Microfinance industry representatives, who attended a consultative dialogue on transparent pricing on March 17, 2010 at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, agreed that pricing transparency would be beneficial for microfinance clients and the industry as well.
The dialogue was called for by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. (MCPI) to raise the level of awareness and understanding of MCPI members on issues related to pricing transparency, solicit MFI views and perspectives and identify succeeding steps towards achieving a consensus on the network's position on these issues.
A number of MFIs have good practices as far as transparency is concerned, including the provision of a disclosure statement translated to the vernacular, orientation on product pricing as part of the requirement for availing a loan, dissemination of information, education and communication materials, and following the Truth in Lending Act.
What remains wanting is agreeing on a standard format for computing and reporting interest rates, a time table and a road map to come up with an industry accepted methodology. BSP wants to issue a regulation that is consistent with industry standards, but if the microfinance community collectively adopts a common practice, a regulation need not be issued.
No comments:
Post a Comment