News Archive - Page 333 of 366

Recent Developments, <br /> Key Innovations, and <br /> Insightful Reports

Recent Developments,
Key Innovations, and
Insightful Reports

Your One Stop Platform for Regular Sector Updates

Sector news

Uganda: Munno Mu Bulwadde microinsurance scheme

Munno mu Bulwadde, ‘a friend in sickness’ in the local Ugandan dialect, is a community health insurance scheme that operates on a family membership basis where once a member joins the scheme, the rest of his family members are included as well. Community members pay a fee of US$2 per […]

August 6, 2012

New rules in Kazakhstan microfinance sector

Kaakhstan’s National Bank has developed a new bill on MFIs which will crack down on the non-operational MFIs in the country. According to available statistics, 1756 MFIs are registered in the country, and only about 50 per cent of them are operational. Read more here.

August 6, 2012

India: IRDA wants kirana shops, chemists to sell micro insurance, and a broader insurance product class

To promote penetration of insurance in the country, IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Agency) recently proposed to rope in kirana shop-owners, chemists’ shops and petrol pump operators to sell micro insurance products. IRDA wants all of kirana shops, fair price shops, medical shops, petrol pumps, individual public call office (PCO) […]

August 6, 2012

India: RBI to amend norms governing NBFC-MFIs

After the Andhra Government passed a law putting restrictions on lending and recovery by MFIs in late 2010, small value loans aggregating about INR 75 billion turned sour, entailing huge provisioning. Consequently, the Central Bank of India, the Reserve Bank of India will relax some prudential norms governing the NBFC-MFIs, […]

August 6, 2012

India: Pyramid schemes under the scanner

The Union finance ministry has written to all state governments to crack down on pyramid financial schemes using the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act of 1978. They said several Bengal-based pyramid schemes are on the radar. Calcutta, alone, has 27 registered chit funds, and the Supreme Court […]

August 6, 2012

Zimbabwe: MFIs set to capture Zimbabwe’s unbanked market

Traditional banks in Zimbabwe have been unable to influence financial inclusion, with the result that US$3 billion is circulating in the informal market with dire consequences for the country. Now, this scenario could change as the government of Zimbabwe has made a move to license MFIs to allow them to […]

August 6, 2012

Taiwanese banks plan to tap into Chinese microfinance

Micro-credit companies may soon become an option for Taiwan’s financial institutions interested in tapping into the Chinese market, with regulators set to begin drafting rules for the business, according to local banks. Four banks have already expressed interest in setting up micro-credit companies in China since mid-July. Read more here.

August 6, 2012

China: Micro-credit companies issue 元97.7 billion in loans

According to the Central Bank of China, new yuan-denominated loans issued by China’s micro-credit companies hit 97.7 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Read more here.

August 6, 2012

Mexico experiments with branchless banking

In Mexico, estimates are 75 percent of the population is underbanked. Now, a number of start-ups are using technology to bridge the gap between rich banks and poor customers. One such example is that of Alvaro Rodriguez’s BaraRed, which uses iPads with payphones to turn them into something akin to […]