Licences to be issued to MFIs from next week
Thursday, 26 July 2007
FE Report
The micro-credit regulatory authority (MRA) has decided to issue licences to the micro-finance institutions (MFIs) from next week to comply with the existing micro-credit regulatory act.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the central bank Wednesday with its Chairman and the Bangladesh Bank Governor Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair.
"We have decided to start issuing licences to the MFIs from next week," a MRA senior official told the FE Wednesday after the meeting.
He also said the authority has already completed paper works relating to 50 institutions eligible for licences in the first phase.
Around 120 other MFIs would shortly be issued the licences, he added.
The meeting also decided to allow the MFIs, which could not yet meet the criteria, set by the authority, to function until June 30, 2009.
The MRA will inform the deputy commissioners (DCs) and the local administrations to allow the operation of those MFIs during the period.
The concerned authorities earlier set the criteria necessitating an MFI to have minimum 1000 borrowers with Tk 4.0 million credits as the pre-requisite to obtain its licence.
The MRA has primarily selected 700 applications from around 4000 that were submitted to its office seeking licences.
The MRA officials have already completed field inspections of at least 200 applicants to verify the information about sources of funds, ownership and governance position, provided earlier by the MFIs concerned.
"We will issue licences to the MFIs after completing field inspections," the MRA official said, adding that every MFI has to submit relevant documents before licences can be issued.
Each MFI must obtain licence as a mandatory requirement of the micro-credit regulatory act to operate in the country, the official noted.
Earlier, the government formed an eight-member micro-credit regulatory authority, headed by the BB governor, to issue licences to all private MFIs for ensuring transparency and accountability.
The micro-credit regulatory authority (MRA) has decided to issue licences to the micro-finance institutions (MFIs) from next week to comply with the existing micro-credit regulatory act.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the central bank Wednesday with its Chairman and the Bangladesh Bank Governor Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair.
"We have decided to start issuing licences to the MFIs from next week," a MRA senior official told the FE Wednesday after the meeting.
He also said the authority has already completed paper works relating to 50 institutions eligible for licences in the first phase.
Around 120 other MFIs would shortly be issued the licences, he added.
The meeting also decided to allow the MFIs, which could not yet meet the criteria, set by the authority, to function until June 30, 2009.
The MRA will inform the deputy commissioners (DCs) and the local administrations to allow the operation of those MFIs during the period.
The concerned authorities earlier set the criteria necessitating an MFI to have minimum 1000 borrowers with Tk 4.0 million credits as the pre-requisite to obtain its licence.
The MRA has primarily selected 700 applications from around 4000 that were submitted to its office seeking licences.
The MRA officials have already completed field inspections of at least 200 applicants to verify the information about sources of funds, ownership and governance position, provided earlier by the MFIs concerned.
"We will issue licences to the MFIs after completing field inspections," the MRA official said, adding that every MFI has to submit relevant documents before licences can be issued.
Each MFI must obtain licence as a mandatory requirement of the micro-credit regulatory act to operate in the country, the official noted.
Earlier, the government formed an eight-member micro-credit regulatory authority, headed by the BB governor, to issue licences to all private MFIs for ensuring transparency and accountability.