Do Big Institutions Prefer Men for Microfinance Loans?

Beyond the Veil| Speaking at this week’s World Women’s World Banking Microfinance and Capital Markets Conference in New York, Elizabeth Littlefield, chief executive of Consultative Group to Assist the Poor said that poor women must have enough confidence in financial institutions to take their money “out from under the bed.”

In the same way the poor have proven they can repay their loans — with default rates of only about 3.5 percent, say experts — they can save up to 40 percent of their income, said World Women’s Banking chief executive Mary Ellen Iskenderian. via Post Chronicle

Here Iskenderian discusses microfinance for women with Bloomberg News. We will followup her comments, but Iskenderian states that as larger financial institutions become involved in microfinance, the focus of loans is to men, even though their repayment rates and overall performance doesn’t support men receiving loans over women. The inference is clear here. We will pursue the topic. Anne

Women’s World Bank’s Iskenderian Dsicusses Microfinance