Robin Ratcliffe, Director of the SMART Campaign, reports on her observations from the Eighth National Conference on Microfinance hosted by the Russian Microfinance Center which brings together 400 microfinance players across the country as well as representatives from the Russian ministries. Ms. Ratcliffe notes that the Russian microfinance sector is about ten years old, currently reaches about 600,000 clients and is dominated by small business lending carried out by government development funds. Also, credit cooperatives which have dominate microfinance activities of savings and lending in the rural areas, have been unregulated. As a result, foreign investors have found it difficult to operate in Russia because management, governance, and accounting standards vary widely. However, a state has passed new legislation that would establish standards to regulate credit cooperatives for the first time.
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