Symbiotics NewsWatch #191, 03 January 2012

Jan. 02	Nigeria: 2011 in retrospect, Microfinance Banks Score Sector high Despite the shaky start of 2011 due to the tsunami that engulfed the microfinance sector in the last quarter of 2010, which led to the liquidation of 103 microfinance banks (MfBs) by the regulatory bodies, MfB operators have rated their efforts at providing access to finance and enhancing financial inclusion above average, saying these were signs that they are on the right path. Source: Vanguard
Dec. 30	Small Business Story of the Year: The Rise of Alternative Lending Supporting small business was among the top economic stories of the year, and the rise in lending to those growing companies was the most important development in 2011. Source: Home Wealth Project
Dec. 29	Philippines: BSP Raises Ceiling on Micro-Credit The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has raised the existing cap on microfinance loans to allow banks to provide more financing to clients. Source: BusinessWorld
Dec. 29	Bangladesh: Yunus Seeks Review of Dismissal Verdict Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus today sought a review of an apex court verdict that unseated him earlier this year from his position as the chief of the Grameen Bank, the pioneering micro lending agency he had founded three decades ago. Source: Moneycontrol.com
Dec. 28	India: 10 Million Poor Rural Borrowers in Andhra Pradesh may Soon be Labelled Defaulters Even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attempts to address a large part of the concerns of the Andhra Pradesh government pertaining to the microfinance sector through a comprehensive regulatory framework, millions of rural poor borrowers in the state are running the risk of losing access to formal credit. Source: The Economic Times
Dec. 23	Microfinance: Is it Time to Write off Group Loans? Microfinance institutions across the world are moving from group lending to individual lending. Yet, there is not much rigorous evidence on the borrower impact of both types of microcredit to either support or challenge such a strategic shift. This column presents such evidence from a randomised field experiment in Mongolia. Source: Vox
Dec. 21	New Success Model for Microfinance: A Matter of Trust Professor Bill Dickens and Matt Jordan, AS '11, are using game theory to gain a better understanding of the economics of microlending and why it is more successful in some countries. Source: News@Northeastern