§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations her Department has made to British banking institutions concerning their support for micro-credit financing in developing countries. [49315]
§ Clare ShortThe Department for International Development (DFID) has engaged with a number of UK based banks to involve them in support to particular bilateral microfinance projects in Bangladesh and Kenya. DFID is a very active member of the World Bank based Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) which is currently devoting considerable attention to developing methodologies to involve the formal banking sector in microfinance. For the past two years DFID has supported a series of round table discussions on microfinance at the London based Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI). These meetings involved a variety of financial institutions from the City and resulted in a well received publication on mainstreaming microfinance. DFID has also recently established a Working Group on Financial Service, the first meeting of which was attended by a number of bankers and is likely to lead to the creation of a sub-committee specifically concerned with involving British financial institutions in microfinance in developing countries.