MFIs given more time to fulfil criteria for getting licences
Thursday, 26 March 2009
FE Report
The micro-credit regulatory authority (MRA) has given micro-finance institutions (MFIs) six more months to fulfil required criteria for receiving licences.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the central bank Wednesday with its chairman and the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair, officials said.
"We've decided to extend the timeframe of issuing licence to the MFIs until December 31 this year instead of June 30 for running their operations,," a MRA senior official told reporters after the meeting.
He also said the MRA will issue licences to the MFIs after verification of their submitted documents by the deputy commissioners concerned along with other agencies to ensure authenticity.
The concerned authorities earlier set the criteria for an MFI to have minimum 1000 borrowers involving Tk 4.0 million worth of credit as pre-requisite to obtain licence.
The MRA has already issued 411 licences to the MFIs from 4240 applications, which were submitted to the central bank seeking permission for micro-credit operation.
Around 600 applications have been rejected by the MRA for failing to meet the required criteria. The remaining 3229 applicant MFIs are now waiting for licences.
"We're issuing licences to the MFIs after securitising their documents properly to ensure discipline in the sector," the MRA official said, adding that every MFI has to submit relevant documents before getting licences.
Each MFI must obtain licence as a mandatory requirement of the micro-credit regulatory act to operate in the country.
The country's micro-credit watchdog plans to start monitoring and supervision of the overall micro-credit operations across the country after completing issuance of licences.
The micro-credit regulatory authority (MRA) has given micro-finance institutions (MFIs) six more months to fulfil required criteria for receiving licences.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the central bank Wednesday with its chairman and the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair, officials said.
"We've decided to extend the timeframe of issuing licence to the MFIs until December 31 this year instead of June 30 for running their operations,," a MRA senior official told reporters after the meeting.
He also said the MRA will issue licences to the MFIs after verification of their submitted documents by the deputy commissioners concerned along with other agencies to ensure authenticity.
The concerned authorities earlier set the criteria for an MFI to have minimum 1000 borrowers involving Tk 4.0 million worth of credit as pre-requisite to obtain licence.
The MRA has already issued 411 licences to the MFIs from 4240 applications, which were submitted to the central bank seeking permission for micro-credit operation.
Around 600 applications have been rejected by the MRA for failing to meet the required criteria. The remaining 3229 applicant MFIs are now waiting for licences.
"We're issuing licences to the MFIs after securitising their documents properly to ensure discipline in the sector," the MRA official said, adding that every MFI has to submit relevant documents before getting licences.
Each MFI must obtain licence as a mandatory requirement of the micro-credit regulatory act to operate in the country.
The country's micro-credit watchdog plans to start monitoring and supervision of the overall micro-credit operations across the country after completing issuance of licences.