 Top emerging economies are forging research collaborations to help the less well-off. The idea that poorer countries should catch up economically with wealthier ones before spending heavily on R&D was challenged by a report released last week. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report contradicts theories widely held by development professionals and international organizations such as the World Bank.
 The Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a network of the world's leading sustainable banks, announces four new members today from South America, North America, and Europe. The banks join nine founding banks committed to building a better financial future in challenging times.
Our biggest ally will be lost if we do not protect and enhance biodiversity in forests and other systems. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the media and many organisations have pursued as separate narratives the issues of climate, biodiversity and sustainable development. One of the changes this year, at a UN level, has been recognition that this does not make sense.
The Golf Environment Organization's GEO Legacy Guidance launched to widespread acclaim following previews at the Asia Pacific Golf Summit in Bangkok and the European Golf Course Owners Association Conference in London.
 The Environmental Economics Unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg is being granted SEK 73 million from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), to continue to support six environmental economics research centres in Africa, Central America and China for the period 2011-2014.
The numbers of children experiencing consistent poverty increased last year for the first time since 2006, according to the State of the Nation’s Children report
WAM began in 2003 after women professionals in the microfinance industry, most of them based in Washington, DC, began meeting, at first informally in each others' homes. This growing group of WAM Founders came together to discuss areas of common concern, to decide if a more formal organization made sense, to explore what such an organization might do to support women who work in the microfinance industry and, ultimately, to support the development of the industry itself. After several months of planning and program design, WAM was formally launched in October 2003. Membership has grown steadily since.
 Lemon Way is an Independent Software Vendor that helps banks build a differentiated competitive advantage with innovating solutions based on mobile devices or TV channels. The software suite Wonderbank enables banks to provide their customers robust, secure, transactional solutions for routine and advanced banking enquiries.
 The European Union (EU) wants stronger privacy rules to give Internet users more control over how social-networking sites such as Facebook, or search engines such as Google use their personal information.
 Opportunity co-founder and former president of Bristol Myers International Corporation, the late Al Whittaker, encountered poverty as he travelled throughout the world in the 1960’s and 70’s. He asked the people he met: “What do you need?” They replied: "Work. With jobs, we will solve our own problems."
 Probanx Information Systems specializes in development of software for the financial institutions, offering multi-currency and multi-lingual banking systems with a large variety of modules, based on the latest technologies. We install and support turn-key international Banking Software and Microfinance Software solutions for retail banks, commercial banks, Internet banks and microfinance banks.
 The International Financial Corporation (IFC), entering into the World Bank (WB) Group, together with the Financial Commission on Regulation of Mongolia and Micro-Finance Development Fund (MFDF) has organized awareness-raising tour to Mongolia on studying of legislative practice on microfinancing for regulators from Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
In their book "Sustainable Excellence", Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell make a compelling case for why a focus on sustainability -- whether it concerns, for example, climate change, energy consumption or labor relations -- is now a form of enlightened self-interest for businesses. For starters, commodity prices have been soaring as investors wake up to a world marked by rapid population growth and overstretched resources.
 The Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI), a partnership between the Norwegian public and private sectors that provides assistance for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries, recently loaned KES 325 million (approximately USD 4.03 million) to Kenya Women Finance Trust – Deposit Taking Microfinance (KWFT- DTM), a microfinance institution based in Nairobi, Kenya, and UGX 1.25 billion (approximately USD 548,000) to the Uganda Finance Trust (UFT), an MFI in Kampala, Uganda, to support microenterprises.
Participants gathered at Deutsche Bank’s Wall Street office for the second day of the Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference. Panelists included both academics and practitioners, sharing research and experiences from the field. They attempted to tackle the daunting question: how do you design credit products that work for the poor, not against them?
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution headquartered in London, has loaned Export and Credit Bank (ECB), a commercial bank in Macedonia, EUR 6 million (USD 8.3 million) for on-lending to local businesses undertaking sustainable energy investmets or investments aimed at improving their competitiveness in local and European markets. EBRD holds a 25 percent stake in ECB.
Lemon Way is an Independent Software Vendor that helps banks build a differentiated competitive advantage with innovating solutions based on mobile devices or TV channels. The software suite Wonderbank enables banks to provide their customers robust, secure, transactional solutions for routine and advanced banking enquiries.
 IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will work with Bank Constanta to improve its risk management practices, which will help the bank increase lending to smaller businesses in Georgia. This initiative is part of a broader IFC strategy to strengthen local banks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Online retailers are spending too much time and money dealing with card not present payments, a new study has found. “It is surprising that UK merchants are still opting to continue with manual reconciliation and patchwork payment systems.”
