Problem description:
What the hell is this? Is there a master to teach you!
Analysis:
One of the most successful rural financial models-rural bank
"We are celebrating unsecured loans. We announced the end of long-term financial isolation. Loans are not just business, just like food, loans are a human right. "
It is these rare words that make us start a difficult cross-border and a bold attempt full of humanistic care.
In August this year, our senior reporter went to Bengal and visited Gramming Bank, which is one of the most successful rural financial models on the planet.
In Dhaka, the reporter saw the poverty of the local people and witnessed the hope that microfinance advocated by Professor Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, brought to the poor. Thirty years ago, Yunus took out $27 from his pocket and lent it to 42 poor people, which was the first business of Grameen Bank. Thirty years later, Yunus's microfinance has helped 6.3 million borrowers (indirectly affecting 3,654.38+0.5 million people), more than half of whom have been lifted out of poverty, and Grameen Bank has continued to make profits.
In June this year, the People's Bank of China and the Banking Regulatory Commission of China, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank, sent a delegation to investigate. At the same time, China's micro-credit pilot projects in Inner Mongolia and Guizhou are being carried out. Small loan companies such as Rishenglong in Shanxi and Li Quan in Sichuan have opened one after another, and Huxian County in Shaanxi has also successfully invited tenders.
We need such vitality and care from the grassroots. A media with a sense of social responsibility needs to let more people know about the Grameen model that the whole world is following, and the pilot projects being carried out in China.
As a prelude to the series of activities of "Asian Bank Competitiveness Ranking", this newspaper specially planned the "Microfinance Topic" of "Banks for the Poor".
Group of Five: Deconstruction of Gramming Center
Before interviewing Grameen in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the reporter asked 10 senior people from all walks of life. They heard that there is a bank that specializes in providing small loans to the rural poor, even penniless beggars. They are self-sufficient without financial support and donations from international institutions, and still make a profit every year. 10 the answer of the elite is the same: impossible!
The reporter went to Bangladesh with the same question. In addition to interviewing Professor Yunus, the founder and CEO of Grameen Bank, he also went to Kampur and Ka Hipple, two rural areas near Dhaka, to observe Grameen's management one by one.
"If microfinance institutions want to be self-financing, the first condition is to accept deposits. If we can't accept deposits, our donations will run out and the borrowers will be our depositors. If they own this bank, we will have flowing water like a river. For borrowers, it is an important link to improve their financial situation to repay small loans every week and save small deposits at the same time. After one year, when the debt is paid off, they can borrow more money, and at the same time, they also have a deposit to use, so that they can gradually get rid of the poverty line. " Professor Yunus is a professor of economics, so the business model of banks contains practical economic principles.
Each employee serves 352 borrowers.
This model of Grameen Bank initially needs * * * or donations, because the deposit amount is not enough to pay the loan. Over the past few years, banks have accumulated a little profit, which can make up for the shortage of deposits. Therefore, Grameen Bank announced that it would stop accepting donations from 1995. Since the last agreed donation of 1998 was put in place, Grameen Bank has entered an era of complete self-sufficiency.
The core of Grameen Bank's success is that it can accept deposits, which becomes the financial support for the bank to continue to issue loans. 94% of the shares of Grameen Bank are also owned by depositors, and * * * holds a symbolic 6%.
For example, if a member borrows 1000 taka, the actual interest rate is 10%, that is, the principal and interest are *** 1 100 taka, and the repayment period is one year. This member repays about 265,438+0 taka every week, but at the same time, he has to deposit 5 taka, with an annual interest rate of 8.5%-65,438+02%. After one year, he will pay off the debt and deposit it in Taka 260 with interest. After the repayment is successful, she can borrow a bigger loan, such as 2000 taka, and deposit 10 taka every week. The economic situation of this member will be improved, and finally the goal of poverty alleviation will be achieved.
Since the establishment of 1983, Grameen Bank has been making profits, except for the year of its establishment and the two years from 199 1 to 1992, when the floods were particularly serious. In 2005, the profit reached 152 1 ten thousand dollars (equivalent to10.2 billion).
By the end of June 2006, Grameen Bank had 265,438+085 branches, serving 6.39 million borrowers in 6,965,438+040 villages, while the total number of employees was only 65,438+0,565,438+0, and each employee had to serve 3.8 villages and 352 borrowers on average.
