'This paper will present a brief overview of the microfinance “industry” in the Philippines as well as the recent developments of increased commercialization. Commercialization of microfinance has spurred greater competition leading to increased innovations in microfinance products and service delivery.'

'This paper discusses migrant remittances in the Sri Lankan context, specifically in relation to Hatton National Bank’s (HNB) microfinance program and the use of technology. Currently outreach in microfinance is expanding as a result of migrant remittances, improved technologies and cheaper services. HNB’s innovative remittance e-product, Money2Home, is one such product outlined and other future development areas are considered.'

The word 'microcredit' did not exist before the seventies. Now it has become a buzz-word among the development practitioners. In the process, the word has been imputed to mean everything to everybody. No one now gets shocked if somebody uses the term 'microcredit' to mean agricultural credit, or rural credit, or cooperative credit, or consumer credit, credit from the savings and loan associations, or from credit unions, or from money lenders.

Whenever I use the word 'microcredit' I actually h more...

This policy document outlines the microfinance policy of Nigeria. It also presents the regulatory and supervisory framework for microfinance operations in Nigeria.

This Occasional Paper provides insight and guidance on the various ownership-related issues that an NGO MFI may face when transforming into a for-profit institution. It addresses topics such as (i) possible restrictions on the transfer of assets (including grant funds) by the NGO to the transformed institution, (ii) legal limits on an NGO's ownership of the transformed institution, (iii) the issuance of shares in the transformed institution to management, employees and other stakeholders and (iv more...

Grameen Foundation CEO Alex Counts outlines a new vision of microfinance as a platform, not a product; one that relies on high volumes, not high margins, and that uses limits on private benefit, holistic performance standards, and third-party certification.

Counts redefines the dichotomy between commercial microfinance and pro-poor microfinance to propose a new model that, he argues, could make microfinance both more relevant to the world's poor and more profitable in the long term.

He als more...

The objective of the Expanding Microfinance Outreach and Improving Sustainability Project is to achieve operational sustainability for most microfinance service providers and help them scale up outreach of financial services to meet the needs and demands of many poor Afghans, especially women. This project only has one component; all the funding will be provided by Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) to the microfinance service provider organizations as loan funds fo more...

Access to financial services is still very limited in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite raising awareness of the role that financial services play in helping poor families manage their precarious lives. With just 1 in 5 households with access to formal financial services, the Sub-Saharan African suffers from one of the lowest rates of access in the world.

A recent CGAP survey found that while funders enthusiastically support access to finance to improve the lives of Africa’s, but there are geog more...

MicroPlace is a for-profit online broker-dealer, wholly owned by eBay, that connects retail investors with MFIs. Investors purchase SEC-regulated debt securities from security issuers (currently Calvert and Oikocredit) on MicroPlace.com to finance specific MFIs. The cost of this MicroPlace financing to the MFIs is about 8% per annum. If an MFI defaults, security issuers bear the risk and utilize loan loss reserves and credit enhancements to protect investors. The investments provide a small rate more...

"In case you haven't heard, there's this new thing called MicroPlace. It's a major turn in the life of the microfinance movement founded by entrepreneur (philanthropreneur?) Tracey Pettengill Turner. In between advancing her vision for solutions to poverty and running Ironman triathlons, Tracey takes a moment to discuss her new project with NextBillion.net."