Consumers in the Netherlands will be using smartphones as mobile wallets within two years as result of a joint venture between top banks and mobile operators.
KfW Entwicklungsbank is helping improve internet access in Africa: the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) provides about 250 million people on the continent with international communication through telephone and internet.
Grameen‐Jameel, a social business that serves the microfinance sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), announces it has entered Turkey. Grameen-Jameel has signed partnership agreements with the two leading microfinance institutions in Turkey, providing them with financial support and technical assistance amounting to over US$ 5 million, with the objective to alleviate poverty in Turkey by reaching and financing 16,000 underprivileged families.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Provides Microfinance Institution (MFI) Inecobank Support to Expand Access to Trade Finance in Armenia
On August 30, 2010, Brian Cox, the president of MFX Solutions LLC, a company which offers currency hedging instruments, highlighted several emerging challenges that microfinance institutions (MFIs) face as they expand such as currency risks, tighter regulation, and tougher capital adequacy requirements.
A renowned microfinance training centre in Italy will welcome representatives from five Pacific Island countries.
On July 1 Open Revolution and Geocell announced the ultimate innovative mobile payment method - MobiPay, which allows you to make purchases, bill payments and person to person money transfers much more easily, more quickly, more safely and more conveniently by mobile phone.
Misys plc (UK) is a global software products and solutions company and serves customers in the international banking and securities, international healthcare, and UK general insurance industries. Misys employs over 6,000 people internationally.
Misys was founded in 1979 to supply computer systems to UK insurance brokers. Now it is one of the world's largest software solutions companies, supplying customers in the banking, healthcare and financial services industries with IT and outsourcing facilities to improve their business processes.
Swiss group, TEMENOS, has over 300 client names worldwide, has systems live in over 500 client sites, operating in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1993, TEMENOS Group AG is a provider of integrated, modular, core banking systems that provides banks with a single, real-time view of the client across the enterprise. TEMENOS delivers 24/7 functionality to the wholesale, retail and private banking sectors, or partnering with central banks on core system replacement. TEMENOS is established as an international leader in the banking software industry. The company has expertise and commitment in projects. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company has 34 offices in 29 countries and is listed on the main segment of the SWX Swiss Exchange (TEMN).
Part of the Greece-based group Intracom Holdings established in 1977, INTRACOM IT SERVICES is a provider and systems integrator of technology solutions for banking and financial institutions, covering core banking, treasury, risk management, Phone/Internet/WAP Banking, Call centers, etc. INTRACOM IT SERVICES is an IT services provider in the Greek market and an IT solutions integrator in S.E. Europe and the M. East.
SAB is a French vendor of core banking solutions with an international presence, mainly in francophile institutions across Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Pacific. Established in 1989, SAB is an independent group that publishes an integrated software package for banking and financial institutions: the SAB solution for front to back office banking operations.
With only five years left until the target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations has launched the MDG Report 2010 calling for accelerated progress to reach the 2015 deadline. As the UN Specialized Agency for Tourism, UNWTO is firmly committed to fostering the tourism sector’s contribution to development.
Nigerian micro-finance banks can now get as much as N1 billion loan to finance small scale businesses in the country through a new partnership between the Suisse Bank Plc of London,Smart Links Limited of Dubai and the African Capital and Business Support Limited.
The loan being offered by the partnership is interest free for the first one year and subject to repayment in four years thereafter,the Vice Chairman of ACBS,Benjamin Aduli said yesterday in Abuja.
World leaders put the finishing touches on plans to build a more stable global economy on Sunday but backed away from one-size-fits-all pledges as two years of crisis give way to an uneven recovery.
The G-20 is the premier forum for our international economic development that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability. By contributing to the strengthening of the international financial architecture and providing opportunities for dialogue on national policies, international co-operation, and international financial institutions, the G-20 helps to support growth and development across the globe.
The micro-finance sector in Ghana and Nigeria has received a boost through a 40 million Euro fund, which was launched by Goodwell Investments of The Netherlands, Alitheia Capital of Nigeria and JCS Investments from Ghana.
Offbeat financal avenues find buyers slowly but steadily. With the global meltdown behind, European debt crisis ahead, global economists are busy pondering new sectors like microfinance, carbon finance, water credit and so on to find hope for market expansion.
The ubiquity of the credit card and the impact of the recession mean the move to use a mobile phone to make payments and conduct banking is likely to be a slow and tortuous affair in Europe.
MEPs gave the green light for EU funding to help Europe's unemployed start up small businesses. Credit will be made available to budding entrepreneurs through a "microfinance facility" funded partly from the existing Progress programme and partly from unallocated money in the EU budget.
Online sites like Babyloan or Kiva have taken the idea of lending small sums to help lift people out of poverty to create a direct personal link between lenders and borrowers.
