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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
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- 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
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(Reinvented) Weekly Roundup: Cashless Betting, Good Pod, Beautiful Resolve
NextBillion is changing the format of our Weekly Roundup. Rather than more lengthy, editor-written analysis of weekly events, on Fridays we’ll curate a number of news articles, announcements, tweets, videos and other media that captured our attention over the course of the week.
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- Social Enterprise
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Savings & Loans firms battle identity crisis in Ghana
Savings and loans companies in the country have appealed to the Bank of Ghana to consider creating a new identity for the industry, as the image of their business has been severely battered as a consequence of the troubles in the microfinance sector.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- lending, microfinance
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Peer-to-peer lending segment needs regulation, says Reserve Bank of India deputy governor
Gandhi says RBI believes P2P lending is an important innovation in the financial services space as it furthers the agenda of financial inclusion.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending, microfinance, regulations
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