This is a guest post by Suzan Bekiroglu. After reports of over two hundred suicides by debt-ridden and impoverished residents of Andhra Pradesh, India became public, scrutiny was turned towards microfinancing. Microfinancing has evolved into a for-profit multibillion-dollar global industry, but many questions remain such as if it truly helps life people out of poverty [...]
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This press release was submitted by Zubair Mughal. AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics is organizing a two days specialized Research workshop on Islamic Agricultural and Rural Finance in Islamabad (Lahore) In the wake of the current financial crisis coupled with the global food shortage, the need for improving the global village economy through [...]
This is a guest post by Maliha Hasan. Financial literacy is an active process, in which communicating information is only the beginning and empowering consumers to take action to improve their financial well-being is the ultimate goal. Financial literacy is critical for promoting access to finance by creating incentives and environments that promote desired financial [...]
Many in the developed world aren’t very familiar with micro-financing. One of the only parallels would be something like cash advances, but they work a little differently. There’s a lot of debate on whether or not micro-financing is positive or just predatory. Either way, it has shown to be a powerful tool in helping developing [...]
Youth savings accounts, also known as child savings accounts have been gaining popularity as industry professionals begin to realize the benefits of offering financial services to youngsters. Youngsters across the world regularly save money, which encourages financial discipline; however, there is a safety risk associated with storing money at home. Benefits of Youth Savings When [...]
Mobile banking interoperability is a far-reaching vision that promises to improve financial inclusion by leaps and bounds. Clients cannot transfer funds between money wallets associated with different telecom companies, which reduces liquidity in the financial system. Despite this, mobile banking providers are reluctant to collaborate with competitors fearing a decline in market share. A recent [...]
The following video is a beautiful depiction of the need for maximizing the use of mobile financial services. The video takes a look at people individuals from across the world and shares their journey with mobile banking services – the challenges they faced, the benefits they enjoyed when using ATM SIMs (i.e. financial services through [...]
Address by Iftikhar Malik, chief guest at First Islamic Microfinance Conference in Pakistan, 2011 I have known Mr. Farhat Abbas Shah for his poetry and anchor ship, but quite recently, another aspect of his personality has surprised me. He has come up with a novel idea for an economic rehabilitation of the ultra poor through [...]
Microfinance may not be a panacea for poverty, but there is definitely a panacea for microfinance. Elizabeth Rhyne, Managing Director of the Center for Financial Inclusion, recently disclosed three secrets for the success of microfinance institutions, through a blog post that appeared on the Huffington Post. These ‘secrets’ were adopted as best practices back in [...]
