Microfinance News Synopsis: MicroGraam opens doors for small investors through online lending

Microfinance Focus, May 19, 2010: Microfinance News Synopsis brings a compilation of industry headlines broadcasted by other news media from across the world.

MicroGraam opens doors for small investors through online lending: Where high-interest rates act as a deterrent to many micro-entrepreneurial ventures, here’s an online microfinance marketplace that promises aid at low costs. MicroGraam, a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI), has launched this online auction-based marketplace, wherein small investors offering the lowest interest rate get to lend. “Ours is a peer-to-peer model that works on a technology platform,” says Mr Rangan Varadan, Founder and Director, MicroGraam. Trying to tap the social appetite of investors, his model, he adds, would “fetch investors a decent return”. [Hindu BusinessLine]

Security firms rush to cash in on agency banking: Security companies have added their cash in transit fleet numbers and invested in more security features as they prepare to meet higher demand for money transport services when agency banks start operating soon. The Central Bank released guidelines for agency banking this month, paving the way for banks, microfinance institutions and businesspeople to venture into agency banking. CBK will license agency banks 30 days after their application, meaning the first operations could start late July. Bob Morgan Services (BM) said it had increased its fleet from 31 to 36 vehicles to meet the expected demand [Business Daily Africa]

$25bn African micro-insurance market mostly untapped, finds report: Little over 2% of Africa’s 700 million working poor are covered by insurance, representing a vast untapped opportunity for social and economic development, according to a new study by the Micro-insurance Innovation Facility of the International Labour Office. The study, “The Landscape of Micro-insurance in Africa”, shows that only 14.7 million low-income workers in Africa have access to micro-insurance, a tiny fraction compared to the approximately 700 million people who can afford it. “The findings of the study are very interesting and promising. They show that only 2.1% of the target population has access to some sort of micro-insurance [Post Online]

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