The Smart Campaign, a consumer-protection initiative launched in 2010 by US-based nonprofit Accion, recently released a Client Protection Certification Program that aims to verify that financial institutions serving the world’s poor people are focused on the fair treatment of clients. To qualify, institutions must pass each of 30 “rigorous” standards derived from the Client Protection Principles, a list of recommended practices such as appropriate product design and delivery. Institutions wishing to be certified will be evaluated on-site by Smart Campaign-licensed certifiers, and the names of the institutions that pass will be published on the Smart Campaign’s website. The certifiers are the following rating agencies, each of which specializes in microfinance: Planet Rating, M-Cril, MicroFinanza Rating and MicroRate.
Five institutions have passed the certification process to far: Partner Microcredit Foundation and EKI Micro-credit Foundation, both Bosnian non-governmental organizations; Ujjivan and Grameen Koota, two Indian finance companies; and Cashpor, an Indian non-governmental organization.
The Smart Campaign is endorsed by approximately 1,900 microfinance institutions (MFIs), microfinance support organizations, investors, donors and individual industry professionals.
By Charlotte Newman, Research Associate
About The Smart Campaign
The Smart Campaign, which was founded by US-based nonprofit ACCION International and is located at ACCION’s Center for Financial Inclusion in Washington, DC, is an “effort to unite microfinance leaders around a common goal: to keep clients as the driving force of the industry.” It promotes seven core consumer protection principles including: “appropriate” product design and delivery, prevention of over-indebtedness, transparency, responsible pricing, fair and respectful treatment of clients, privacy of client data and mechanisms for complaint resolution. The Smart Campaign is endorsed by approximately 1,900 microfinance institutions (MFIs), microfinance support organizations, investors, donors and individual industry professionals.
About Accion
Accion is a private, US-based nonprofit organization with the mission of alleviating poverty by offering financial products such as microenterprise loans and business training. Accion was founded in 1961 and issued its first microloan in 1973 in Brazil. Accion’s partner microfinance institutions provide loans to men and women entrepreneurs through 62 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 31 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. As of 2011, Accion reports total assets of USD 325 million and an active loan portfolio of USD 5.5 billion serving 5.1 million borrowers.
Sources and Additional Resources:
Smart Campaign: Certification http://smartcampaign.org/certification
MicroCapital.org story, February 24, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) to Support Smart Campaign to Improve Client Protection in Latin America, Caribbean Microfinance Institutions,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-multilateral-investment-fund-mif-to-support-smart-campaign-to-improve-client-protection-in-latin-american-caribbean-microfinance-institutions/
MicroCapital.org story, January 26, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance CEO Working Group Issues Road Map for Microfinance Industry Promoting Smart Campaign, Microfinance Transparency, Social Performance Task Force,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-microfinance-ceo-working-group-issues-road-map-for-microfinance-industry-promoting-smart-campaign-microfinance-transparency-social-performance-task-force/
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Smart Campaign
http://microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=SMART+Campaign
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Accion
http://microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Accion
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Partner Microcredit Foundation
http://microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Partner+Microcredit+Foundation
MicroCapital Universe Profile: EKI Microcredit Foundation
http://microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Microcredit+Foundation+EKI
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Ujjivan Financial Services
http://microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Ujjivan+Financial+Services
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Grameen Koota
http://microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Grameen+Koota
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Cashpor Microcredit
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Cashpor+Microcredit
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