NAMIBIA's first micro-finance bank is a reality after the Bank of Namibia (BoN) yesterday granted Fides Bank Namibia a permanent banking licence.
Probanx Information Systems specializes in development of software for the financial institutions, offering multi-currency and multi-lingual banking systems with a large variety of modules, based on the latest technologies. We install and support turn-key international Banking Software and Microfinance Software solutions for retail banks, commercial banks, Internet banks and microfinance banks.
The aim of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation is to promote creative and innovative approaches in different sectors of human activity and contribute to better equip the European Union for the challenges ahead in a globalised world. During this Year, a series of seven Brussels debates are jointly organised by the European Commission and the EPC in Brussels.
China’s ambitious wind and solar plans represent a direct challenge to Europe’s claims of world leadership on cutting carbon emissions. China is planning a vast increase in its use of wind and solar power over the next decade and believes it can match Europe by 2020, producing a fifth of its energy needs from renewable sources.
International financiers ramped up efforts to stave off economic recession in Africa with the establishment of a $15 billion fund to support small and medium-sized enterprises that have been the main drivers of growth in the continent over the past decade. The fund, an initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the French Development Agency (AFD), and Development Bank of Southern Africa, will support intra-Africa trade, boost lending to agribusiness, and finance key infrastructure that supports businesses across the continent.
For centuries, Britain has been a leader in finance and banking. Today we are setting out how we can remain world leaders. Not at the expense of others, but in partnership with them. And not by returning to business as usual, but by reforming, renewing and championing our financial sector so that it is ready and able to seize future opportunities.
The European Microfinance Platform [e-MFP] was founded formally in 2006. They are a growing network of approximately 100 organisations and individuals active in the area of microfinance. Their principal objective is to promote co-operation amongst European microfinance bodies working in developing countries, by facilitating communication and the exchange of information. They are a multi-stakeholder organisation representative of the European microfinance community. e-MFP members include banks, financial institutions, government agencies, NGOs, consultancy firms, researchers and universities.
Russia will ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to carry out a study on the potential for a new international reserve currency, Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich said on Tuesday. China and Russia, the world's No.1 and No.3 reserve holders, have been pushing for a discussion on making greater use of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights basket.
A few years ago, Ahmet Bubalku of the Kosovar village of Zabel i Ultë borrowed 3,400 euros, to build up a small farm.
The microfinance institution START, established and funded by Islamic Relief, lent him the money. It enabled Ahmet to buy seeds to grow potatoes, tomatoes and onions and rear chickens and a cow. Ahmet says without this loan he wouldn't be able to feed his three children.
We recently learned that Denmark plans on building the world’s largest wind farm. With a net installed capacity of 209 MW, Horns Rev 2 (companion to Horns Rev 1) will provide power to 200,000 homes. The North Sea offshore wind farm is scheduled for completion later this year.
Parliament adopted a legislative report on a proposal to support the growth of microcredit institutions in the EU. The report drafted by Zsolt Laszlo Becsey (EPP-ED, HU) was approved by 574 votes in favour, 23 against and 12 abstentions.
The combined effects of the financial crisis, increased protectionist policies, continued rich country subsidies, and climate-induced changes in patterns of agricultural production are likely to hit developing countries hardest.
Thanks to the confluence of these factors, a long-term solution to the global food crisis has not been reached, experts agreed at two recent summits on agriculture. But producers in some poor countries that lack strong links to the international market may not yet be feeling the full effects of that price drop. In some cases, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, prices remain high for key staples.
The Swedish Finance Supervisory has given preliminary approval in the form of a real banking license to video game maker, MindArk PE AB. Within a year, a person will be able to enter the online sci-fi video game Entropia Universe to conduct some real-world banking business -- forever changing the concept of online banking. Set on planet Calypso, there will be no lines, no hassles, and always the experience you'd expect with a friendly service from virtual bank tellers who never change.
Recently the EU has decided to tax such locations and even swiss banks would have to have taxes applied to them. This news is very recent and it is uncertain in which direction this news would take us. Nonetheless there are always banks out there such as in South America that are not subject to this rule.
While world markets are teetering in a global banking meltdown, another banking drama is playing out in Switzerland that could end the way private banking has been done there for centuries. U.S. tax authorities have challenged long-standing Swiss banking secrecy laws, demanding that UBS AG release the names of 52,000 Americans suspected of opening secret accounts to evade taxes.
The bank will be the product of a fusion between NEF (France), Banca popolare etica (Italy) and Fiare (Spain). it will take the form of a European cooperative.
Welcome to this blog about Microfinance, Innovations and Sustainable Development
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