Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : Alok Prasad, CEO of Microfinance Institutions Network (India), added that “Our network was formed about a year ago. About corporate governance, it means different to different people. It seems to me that good governance is more than an ideal of perfect justice and democracy. At a part of our work, we come up with guidelines and frameworks, but frankly, it goes beyond papers. When it comes to the real world, corporate greed and . . . → Read More: Plenary Session: Governance and Management (Alok Prasad)
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Conference Attendees at the Governance and Management session Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) :Nimal Mamaduwa, General Manager & CEO of Sri Lanka based SANASA Development Bank, started with an introduction “We are the only cooperative bank operating in Sri Lanka and a household name. Most of you are familiar with our SANASA founder, Dr P.A. Kiriwandeniya. The ownership structure of the bank goes down to the grassroots – the members. We have micro-insurance campaign and education campaign for . . . → Read More: Plenary Session: Governance and Management (Nimal Mamaduwa) Greg Chen, Regional Rep for South Asia, CGAP Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : Recent years have revealed significant challenges for those responsible for maintaining the mission, growth and sustainability of Asia’s microfinance institutions. A key trend in those MFIs that have maintained strong portfolios continued a healthy growth trajectory, limited staff turnover and continued to attract investment is the strength of their overall governance and management. However, experience is uneven across the region. The recent annual ‘Microfinance Banana . . . → Read More: Plenary Session: Governance and Management (Greg Chen) Question: I am slightly confused about financial inclusion. If we are talking about financial inclusion, should we go broader than MF? How about SME finance or Islamic finance? I would like to hear a broader context. Mary Ellen Iskenderian: If we’re talking about bringing the billions of unbanked people, microfinance institutions are the formal institutions for it. Certainly MFIs are not the only set of institutions. But it is the institutions that are touching the populations in the most effective . . . → Read More: Q & A : The Role of Microfinance in Achieving Financial Inclusion Mary Ellen Iskenderian (right) Dolores Torres (left) Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking, opened the first day’s discussion with a foray into how the microfinance industry can play a role in providing full range of financial services to the poor. She pointed out that MFIs play an important role. “I see firstly, the unique relation MFIs have with their clients, to understand their needs. In terms of the . . . → Read More: Opening Keynote Panel: The Role of Microfinance in Achieving Financial Inclusion (Mary Ellen Iskenderian) From right: W M Karunaratne, Philip Brown, Mary Ellen Iskenderian Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : W M Karunaratne, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, “First of all, I like to brief you on MF in Sri Lanka for sustainable inclusion and growth. Growth is most concentrated in the western province, the GLP (gross loan portfolio) has increased. In the recent decade for Sri Lanka, law and order has been established towards stability. The country . . . → Read More: Opening Keynote Panel: The Role of Microfinance in Achieving Financial Inclusion (W M Karunaratne) From left: W M Karunaratne, Dolores Torres, Mary Ellen, Iskenderian, Philip Brown Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : Dolores Torres, President and CEO of CARD MRI, a Philippines-based MFI, said “Good morning, it is a great privilege for us to share the experiences from the ground. I thought that I should share about the Philippines, we started with a 1 USD capital and with some help, we were able to launch a credit and savings programme. We were . . . → Read More: Opening Keynote Panel: The Role of Microfinance in Achieving Financial Inclusion (Dolores Torres) Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : The Asia Microfinance Forum 2010 is convened by The Banking With the Poor Network (BWTP) and organised by The Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC), with the Citi Foundation as Lead Sponsor, and Hatton National Bank as Local Host. . . . → Read More: Asia Microfinance Forum : The Venue Microfinance Focus, October 13, 2010 (Colombo) : ‘Asia Microfinance Forum 2010’ kicked start today at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The event gathers over 450 industry experts, investors, leading microfinance practitioners, policymakers, academics and advocates from no less than 50 countries. The backdrop to the conference is the relative strength and unprecedented surge in microfinance growth in Asia, despite the challenges of the recent financial crisis witnessed by the industries. Hence this year’s theme “ financial . . . → Read More: Opening Address: Asia Microfinance Forum Watch live streaming video from asiamicrofinanceforum at livestream.com  Comments are closed  Uncategorized Microfinance Focus , September 16, 2010 : As you are aware, “Asia Microfinance Forum 2010” Conference to be held in Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo on October 13 to 15th, 2010, is convened by the Banking With the Poor Network, organized by The Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC), with the Citi Foundation as Lead Sponsor, and Hatton National Bank as Local Host. Microfinance Focus, leading niche media in the microfinance sector, will serve as the official microfinance media partner of . . . → Read More: LIVE BLOG on “Asia Microfinance Forum 2010”- log on from 13th -15th October The Asia microfinance industry continues to experience unprecedented growth despite the challenges of the recent financial crisis. Its relative strength throughout the economic downturn has highlighted the central role of microfinance in ensuring that poor and low-income people have access to reliable financial services. However, greater financial inclusion is dependent upon the microfinance sector increasing its capacity to provide innovative, well-structured and appropriate services and to scale up across all countries. The Asia Microfinance Forum 2010 is convened by The . . . → Read More: Financial Inclusion – Achieving Asia’s Potential Monica Brand, Robert Annibale, and Royston Braganza will sum up the main points that have been discussed in the conference over the past 1 and half days. Monica: I believe that microfinance is in some senses is constrained by certain factors. As equity investors we invest in people, and we look for social passion and the passion to succeed. There is a lot more to do here in India, and I come away with a measured optimism about this perfect . . . → Read More: Key Takeaways from MCCM Vineet Rai: Is there potential for more SKS to emerge from the current pool of MFIs? Shubhankar: The key is finding innovations. Agricultural loans don’t gel very well, so we have to figure out the methodology for that. We need to be much more broad-minded about how we define microfinance, the target segments we are talking about. We will probably have a couple of SKS coming up, and there is more than enough space for them. Richard: There is a . . . → Read More: Day 2 Closing Conversation: Examining the Deal Pipeline to Bejul: There are 233 MFIs and not all will be sustainable. The challenge is that we don’t all know how to do microfinance. So is there any opportunity for consolidation? Bejul: Conventional economics points out that a fragmented industry will eventually to consolidation, but I have not seen that in any sector in India. We have highly fragmented industries. One of the reasons is that Indian entrepreneurs are unique because they may be short on capital, but they will . . . → Read More: Day 2 Closing Conversation: Examining the Deal Pipeline Shubhankar: I don’t see it is imperative being good or that there is any conflict between being good and greedy. It all depends on the promoter. At Arohan we always try to be good and we have been recognized by clients. Customer satisfaction is what is most important. It is about how flexible we are as institution and how fair we are to our clients. Benchmarks of the industry has changed, the level of growth has grown exponentially. Richard: we . . . → Read More: Day 2 Closing Conversation: Examining the Deal Pipeline Do you think there is still opportunity for small MFIs to get investments? Bejul Somaia of Lightspeed Advisory Services: We are a mainstream investor so our main role is to identify business that can crack into the top tier. We still believe there is opportunity to invest in small MFIs that have the potential. The main question for us is what will take for that to happen? It is about differentiation in 4 areas: 1. customer & value proposition. 2. . . . → Read More: Day 2 Closing Conversation: Examining the Deal Pipeline The closing conversation of the conference examines the deal pipelines, regarding the parties involved in investing, participating and constructing the future of microfinance. It is moderated by Vineet Rai, the CEO of Aavishkaar. Vineet clarified that the pipeline is a justification of investment in the microfinance industry. Manny people want in to this pipelines. There is a lot of value in this pipeline, depending on what stakeholder or perspective that you come from. This panel will discuss the opportunities that . . . → Read More: Day 2 Closing Conversation: Examining the Deal Pipeline Question: Nobody is talking about what’s the risk appetite. What is the risk appetite that investors are comfortable with? Vishal: 2.5-3% is a comfortable range, and MFIs are 2 or 3 times of that, while some are below that also. Generally as long as you are able to meet that average is good enough. Questions from the ground: What will happen to all of us in 10, 20 years? What are the career prospects in this industry? Sanjay Sinha: