‘Paeng’ Microfinance Awards launched

MANILA, Philippines—Five microfinance institutions that have pioneered and popularized micro-credit services in the country will be chosen to receive the first Rafael B. Buenaventura Award for Outstanding Microfinance Institutions (the “Paeng” Microfinance Awards).

The award, which will be given out in November, honors the late former governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, who accomplished key policy reforms, including the extensive adoption of microfinance in the local financial system, while at the helm of the BSP from 1999 to 2005.

Nongovernment organizations (NGOs), cooperatives and banks are eligible to participate in the program, which aims to recognize the groups’ pioneering initiatives and exemplary work that have influenced and created positive changes in a community.

The five winning MFIs will receive technical assistance best suited to their needs in order for them to improve and strengthen their capacity to become commercially sustainable. (Information on the criteria, nomination and selection process and deadline can be found on the RBB Foundation website—www.rbb.bapcb.com).

The award is the first major undertaking of the Rafael B. Buenaventura Micro Finance Resource Center Foundation Inc., set up in 2007 by the Bankers Association of the Philippines to continue Buenaventura’s legacy in developing and promoting sustainable microfinance through capacity building.

It is being launched in partnership with Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc., the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS), PinoyME Foundation, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

A 2010 global study evaluating the business environment for microfinance found the Philippines second overall in terms of regulatory framework among 54 developing countries surveyed, citing that [in the Philippines] “small credit bureaus exist, but reporting is limited and no credit bureau as yet covers microfinance borrowers…”

The Philippines has consistently ranked high in international surveys of countries with microfinance industries, according to the BSP.