BRAC
and Standard Chartered Bank Sign Agreement on US$ 15 million Term
Loan
July 27th, 2006
BRAC, the world’s
largest national NGO, working with the twin objectives of poverty
alleviation and empowerment of the poor, signed an agreement on
Thursday at the BRAC Centre with Standard Chartered bank for a
BDT 100 crore (US$ 15 million) term loan which is expected to
bring positive changes in the quality of life of around 6 lac
people.
Although BRAC and Standard
Chartered have a long history of partnership this is the first
time the two organisations joined together to provide micro-credit
access to low-income individuals primarily in rural communities
not reached by Bangladesh’s commercial banks. Signing on
behalf of BRAC was Mr. S. N. Kairy, Head of Finance & Accounts,
and for Standard Chartered Mr. Ahmed A. Shah, Head of Client Relationships.
Present at the signing were Mr. Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury, Executive
Director, Mr. Md. Aminul Alam, Deputy Executive Director, and
Mr. Shabbir Ahmed Chowdhury, Director Microfinance, on behalf
of BRAC. Present from Standard Chartered were Ms. Mizinga Melu,
Global Head of Development Organizations, and Ranjan Ghosh, Regional
Head, Financial Institutions, among others.
Since its inception
in 1972, BRAC has made available more than Taka 18,557.98 crore
in micro-credit loans to over millions of poor entrepreneurs,
mostly women, throughout Bangladesh. BRAC outreach covers all
64 districts of Bangladesh, comprising more than 69,000 villages.
Currently, more than Taka 2090.43 crore in disbursed loans are
outstanding to more than 5.07 million poor entrepreneurs. BRAC
has built upon the methods of micro-credit by providing multiple
services to its clients. It has positioned itself as the central
hub that offers not only micro-credit loans, but also distributes
and markets its clients’ products. Repayment rates for BRAC
micro-credit loans stand at nearly 99%, which validates the strength
of its financial model. BRAC made a strategic shift in funding
its micro credit activities from donor and grant money to commercial
funding from the capital markets and transforming the micro-credit
business into a self-supporting unit.
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