I believe that banks will eventually figure out how tot use the correspondents model, and all of you will eventually become business correspondents. Kshama: The impact will be upon the children of the microfinance clients, who are able to get more and better education, which is a tool that will can help them to . . . → Read More: Panel 5 – Exploring the Risks Q&A Erik Guerts is a senior management officer in Triple Jump, an Amsterdam-based investment company. He will highlight his experiences of risks in other markets, and compare it with those of the microfinance sector. It makes a difference viewing risks from the perspective of debts or equities. Growth is the main value drive for microfinance, from an equity perspective, but its is a big operational risk if you are making a loan. In his years on the job, he has . . . → Read More: Panel 5 – Exploring the Risks Opening Statements Vishal Mehta is the co-founder and MD of Lok Capital. He gave a perspective of what investors look at and the risks that are of primary concern. 2 categories of regulatory risks: political and framework. Framework that is available to the industry for achieving financial inclusion. The lack of innovation is also a big risk to investors. The industry has gotten too comfortable with its products and procedures. What will help a sustainable relationship with client is HR and IT, . . . → Read More: Panel 5 – Exploring the Risks Opening Statements Sanjay Sinha, MD of M-CRIL, has, prior to this conference, been expressing some of the concerns regarding the risks in this sector. He claims to be a professional whistle-blower, and enjoys promoting good practice. It’s not all about mathematical models in ratings, but it’s based on research on the community, with the MFI, etc. If we forget the problems on the ground, too many clever things start to happen, and it could replicate the tech boom of the late ’90s. . . . → Read More: Panel 5 – Exploring the Risks Opening Statements Rajender Sehgal of HDFC Bank candidly agreed with Kshama that assessing risks is one of the most disliked jobs in the industry. How do banks look at the microfinance sector vis-a-vis the other sectors. Banks can look at it with a business vertical, or like any other vertical, or a stepping stone to another goal. In HDFC, it is run as a business vertical with long-term plans, and so they are favoured by more than 100 MFIs who bank with . . . → Read More: Panel 5 – Exploring the Risks Opening Statements The opening panel of day 2 is moderated by Kshama Fernandes, the Chief Risk Officer of IFMR Capital. She gave a recap of yesterday’s discussion. From a risk officer’s perspective, she revealed the difficulties that they face in their jobs, such as having to justify their jobs when things are going well, which is precisely the situation that they are there to ensure. Risk is an important issue to consider in the industry today. Setting the tone for the panel, . . . → Read More: Panel 5 – Exploring the Risks Opening Statements Q: How do you perceive growth of increasing participation of NCDs by mutual funds houses? Key parameters for growing MFIs? Balasubramaniam: Most MFIs think about refinancing, thought not all. It is useful for building up assets. It can also ensure NCDs. Because of the quality of the borrowers, the cost of financing is high, and its ability to raise long-term money at a cheaper rate will not be there. But clearly is the institution is highly-rated, investors will come. But . . . → Read More: Day 2 Opening Discussion Q&A Is it possible for mutual fund industry to fund microfinance industry? Balasubramaniam: Yes, it is possible. There are securitized and unsecuritized channels (like NCDs). The moment it is securitized we need a pool of assets. Unlike a bank, there is no guarantee of loans in the mutual funds industry. There are certain criteria that an MFI has to meet before we can give out loans to them. We will not lend, for example, to MFIs recording a profit of more . . . → Read More: Day 2 Opening Discussion Q&A A. Balasubramaniam, the CEO of Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, opened the second day’s discussion with a foray into how the mutual fund industry can play a role in the microfinance industry. From issuer’s perspective, the issuance can have a put option. It is an opportunity, and we see a pool of investors coming from rural markets, where the income stream is relatively predictable because they work in a community. Even the government is giving support tio agriculture as their . . . → Read More: Day 2 Opening Discussion
MCCM Panel 1 (from left to right): Aditya Bhandari, Sandeep Farias, Ravi Kapoor, Avnish Bajaj, James Kaddaras.
MCCM Panel 2 (from left to right): S. Viswanatha Prasad, Alok Mittal, Royston Braganza, Padmaja Reddy, Christian Banno.
MCCM Panel 4 (from left to right): Vikram Gopalakrishnan, Jaydeep Chakraborty, Jean-Pierre Klumpp, Kaushik Modak, Ajit Jain
Day 1 Closing Conversation (from left to right): . . . → Read More: Angles…Panel |
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