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Weekly Roundup: How Brexit Could Impact Emerging Markets + Other Non-Brexit News
We could not call this a Weekly Roundup without addressing Britain’s decision to leave the European Union (spoiler alert: like most economists, we're struggling to see any upside.) But for those readers who've had their fill of Brexit news, we have plenty more developments to share, including Capria Accelerator's new $100 million fund, Waste Ventures' tie up with Coke, and the dark side to alternative credit scoring.
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- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Opportunity International and MyBucks: ‘A Powerful Partnership to Improve More Lives’
Opportunity International's sale of six microfinance banks to the fintech company MyBucks has sparked extensive analysis in recent days - along with some serious concerns. In this article, Opportunity CEO Vicki Escarra responds to the criticisms of the partnership leveled by former MFTransparency CEO Chuck Waterfield in his recent NextBillion post.
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- Uncategorized
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Landscape of Microinsurance Africa study released
The study provides an in depth analysis of the evolution of microinsurance in the African region in terms of products, delivery channels, regulations and profitability indicators to the industry.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Opportunity International and MyBucks: The Future of Digital Microfinance?
Back in November 2015, to little fanfare, microfinance pioneer Opportunity International agreed to sell six banks serving sub-Saharan Africa to the MyBucks Group, a Luxembourg-based fintech company. By all accounts, this should have been bigger news, as it touches upon many of the topics and trends that are reshaping the microfinance sector, from the role of fintech to the question of responsible exits. Daniel Rozas and Gabriela Erice García explore the very real opportunities and challenges generated by this deal.
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- Uncategorized
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Study: MFI loans do little to lift the incomes of poor Cambodian families
The study, released last month by the international research consortium Partnership for Economic Policy, surveyed families in 11 villages and found little difference between the incomes of people who had taken out MFI loans and those who had not.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Handle With Care: How to Maximize the Value of Microinsurance for Emerging Consumers
Intuitively, microinsurance is well-suited to managing some of the financial risks faced by emerging consumers. Yet insurance penetration in emerging economies is very low. Should insurance not be playing a substantially bigger risk management role for people at the base of the pyramid?
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance, research
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International Finance Corp bets big on India’s microfinance sector
The World Bank affiliate IFC is set to invest Rs 300 crore in TPG Capital and Citigroup backed-Janalakshmi Financial Services and another Rs 135 crore in CreditAccess Asia promoted Grameen Koota Financial Services.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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NexThought Monday: Closing China’s Credit Gap
China's economy is on the path toward becoming more financially inclusive, but because the centralized Credit Reference Agency falls short, there's still a need for a scalable system for credit evaluation. Alibaba-affiliate Ant Financial is trying to provide an innovative solution.
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- Uncategorized
