Synopses & Reviews
Microfinance in Bangladesh has reached maturity, numerous players and the largest number of clients in the whole world at relatively low cost and efficiency. Despite these successes, the operations of most credit institutions are still being manually done, client overlap is rampant, and there are many would-be borrowers that are currently not having access to finance. The introduction of a centralized ICT platform is intended to demonstrate, given the current international and local experiences, that the cost of providing financial services can be lowered further, institutions? back-end operations can be improved thus releasing credit officers from manual tasks to work more with clients, innovative services through ICT applications can be used to reach more people, and on-time information can be provided to management of institutions for strategic and operational purposes. The establishment of this platform also standardizes the information exchange and operations of the sector through the introduction of a common accounting mechanism, which is not the case now. The regulator would have up-to-data and on-time information for carrying out their regulatory functions, the government would have transparent information on market outreach to make appropriate policy decisions, and the sector would be integrated with the formal financial sector which is missing at the moment.
Synopsis
Providing more appropriate financial services to the majority of the population in a country like Bangladesh requires a centralized microfinance platform that ensures transparency, reduces overlap, increases outreach, and integrates microfinance with the formal financial system using technology.
Synopsis
The microfinance sector in Bangladesh has matured rapidly in the past 30 years and now boasts the largest number of clients in the entire world. Despite these successes, the day-to-day operations of most microcredit institutions in Bangladesh are done manually. The introduction of a centralized information and communications technology (ICT) platform in the microfinance sector will provide further cost savings by streamlining data so that errors, omissions, and duplications (client overlap) are eliminated. Moreover, the introduction of a centralized ICT platform will help to ensure transparency through the standardization of information exchange and accounting mechanisms, increase outreach to rural areas, and integrate the largely informal microfinance sector with the formal financial system.'Linking Up and Reaching Out in Bangladesh' shows how the establishment of a centralized microfinance platform would revolutionize the country 's microfinance sector. This volume will be a useful guide for practitioners, policy makers, and microfinance institutions around the world.