ASN Bank was badly implicated in my book. They failed to make a single comment until KRO-Reporter exposed their activities on September 28th 2012. For anyone still labouring under the belief that this is an ethical bank, watch the documentary, … Continue reading
Perhaps unsurprisingly I rather enjoyed the KRO-Reporter documentary. I won’t go through it in detail, it speaks for itself. That something is deeply wrong in the sector is beyond dispute. Anyone who still denies this is living in cuckoo land. … Continue reading
A random traveller from Kiva’s Milepoint team (a group of people who like flying and have lent about $4m through Kiva) contacted me a week ago suggesting I join some online video chat with Kiva and ask them a tricky … Continue reading
On September 28th the Dutch investigative TV show KRO-Reporter broadcast a documentary about the Dutch microfinance investment sector, based loosely around my book. Below I provide an English transcript of the entire documentary. This is not an official translation and … Continue reading
Larry Reed’s recent press release took me by surprise and flooded my inbox. A fundamental shift has occurred in the sector. Support is emerging from all sides now. The Dutch microfinance investment sector is abuzz with the news as it … Continue reading
The embattled sector is doing what it can to salvage its image. An excellent example was yesterday’s entry on the Huffington Post blog by Kadita Tshibaka. Mr Tshibaka spent 33 years at Citibank, and in 2003 moved to Opportunity International, … Continue reading
[This post is in response to a comment posted by Ms. Rhyne of the Smart Campaign on microDINERO regarding my article “Microfinance Awards Itself An Award“] A curious fact about the book is that none of those implicated have dared … Continue reading
NORAD, the Norwegian equivalent of DFID or USAID, recently announced that it has all but ceased microfinance activities. The Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI) is the only remaining large microfinance investor, although it is partially funded from the Norwegian public purse … Continue reading
Philanthropedia has just published its list of the 11 most outstanding non-profit microfinance players. The mind boggles. Three feature in my book – prominently, and not too favourably. Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) was #2, Accion was #3 and Kiva was … Continue reading
Muhammad Yunus has faced yet more trials this week at the hands of a Bangladeshi government of questionable transparency. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has essentially taken over Grameen Bank, on what some have described as a “Black Day” for the … Continue reading
