Citibank provides USD10 million credit facility to ASA
Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh and ASA recently signed a credit facility agreement for microfinance portfolio expansion in rural Bangladesh. According to this agreement, Citibank will provide USD 10 million in equivalent local currency to ASA, one of the world’s leading Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). Md. Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, Founder and President of ASA and Mamun Rashid, [...]

Government has Philippines 80 Billion Pesos Available for Microfinance in 2008
Presidential Management Staff Secretary Cerge Remonde said the government has P80 billion available for microfinance programs this year and is in need of partners for its dispersal. Remonde was in Bacolod with Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez and Noel Poso, vice president of the People’s Credit and Finance Corp., to talk about microfinance opportunities and entrepreneurship [...]

Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services: Expanding the Rural Frontier
September 18th-20th, 2008 University of Bergamo – Italy Registration Fee:  € 400 Euros  The Boulder Institute of Microfinance in partnership with the University of Bergamo has designed a forum to bring together leading academic researchers with a group of key policy makers who guide government programs.  We want to bring the best current research to the table and [...]

IFC Training Helps Build Housing Finance Market in Pakistan
Islamabad, Pakistan, May 26, 2008—In cooperation with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the State Bank of Pakistan has successfully completed a mortgage training program for local bankers to help build their capacity and improve housing finance services to low- and middle-income people.  More…

Code of Ethics to be Established in Microfinance
NEW YORK, May 19, 2008 At the initiative of Deutsche Bank, The Boulder Institute, and CGAP, leaders of microfinance institutions, investors, banks and development agencies gathered in New York to develop a common ground and set of principles that would help microfinance navigate between commercialization and its social mission. The Pocantico Declaration is the first [...]

ADB Quarterly Microfinance Newsletter: Finance for the Poor
The ADB newsletter features articles and news relating to microfinance activities in Asia and the Pacific. The latest edition features two interesting articles. The first article by Arup Chatterjee the Principal Administrator of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors focuses on the challenges encountered in developing enabling policy and regulatory frameworks for microinsurance. The second [...]

Update on CSD’s Microfinance Program
Centre for Self-help Development (CSD), a Financial Intermediary Non Government Organization (FINGO), provides an update on their microfinance program that has been implemented in the hill districts Arghakhanchi and Dhading in Nepal. More…

Financial Times Banking Awards - 2008 Winners
Banking with the Poor Network would like to congratulate ASA for winning the Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid category of the 2008 Financial Times Banking Awards. More…

2007 Mix Asia 100: Ranking of Microfinance Institutions
BWTP would like to congratulate all of our members that were listed in the recently released 2007 Mix Asia 100 report. The report ranked MFIs in nine categories which include: number of borrowers, number of depositors, scale, market penetration, growth, profitability, efficiency, productivity and portfolio quality. A copy of the complete report is available here. Members [...]

BWTP Microfinance and Disaster Management
In the wake of the recent devastating earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province and the cyclone in Myanmar, the BWTP Network and Citi would like to highlight the availability of the Microfinance and Disaster Management Training Manual which may be of use to organisations facing the prospect of natural disasters. The Microfinance and Disaster Management Training Manual is part of a [...]