Download the December 2005 Highlights.

MABS conducted a four-day seminar/workshop to provide the MFU staff of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Bank with the needed tools and techniques in developing, pilot testing, and marketing a microdeposit product. Twelve CARD Bank staff completed the seminar/workshop, which was held on August 15-18 at the CARD Training Center in Bay, Laguna.

Forty-two microfinance unit (MFU) supervisors from 15 Mindanao participating banks (PBs) attended a supervisors’ forum held August 4-5 in Cagayan de Oro City. The forum focused on enhanced supervisory skills, reinforcement of MF best practices, and improving delinquency management.

Forum sessions included: major supervision issues, integration of MABS microfinance best practices into microloan policies and procedures, guidelines for microloan portfolio analysis, and reports generation and analysis. The enhanced character and background investigation (CIBI) module was presented during the forum. The enhanced CIBI module has guidelines for analyzing repeat microloan applications, in addition to guidelines for new loan applications. It also uses four indicators (stability, reputation, entrepreneurship, and responsibility) in assessing a borrower’s loan application.

MABS, in coordination with the World Bank – Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), conducted a seminar on microfinance international standards for external auditors of MFIs. Thirty three accountants from 14 audit firms attended the seminar held on August 31 at the RBAP Building in Manila. Representatives from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc. also attended the seminar.

Twenty-two MFU staff from four Northern Luzon PBs attended a seminar/workshop focusing on savings mobilization. The seminar was held July 19-22 in Cauayan City. From defining the basic characteristics of savings mobilization and assessing existing deposit structures, performances, and practices, the seminar proceeded to detail the entire savings product development process. The seminar/workshop covered market research, product costing and pricing, pilot test, marketing and promotion, and target setting.

Forty-two MFU supervisors from 14 Luzon PBs attended a forum held July 20-21 at the Development Academy of the Philippines Training Center in Tagaytay City. The forum focused on enhancing supervisory skills to prevent and/or manage delinquencies and ensure good portfolio quality. Sessions highlighted the following: the responsibilities of an MFU supervisor, guidelines for portfolio analysis, delinquency alarm signals, and the framework for analyzing new and repeat loan applications. Management Information Systems and MABS Performance Monitoring reports were discussed in detail. Emphasizing the application of tools and skills, participants had workshops on how to review loan product policies and procedures and loan folders, and conducting portfolio at risk trend analysis.

Thirty-one microfinance unit (MFU) staff from 11 Luzon participating banks (PBs) completed a three-day microfinance refresher course held July 4-6 in Manila. The course aimed to equip new MFU staff with the basic principles and practices that support sustainable and profitable MF operations and re-orient the more senior staff on best practices and preventing delinquency.

Eighteen participants from ten Visayas PBs completed a MF refresher course delivered by MSP Associated Resources for Management and Development Inc. (ARMDEV). The course was held on July 21-23 in Cebu City.

The Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program was invited to participate in the Asia Pacific Bankers Congress (APBC), an annual international convention that seeks to review and update Asian bankers on best banking practices from worldwide sources. Around 300 delegates attended the 2005 APCB, held in Manila from June 16-17.

Thirty-three bank and MFU officers from 20 PBs attended a roundtable conference focusing on the proper design and implementation of an employee incentives program. The conference was held on June 29 at the Traders’ Hotel in Manila.

RBAP signed a partnership agreement with the MIX, a Washington-based private organization promoting information exchange in the MF industry. MIX provides benchmarking and monitoring tools and other specialized information services through its Microbanking Bulletin and the MIX Market, a web-based information exchange platform.

The MABS Program announced the EAGLE Awardees for 2004 at ceremonies held April 26 in Davao City. Participating banks Bangko Kabayan, First Isabela Cooperative Bank, Maranao Rural Bank, GreenBank of Caraga, and Cantilan Bank received EAGLE Awards in recognition of their excellent performance in managing their MF operations. Two of the winners, Bangko Kabayan and Cantilan Bank, received their third EAGLE Award this year.

Eighty-nine rural bankers from 38 MABS participating banks (PBs) attended the 3rd MABS National Roundtable Conference held April 26 – 27 in Davao City. Representatives from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Mindanao Economic and Development Council (MEDCo), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Philippines, the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and Globe Telecom also attended the conference. The conference’s theme was “Managing the Growth of Microfinance (MF) Operations: New Developments and Innovations”.

In preparation for the scheduled issuance of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new Microfinance Policy and Regulatory Guidelines, officers of the CBN visited with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and several MABS Program participating banks. During a presentation on February 4, RBAP and the MABS Program briefed the study group on the MABS Approach to microfinance and the successful efforts of rural banks providing financial services to microentrepreneurs in the Philippines. The study group was also oriented on the Philippine government’s policies and regulations on microfinance.

Technical staff of Globe Telecoms and the MABS Program conducted training and an orientation session on the RBAP Text-A-Payment plan, which will begin pilot testing in March. Fifteen participants from Bangko Kabayan and the First Macro Bank, Luzon pilot-test sites of Text A Payment, attended the training/orientation. First Macro Bank hosted the training held on February 24 at their Pateros branch. The training outlined client registration, phone-to-phone (P2P) loan payment transactions, internal control procedures, and accounting policies for recording, posting, consolidation, settlement, and reconciliation procedures. MABS also oriented the participants on the information security procedures for electronic banking operations.

MABS and Globe will conduct another training/orientation for the Cooperative Bank of Misamis Oriental (CBMO) and the Green Bank of Caraga, who will also pilot test RBAP Text-A-Payment for their microenterprise clients.

MABS held three microfinance supervisors’ forums during the month of February. A total of 54 supervisors from 27 participating banks (PBs) attended the three forums. The participants developed action plans based on the results of the SPOT (strengths, problems, opportunities, and threats) analysis of their microfinance unit (MFU) operations. Forum participants also evaluated their MFU using the EAGLE rating components (earnings, asset quality, growth, liability structure, and efficiency), reviewed their MF products’ features, and learned techniques in conducting customer satisfaction and client exit surveys. Other forum sessions included: projections and target setting, enhancing customer loyalty, market research tools, and client dropout/retention analysis.

The BSP approved the mobile cash remittance services of the country’s two leading telecommunications networks, Globe Telecoms and Smart Communications, including the micro loan payment facility which will utilize Globe’s G-Cash service. The micro loan payment facility, referred to as the RBAP Text-A-Payment, will allow microenterprise clients who are Globe subscribers to pay their loans through short messaging service (SMS) using Globe's electronic money system , G-Cash. The pilot test for the G-Cash facility will begin in March. The new service is expected to help banks improve the efficiency and costs of managing micro loan payments.