MRA starts issuing licences to MFIs
Monday, 13 August 2007
FE Report
The micro-credit regulatory authority (MRA) has started the process of issuing licences to the micro-finance institutions (MFIs) for ensuring transparency and accountability.
The MRA has already asked at least 60 MFIs to deposit requisite fees for obtaining their respective licences, official sources said.
"We will issue licences to the MFIs after receiving the fees through banks," a MRA senior official told the FE Sunday, adding that more MFIs will get licences once the first phase is completed.
The MRA has primarily selected 700 applications from around 4,000 that have been submitted to the MRA's 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.
The MRA will allow the MFIs, which could not yet meet the criteria set by the authority, to function until June 30, 2009.
The concerned authorities earlier set the criteria necessitating an MFI to have minimum 1000 borrowers with Tk 4.0 million credits as pre-requisite to obtain licence.
Each and every MFI must possess a 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 central bank governor, to issue licences to private MFIs for ensuring transparency and accountability.
The micro-credit regulatory authority (MRA) has started the process of issuing licences to the micro-finance institutions (MFIs) for ensuring transparency and accountability.
The MRA has already asked at least 60 MFIs to deposit requisite fees for obtaining their respective licences, official sources said.
"We will issue licences to the MFIs after receiving the fees through banks," a MRA senior official told the FE Sunday, adding that more MFIs will get licences once the first phase is completed.
The MRA has primarily selected 700 applications from around 4,000 that have been submitted to the MRA's 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.
The MRA will allow the MFIs, which could not yet meet the criteria set by the authority, to function until June 30, 2009.
The concerned authorities earlier set the criteria necessitating an MFI to have minimum 1000 borrowers with Tk 4.0 million credits as pre-requisite to obtain licence.
Each and every MFI must possess a 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 central bank governor, to issue licences to private MFIs for ensuring transparency and accountability.