1. Promoting Transparent Pricing in the Microfinance Industry Session III: Facilitating Transparent Pricing South Africa | February 2011
2. What is Transparent Pricing? Transparent pricing means the pricing, terms, and conditions of financial products will be transparent and adequately disclosed in a form understandable to clients.
9. Funding from MasterCard Foundation, Ford Foundation, Luxembourg Government, Citi Foundation, Deutsch Bank, Dell Foundation, Standard Chartered Bank, Oikocredit, Cordaid, others
12. Rapid Progress in Transparency(Results of past 18 months) MFT currently working in 17 countries (adding 1 more each month) 300 Institutions 1,000 different loan products 38 million clients US$11 billion in outstanding portfolio Microfinance is the first industry of any kind in the world to practice global, voluntary disclosure of true pricing.
18. And… This month MFT published transparent Pricing for India 83 Institutions 27 million clients (over 90% female) US$4.5 billion of outstanding portfolio The process: Transparency was initiated by the MFIs themselves, leadership through MFIN Funders stepped forward immediately (Standard Chartered, CITI, Dell Foundation, and MFIN)
27. How to Use the Data In most environments, we see a “price curve” The price curve is the result of a “cost curve” Do not fall for the common assumption that all micro-loans should have the same price
30. Who Benefits from Pricing Transparency? Consumers: They get to know the real price – they can decide whether they want to borrow They can decide between competing loan products or MFIs based comparative data MFIs They learn what the market price is, where they stand, and can take steps to refine their pricing strategy Industry Microfinance sector gets a database from which it can take up issues with policy makers
31. Who Benefits from Pricing Transparency? Funders and donors: They know what their client MFIs charge their customers, and can choose their partners accordingly Regulators Observe the prices prevailing in the market, sharpening their ability to intervene specifically and refine policy
Our pricing is not transparent. Moving toward standardized truth-in-lending indicators helps all stakeholders understand product pricing
Our approach:We facilitate the process country-by-countryWe partner with networks and stakeholders in each countryWe assist all to publish true prices all at the same timeWe do so in an objective way, treating and respecting each MFI equallyWe are active in nearly 20 countries
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Discuss examples that illustrate thisInterest rate cap legislation makes transparency difficult as MFIs are often charging prices above the cap in order to be viable and sustainable but they don’t want to be transparent for fear of sanction (i.e. West Africa)Countries where politicians play aggressive roles in the legislative process (not leaving legislation to central bank or ministry of finance) are places where transparency is difficult as politicians don’t often understand microfinance pricing and misinterpret rates, causing over-legislation (i.e. India)
Discuss examples that illustrate thisPAWDEP in Kenya – first to be transparent in the Initiative saw it as an opportunity to access new investors and donors and for growth
What ramifications does this have for responsible pricing?Without transparency, there is less competitionWith less competition, there is a wider range of pricesWe generally argue that “responsible prices” are prices that are competitive with other businesses