Chable (female) is the manager of Cambre branch. Cambre is 45 kilometers west of Dhaka, and Chable starts work at 7 o'clock every morning. At 7:30 in the morning, he had a meeting with six center managers of the branch to discuss the matters that needed to be dealt with that day. After that, the managers of the six centers will go to the nearby rural center to attend the weekly meeting. Cambre Branch has 765,438+0 centers and 3,750 members. The managers of six centers will visit these 765,438+0 centers for five days every week, that is, everyone will visit two or three centers every day.
Each center has dozens of members, most of whom are women. They form a group of five people, send representatives to meet every week, and pay the repayment and deposit to the center manager every week. In addition, each center member will elect a center representative from each other to be responsible for close communication with the center manager. If some members face difficulties, they usually don't have to worry about the center manager, but other members of the team or representatives of the center will help them. This is also the key to Grameen's low bad debt rate.
Shabr said that Grameen Bank's five-person team mechanism is also the key to Grameen Bank's success. This can encourage members to encourage each other and put pressure on the masses, because although other members have no responsibility to repay on behalf of other members, if one member of the group has a bad repayment record, it will affect the loan amount of the whole group in the future.
"When everyone has adversity, group members and even the center will become the backing of the unfortunate under this mechanism to help them tide over the difficulties." Chabeur said.
After attending the weekly meetings of 2-3 centers, the six center managers of Cambre Branch will return to the branch at 3-4 pm to make statistics on the repayment and deposits received that day, and manually fill in all customer information in the specified form and submit it to Shabr for signature and confirmation. There are only 9 employees in Cambre Branch, including Shabr, 1 deputy branch manager, 6 center managers and 1 messenger.
Questioning Grameen's accounts?
In order to save money, there is no computer in the branch of Grameen Bank. After filling in the customer data in the specified form, it will be sent to the nearby data center by courier. This center is not compiled by Huggle Min Bank, but operated by Grameen Communications, a related institution. The company charges Grameen Bank a monthly service fee and provides other computer and communication services to rural areas.
There are five employees in the data center, who are responsible for data processing in the nearby 10 branch. After the data of each branch is sent out, they will input the data into the computer and send it to the headquarters of Grameen Bank in Dhaka. Because the data has a unified format, the headquarters can master the data of 2 185 branches nationwide every week.
Yunus said that Grameen Bank strictly controls expenses and does not easily increase branches. To set up branches in every place, there must be enough depositors who are willing to deposit, and deposits are used as the basis for loans, and the headquarters does not provide funds. In addition, branches need to make a profit in the first year of opening.
The accounts of Grameen Bank have been questioned by internationally renowned economists. Jonathan Morduch, a professor at Princeton University, published a paper "The Promise of Microfinance" in 1999, questioning that the non-performing loan ratio of Grameen Bank below 1.6% is not true, and the actual figure should be 7.8%. He also said that Grameen Bank only relies on donations to survive. If it wants to be self-sufficient and make ends meet, the real interest rate of the loan should be as high as 25.7%.
In this regard, Professor Yunus said: "I don't think it is necessary to refute Jonathan modoc. The current situation of Grameen Bank has proved that all his predictions are wrong. After we stopped accepting the donation from 1995, we not only survived, but also increased our profits year by year. We don't need to raise the loan interest rate. Our real interest rate is only 65,438+00%. We are still studying to lower interest rates in the near future, because our profits are too much, and profit is not our main purpose. "
"Our accounts will be published online every month. Since 1976, all the data have been made public. Any economist can study us and know why we are successful. "
They just need 57 yuan.
In Kashimpur, a small rural village 50 kilometers east of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, the busiest street is a one-way and two-way dirt road. Rashima is baking rice cakes at an open-air booth on the roadside. Her rice cakes are crispy outside and tender inside, each of which costs only 2 taka (1
RMB is about 8.7 taka, which is equivalent to RMB 0.23, the same below). It can be sold for about 100 yuan a day, and Rashima can earn 50 taka (5.7 yuan), which is enough for her and her 8-year-old son Shwon to eat and wear.
Rashima is only 30 years old, but her face is full of traces of life and looks like 50 years old. Her left eye went blind at the age of 3, which made her look a little sad. However, compared with more than a year ago, her life has been much happier. Six and a half years ago, her husband fell ill and died. She and her son lost their lives and began to beg, relying on other people's charity to support themselves and their son.
