“Microfinance in the Arab Region: Challenges of the Past and Opportunities of the Future”

Sanabel State of the Industry Regional Overview: Revolutions and Uprisings How have they Impacted the Industry?

11:00 – 13:00

This Plenary will address the conference theme "Microfinance in the Arab Region: Challenges of the Past and Opportunities of the Future."

The keynote speaker will provide insights on the state of global microfinance industry, its current challenges and opportunities, and the implications of these global trends on the Arab region. The keynote presentation shall also focus on analyzing the evolution of the main risks within the industry over the past decade or so, highlighting the rising risks over the past couple of years, as well as project the expected future performance taking into consideration the emerging political and country risks.

Following the keynote speech, a presentation on the state of the Arab microfinance industry in 2010 will provide a regional overview and update, highlighting major trends and changes in outreach and financial performance. The presentation will also highlight some of the preliminary impacts of the recent revolutions and uprisings in some Arab countries on the microfinance sector (clients, practitioners, investors, and regulators).

The plenary session will conclude with a moderated discussion on the major challenges facing the microfinance sector in the Arab region over the past decade, the impacts of the revolutions and uprisings on the industry (particular in focus on Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen), and future opportunities for the industry.

If you have downloaded the "State of the Industry" presentation before, please note that the table on Slide 14 of the presentation has been updated with more accurate figures. Click here to download the updated version.

Unlocking the Potential: Establishing Conducive Regulatory Frameworks

14:30 – 16:00

The session will begin with an introduction on the role of regulation and supervision of the microfinance industry – especially given the rapid expansion in the provision of different microfinance services. The session will tackle major regulatory issues - including introduction of laws for microfinance, regulations allowing for mobile banking, consumer protection, and establishment of credit bureaus. The panelists will share their national experiences to this effect highlighting lessons learned and future efforts towards a more regulated industry in the region. Finally, the session will provide a summary of the GIZ project which shall be undertaken in partnership with Sanabel in line with the network's objective of promoting a more conducive regulatory environment within the Arab region.

This session is sponsored by GIZ

Social Performance: Tools and Impact

14:30 – 16:00

In today’s climate of economic uncertainty, concerns about predatory lending and profiting from the poor lend urgency to the need to embrace ethical treatment of clients. Efforts are well under-way to guide and encourage financial institutions to commit to their social mission and objectives, transparent pricing, appropriate collections practices, ethical staff behavior, client privacy and mechanisms for redress of grievances. The workshop will highlight some of the most commonly used tools to measure Social Performance Management (SPM), including: the Consumer Protection Tool (developed by the SMART Campaign) and the Social Performance Tool (developed by MIX), and the Progress Out of Poverty IndexTM (developed by Grameen Foundation) which are used by MFIs to collect social performance data and provide a platform for benchmarking and analysis of social performance in the future.

Mobile Banking (A Means to an End): Reaching Emerging Markets and the Financially Excluded

14:30 – 16:00

This session will discuss how mobile banking has been developed and used in the Microfinance industry as a new delivery channel to extend the MFIs' mission in order to effectively serve more clients. The session will highlight the different applications of mobile banking and how this technology can benefit the MFIs and their clients, through highlighting two cases from the region: Tamweelcom and Enda. Furthermore, the session will help the Arab MFIs to know how to adopt mobile banking through presenting the related regulations; challenges and risks, and how introducing such service can have great impact on the MFIs outreach and portfolio.

Internal Audit Best Practices

16:30 – 18:00

Internal audit is a critical function in overall internal control and risk management. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance. Internal auditing is considered one of the key tools for risk management and establishment of a system for early detection and mitigation of fraud and malpractices. The session will highlight the need and importance of an independent internal audit function within a MFI for sound risk management. An expert in this area will outline how an internal audit function may be structured within a MFI and the best practices to this effect.

Transparent Pricing and Returns (Mini-Training)

16:30 – 18:00

The training shall begin with an overview on how and why has transparent pricing emerged over the past few decades and what transparency intrinsically offers. The trainer will also highlight the reasons why microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been trapped into non-transparent practices (specifically lack of pricing disclosure).

Through understanding the implications that non-transparency is having on the reputation of the industry as well as on individual institutions, the mini-training will:

• Provide an understanding of the mechanics of calculating Annual Percentage Rates, Effective Interest Rates, and knowing the difference between the two;
• Investigate alternative methods for transparent pricing and means for helping clients make better informed decisions; and
• Highlight the current efforts underway to quickly shift the global microfinance industry to higher levels of transparency on pricing and returns.

Islamic Microfinance: Opportunities and Challenges

16:30 – 18:00

This session is designed to give an overview of Islamic finance principles and how these principles can be applied to develop Islamic microfinance. The session will highlight successful models from around the world in the provision of different Islamic microfinance products. Islamic microfinance models from the region will be presented with a focus on the challenges facing the implementation of sustainable and scalable Islamic microfinance programs in Arab countries. Moreover, the session will shall also recognize some of the current global industry efforts in advancing Islamic microfinance (such as the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010).

This session is sponsored by WAFAA