Indian microfinance lender to get a banking permit, has set the price range for its initial public offering, which could raise as much as 44.73 billion rupees ($689 million).
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
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Press release: OPIC unveils 2x Women’s Initiative to mobilize more than $1bil to invest in the world’s women
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today unveiled its global 2X Women’s Initiative, which will mobilize more than $1 billion to projects that support women in developing countries, unlocking the multi-trillion dollar investment opportunity women represent. The announcement was made at the 8th Annual International Women’s Day Forum, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
- Categories
- Investing
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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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Madagascar: $45 Million to Promote Financial Inclusion of Individuals and Small Enterprises
Madagascar Financial Inclusion project will specifically target women and women-owned enterprises, to reduce disparities in access to finance for women. The direct beneficiaries of the project will include teachers, students and taxpayers that will have the option to receive and make government payments through an e-money transaction account.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Report: India’s government is yet to achieve its financial inclusion goal
“If we don’t catch up in accordance with the requirements of the society, a day won’t be very far off when we are faced with serious challenges of a large section of senior citizens who are completely devoid of any form of dependency itself,” Jaitley added at the release of the latest edition of Crisil inclusix report.
- Region
- South Asia
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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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Can The World’s Underbanked Leapfrog On To A New Blockchain Financial System?
Moeda is a new startup that allows investors to use the blockchain to support cooperatives in rural Brazil–in a different way than is possible in the current system.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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Is Mobile Money Killing Off the Group Microfinance Model (And Would That Be Such a Bad Thing)?
SAJIDA Foundation, an NGO and microfinance provider in Bangladesh, recently took the bold step of going cashless. But shifting to mobile money meant the end of group meetings – the locus of traditional microcredit for decades. The NGO was betting on clients embracing this new approach, but after the initial rollout, it noted some troubling downsides along with the expected benefits. Ashirul Amin of BFA explores the pros and cons SAJIDA has encountered in its cashless journey, and how it is responding with a hybrid method that blends old and new.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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