"I used to beg for leftovers from house to house, eat and sell myself, and earn a little money to buy other necessities. It's been five years. This has a great influence on Shwon. He feels inferior because I am a beggar. Now I earn money by my own labor, and everyone can look up and be a man. " Rashima said.
In June 2005, Rashima learned that Grameen Bank had a "loan plan for depositors (beggars)" and applied for an interest-free loan of 500 taka (57 yuan RMB) from the local branch to buy some rice and stoves, and began to sell baked rice cakes on the street.
More than a year has passed, and the lives of mother and son have improved. Rashima also spent the biggest sum of money in recent years-800 taka (92 yuan RMB) to buy an electric fan, so that she can pay the monthly electricity bill of 100 taka, so that Shwon can sleep peacefully on a hot night in Bengal.
Rashima hopes that her life can be further improved, and she can become a full member of Grameen Bank in the future, borrow more money, build a small shop with a roof, and continue to sell baked rice cakes in rainy days. After making more money, you can send Shwon to school.
Grameen's "Beggar Loan Program" began in 2003, when Grameen Bank's business was on the right track. Some public opinion criticized Professor Yunus as a capitalist and forgot how to help the poorest people. Professor Yunus decided to design this plan to help the lowest level of society: beggars who participate in the plan do not need to form a five-person group, the loan does not need to pay interest, and the repayment time is flexible. Participants don't even need to give up begging, but they can't pay off their debts with the money they beg for.
Rani of Kashimpur is the first pilot of this plan. At the age of 40, she became a beggar because of the sudden illness of her husband and son. In February, 2002, Ya *** in, the branch manager of Kashimpur, got to know Rani and learned that Rani wanted to leave the beggar's life, but she needed 800 taka (92 yuan) to buy some bananas for retail to make money. Ya *** in suggested to the head office to give Rani an interest-free loan and exempt her from joining the group, so that Ya *** in could directly monitor her situation. Rani's loan was approved in early 2003. After that, Grameen Bank carried out similar experiments in several branches, and officially launched the "depositor (beggar) loan plan" at the end of 2003.
At present, there are 53 beggar lenders in Ya *** in's branch, and 8 others have become full members, including Rani. Rani became a full member in June 5438+February 2004, and borrowed 2000 taka (230 yuan). After paying off the loan several times, Rani borrowed it again. In addition to improving his home, he also has funds to renovate two houses nearby and rent them to people in need. He earns 800 taka a month, and with the income of selling bananas about 90 taka a day, the family can live a secure life and save money. At present, he has saved 654,300 taka.
Compared with hasner, the "gold medal member" of Kasinpur, Rani's performance is just so-so. From Hasna's confident smiling face now, it is hard to imagine how hesitant she was 15 years ago. At that time, her husband suddenly left her, and there was no news after he fled from Hipple. She has no skills or experience to make a living. Fortunately, she didn't meet a trafficker or become a beggar. She met the country bank.
199 1 year, hasner joined a local group, borrowed 4000 taka (460 yuan) to buy a cow and made a living by selling milk. Her cleverness and diligence, coupled with her good relationship in the village, have enabled her business to expand rapidly. Today, she is the proprietress of a small shop in the village, selling beauty products, and the main source of income is Grameen's telephone. She has two mobile phones, one for her own use and the other for the villagers to call. In addition, she also provides mobile phone recharge service for Grameen Telephone Company. She is one of Grameen's 230,000 "telephone girls", with a monthly income of about 8,000 taka for telephone service and about 2,500 taka for other businesses in the store, totaling 10500 taka (1207 RMB).
Every village in Bangladesh has this successful case. Sophia of Cambre, 45km west of Dhaka, is 35 years old and joined Grameen Bank 10. She and her husband Moajjam run the largest grocery store in the village. They have a good relationship, but the husband has always been represented by his wife at Grameen's group and center meetings on the grounds of busy work, which is the biggest reason why 96% of Grameen's lenders are women. Sophia opened a stall with the first loan of 4000 taka 10 years ago, and its business gradually expanded. At present, the loan amount has increased to 50,000 taka, and the monthly profit of the grocery store is about 5,000 taka.
"I like Grameen Bank best, because other banks want us to go to town to save money and borrow money, and only people from Grameen Bank come to the door." Sophia spoke frankly about the most unique characteristics of Grameen Bank.