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A Quick Journey Through the History of Usury

Microfinance is at a critical juncture, and as we reflect on how we got here, should ask: What makes us different from what was previously done through the ages, since coins were first established as a medium of exchange? And how do we maintain what’s different and avoid slipping into the well-worn paths that emerge when we examine the history of usury?

Paying Attention to the Financial Needs of Youth

Despite growing interest in youth financial services as a means to financial inclusion, until recently there has been precious little publicly available information on what youth in developing countries want from financial institutions.

Savings Groups

More than 5 million poor people around the world are members of Savings Groups that provide essential services to help manage their daily lives.

Microcredit in a Changing Region

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been facing a series of unprecedented events in 2011, resulting in a great deal of change after over three decades of stagnant political dictatorship, uneven economic growth, and increased poverty.

Commercialization of Microfinance

The topic of commercialization has been hotly debated, largely because it raises fundamental questions about whether the dual social and financial missions of microfinance can coexist.

Microfinance and the Arab Spring

Since the beginning of 2011, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests have been taking place in the Arab world. These events have created some challenges and opportunities for the microfinance sector and the financial inclusion agenda in the region.

Waiting in Line…Where’s My Agent? Headlines and Highlights

I’m blogging from Dakar, Senegal where I had a stark reminder of why innovation in financial services is so necessary.

Microfinance Should Have Started with Savings

Much of the world is in trouble today because of debt, too much borrowing, presumably not enough saving, by individuals, companies, countries and groups of countries.

Why Poor People Don’t Use Savings Accounts

Recently a colleague shared results of the follow-on (forthcoming) study that Dupas and Robinson did on their landmark 2009 RCT study on savings in Western Kenya.

Will Brazil’s Banks Share Agents?

In a country where agents have existed for close to 10 years nationwide, we would expect that by now banks would have found business reasons to share agents. From a consumer perspective, it is clearly attractive to be able to access banking services for multiple providers at a single agent.

Islamic Microfinance Challenge: A Summary

A business model for Islamic microfinance: what does it need?

Can Collecting Savings in Rural Areas Be Profitable?

The importance and role of savings with respect to the economic and social development of developing countries and of African countries in particular have long been recognized.

Does Savings Help Protect MFIs from Political Interference?

Until recently, microfinance in India (really microcredit) had been driven by innovators and entrepreneurs, but also enabled by government policies such as of priority sector lending and regulatory restrictions prohibiting deposit mobilization for most MFIs.

A Little Willpower Can Have a Big Impact

When Women’s World Banking (WWB) started our savings and financial education program for girls in 2008, we were excited about the potential to provide a sustainable, scalable way to encourage girls to build assets and become better money managers.

From Basel to Bujumbura: Why Deposit Insurance Matters

Broad access to safe and affordable small savings accounts promotes financial inclusion and helps households prepare for unexpected expenses and plan for a more secure financial future.

Reaching the Poor and Very Poor with Appropriate Savings Services

More and more people understand that even the poorest save. But, reaching the poor and very poor does not happen automatically.

Al Amal, Winner of the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010

Al Amal provides various financial services and products (Islamic financing, savings, solidarity insurance, etc.) and is among a handful of microfinance institutions in the Arab World providing Islamic financial services.

Postal Banks Have Potential to Open 1 Billion Savings Accounts

Toward the end of the 19th century, postal services began to contribute to the development of a savings culture in many of today’s industrialized countries. And they are playing a similar role in developing and emerging countries at the dawn of the 21st century.

Centre for Women Co-operative Development, Pakistan

Innovation at CWCD has led to a complete organizational transformation, where CWCD has let go of its conventional microfinance programs and dedicated itself completely towards Islamic Microfinance.

Get Your Risk-free 30% APR Savings Account Here!

From a policy perspective, if we could find a way to help individuals use savings rather than debt to make large expenditures, many would have more money for food, festivities, investment and mitigating risks in the long run.