Publications

Codes of Conduct and the Role of Microfinance Associations in Client Protection

06 Mar 2013
  • Cara S. Forster

Codes of conduct are fundamentally an effort at self-regulation, whether they apply to one organization, such as a microfinance institution (MFI), or an association and its members. Th is Technical Note explores the variety of reasons why and how microfinance associations may choose to adopt and promote self-regulation through a code of ethics or code of conduct. In this Note, three case examples are presented that illustrate three different approaches […]

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“Pure” Intentions and Practice: Challenges and Good Practices in Consumer Protection in Microinsurance

06 Mar 2013
  • Emily Zimmerman
  • Barbara Magnoni
  • Andrea Camargo

This paper explores challenges and good practices in consumer protection in microinsurance, defining “consumer protection” as the effective use of microinsurance products by low-income consumers to protect themselves against risk. Consumer protection challenges fall into four main categories, 1) education and information, 2) product and process design, 3) regulation and financial soundness of providers and programs, and 4) capacities and responsibilities of stakeholders. The paper develops a “checklist” of attributes […]

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Responsible Finance: Putting Principles to Work

10 Sep 2011
  • Katharine McKee
  • Estelle Lahaye
  • Antonique Koning

Early microfinance pioneers created the sector with the aspiration to improve poor people’s lives. There were huge swathes of “white space” where low-income households had little or no access to formal finance. This challenge, in turn, demanded sustainable and scalable models for delivering adequate financial services to poor people. This is the essence of the double bottom line in microfinance: a social commitment to benefiting clients married with a financial […]

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Global Pulse Survey on Responsible Digital Finance

10 Sep 2010
  • Jamie Zimmerman

Results from this will shape this growing global agenda and dialogue by shedding light on the state of practice and perspectives — across public, private and non-profit sector actors — on this important topic. The survey results — which will be shared at the upcoming Responsible Finance Forum, GPFI meetings and in forthcoming CGAP publications — will be used to: Identify particular consumer risks that arise when financial services are […]

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Financial Capability and Consumer Protection – A way Forward to Financial Inclusion in Africa

26 Aug 2010
  • Karen Losse
  • Margaret Miller
  • Pim Engels

Poor households and low-income individuals often have limited access to basic consumer financial services, such as payments, savings, loans and insurance. Consequently, they lack the assets needed to finance life-cycle events such as birth, marriage and education, they remain vulnerable to adverse shocks, and have to revert to expensive and traditional forms of finance. In Africa, on average only 20 percent of households have access to formal financial services. Even […]

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