// By Kanini Mutooni The last year has seen the microfinance industry criticized and in some cases compared with the sub-prime mortgage crisis that started in the US in 2007. Indeed there is a crisis of confidence in the sector owing to such issues as over indebtedness, commercialization of Microfinance institutions and a lack of interest rate transparency,... 

// By Collins Nweze, The Nation The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pegged daily cash withdrawal and lodgments by individuals at N150, 000 ($965) and N1 million ($6,425) by corporate organisations. The policy, which kicks off June 2012, is intended to curb the dominance of cash in the economy and its implication for cost of cash management to... 

// By Yu Xi, Global Times The CEO of World Microfinance Forum Geneva suggested in a forum Wednesday that Chinese finance officials should provide more information to help guide foreign investors keen on breaking into the domestic market. Microfinance refers to companies that provide financial services to low-income clients, farmers or the self-employed,... 

// From Marketwire The MasterCard Foundation and Equity Group Foundation today joined with Honorable Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Professor Njuguna Ndung’u, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, for the official launch of a national program to promote financial inclusion and entrepreneurship in Kenya.... 

By Gbola Subair, Nigerian Tribune ARRANGEMENTS have been put in place by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to prosecute directors and other officials involved in the mismanagement of 103 microfinance banks across the nooks and cranies of the country. Also, the corporation is set to pay a total of N9.8 billion to 731,000 depositors... 

// From The Economic Times MUMBAI: Stable regulation is the need of the hour for microfinance companies in order to survive in financial markets, says sFitch Rating in its report on India’s MFIs. Fitch recognises that the challenges faced by MFIs in India are similar to the global trend. However, the report stresses on the need for a single... 

by Christine Gaylican, Official Wire A foreign investment fund is prepared to pour an estimated $20 million on a Philippine company willing to venture into microinsurance, a company officer said. Leapfrog Investment, a global venture capital fund, which wants to differentiate itself with investments with a strong social dimension wants to tap the income... 

// By Neneh Galleh Barr, Today Online The governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Mr. Amadou Colley has said that microfinance institutions play key role in the efforts targeted at poverty reduction. Speaking at the 14th Annual General Meeting of The Gambia Teachers’ Union Co-operative Credit Union, Mr. Colley who was speaking through... 

From The New Times The Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), has called on microfinance institutions (MFIs), to conduct their business in a transparent way and work diligently to mitigate business risks. Transparency is part of the wider corporate governance requirements that should characterize MFIs. In the past, a number of MFIs... 

// By Namrata Acharya, Business Standard Ahead of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) review of monetary policy on May 3, the microfinance industry has sought relaxations in the recommendations of the Malegam committee. Industry players have asked for relief in provisioning norms and relaxation in the eligibility for both families and individual borrowers...