Microfinance and providing financial services to the world’s poor will be the subject of a two-day conference at the University of Greenwich, on Monday, 6 and Tuesday, 7 September.

Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services.

Conference topics will include strategic partnerships; enhancing new partnerships; the role of institutions involved; collaborative relationships, and global versus local partnerships.

Special guest speaker, Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, in her role as United Nations’ Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, will be in attendance.

Princess Máxima works globally with government leaders, financial regulators, parliaments, civil society, the private sector and the media to raise awareness of the importance of inclusive finance to help reduce poverty. She champions access for all to financial services at a reasonable cost so that people can generate income including savings accounts, loans, insurance, payment services and pensions.

The conference, sponsored by Citi, will be of interest to academics, microfinance practitioners, bankers, foundations, NGOs, development professionals, and financial services providers. It will take place at the University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS.

Dr Ana Marr, Director of the Leverhulme Microfinance Research Project at the University of Greenwich, says: “Microfinance has a key role to play not just globally, but in local communities too. By improving financial services for some of the poorest people on the planet, it helps them to climb out of poverty by providing a way to save safely, insure against risks and fund small businesses. This conference builds on the university’s research strengths in microfinance and I look forward to welcoming a wide range of speakers and participants.”

Other guest speakers at the conference include Robert Annibale, Global Director of Citi Microfinance and Dr Elisabeth Rhyne, Managing Director for the Centre for Financial Inclusion.

Robert Annibale says: “This conference will provide a platform from which we can explore the role that microfinance plays in support of financial inclusion and development, through innovative partnerships and services beyond credit, with a focus on savings. Citi’s sponsorship of this conference reinforces our commitment to the microfinance sector and expanding access to financial services to the underserved as a tool towards their achieving their goals and potential.”

The first day of the conference runs from 9am to 4.30pm and ends with a gala dinner (included in the registration fee) at the Trafalgar Tavern, Park Row, Greenwich SE10 9NW. The second day runs from 9am to 5.45pm. The conference registration fee is £200 which is inclusive of the two days. Lunch and refreshments are included on both days.

For further information or to register for the conference please contact: Kevin Rummun, Marketing and Events Management Officer, University of Greenwich on 020 8331 9083 or email: businessevents@gre.ac.uk

Ends

For further interview opportunities with other speakers at the event, please contact:

Lee Armitt

Press Officer

University of Greenwich

020 8331 9420

l.armitt@greenwich.ac.uk

Nick Davison

Press Officer

University of Greenwich

020 8331 8092

n.a.p.davison@greenwich.ac.uk

Notes to editors

Picture – University of Greenwich, Greenwich Campus.

Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend the event. There will be an opportunity to interviewHer Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands on the morning of Monday, 6 September. Please confirm your interest with Lee Armitt or Nick Davison in advance of the conference.

The University of Greenwich has received over £200,000 in funding from the Leverhulme Trust to carry out major new research on microfinance over a three-year period. This research will help improve financial services for some of the poorest people in the world. It will look at helping people and organisations in developing countries climb out of poverty by allowing them to save safely and also help fund small businesses.

About Citi Microfinance

Working across Citi’s businesses, product groups and geographies, Citi Microfinance serves more than 100 microfinance institutions (MFIs), networks and investors as clients in over 40 countries with products and services spanning the financial spectrum – from financing, access to capital markets, transaction services and hedging foreign exchange risk, to credit, savings, remittances and insurance products – to expand access to financial services for the underserved.