Cerise+SPTF

🚀 News on Client Protection from Cambodia 🚀 In January 2024, Cerise+SPTF had made 3 key recommendations on strengthening client protection in Cambodia: 1️⃣ - 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Mandate rigorous assessments for the top 30 BFIs, conducted by independent third-party assessors, to identify and close protection gaps, as well as inform market conduct policy in Cambodia. 2️⃣ - 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬: Reconsider interest rate caps and adopt responsible pricing standards, with training provided for NBC supervision teams. 3️⃣ - 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Establish a $1 million fund for Client Protection, managed by CMA and ABC, to support client protection projects (financial literacy, assessments, capacity building) in Cambodia. 🥳 Six months later, we are extremely happy to announce that 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 + 𝐒𝐏𝐓𝐅 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 under the sector convening organised by the United Nations in Cambodia. On 12 July 2024, the National Bank of Cambodia and the United Nations in Cambodia announced a series of actions across the short, medium, and long term. Notably, under the priority action "Effective Self-Regulation," we are thrilled to see the following actions: ✅ Action 1.b.1: Create a Client Protection Fund by the Financial Sector to undertake various activities related to consumer protection, including assessments, capacity building, financial literacy, consumer empowerment projects, and lending guidelines updates. ✅ Action 1.b.3: Require all BFIs to assess themselves through independent qualified third parties on the Code of Conduct implementation. Under the priority "Explore Alternatives to Interest Rate Caps (i.e., responsible pricing)," we are thrilled to see the following actions: ✅ Action 1.c.2: Study responsible pricing options. At Cerise + SPTF, we salute the commitment of all stakeholders to foster a equitable, fairer and more transparent banking and financial sector that serves the needs of the Cambodian people by promoting responsible and inclusive banking and financial practices. 👥 We continue to engage with stakeholders on the above mentioned actions points and exploring ways to strengthen customer empowerment in Cambodia. 👀 Read more about the joint statement: https://lnkd.in/gJRZ-Mxf 🌐 First, Do No Harm -- Join us in this journey for Client Protection: https://lnkd.in/eMnu9NpB Nitin Madan - Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade - Laura Foose - Jurgen Hammer 🇵🇸 - Cécile LAPENU - United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) - UNDP #ClientProtection #FinancialInclusion #RIFFSEA

📊 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐏𝐈 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞! Our #digital benchmark tool helps you track your progress on #Social and #Environmental performance and #ClientProtection, and compare your scores against your peers in your region and worldwide. 𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬! Whether you are a field practitioner, a #FinancialService provider, an #investor, or a #regulator, our tool will help you: 🔋 Optimize the management of your social and environmental programs. 🔎 Monitor and evaluate #sector performance regionally. 📈 Maximize your portfolio by making informed decisions based on accurate comparative #data. ✔ Improve your performance by benchmarking against industry practices. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤? Watch our 2-𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 & 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝-𝑏𝑦-𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 to learn how to use the tool for data analysis on your #audits! 👉 https://lnkd.in/eKs_TSbk #ResponsibleFinance #InclusiveFinance #ImpactInvesting #PowerOfData

This week Jurgen Hammer 🇵🇸, Managing Director of SPTF Europe, attended with Gabriela Erice García from e-MFP the inaugural session of the new European Parliament in Strasbourg. The objective was to continue our discussion and engagement at Cerise + SPTF and eMFP on the 𝐄𝐔 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (#SFDR) is a game-changer providing a comprehensive framework for measuring and disclosing the sustainability impacts of investments. While it offers significant opportunities, it also presents challenges, particularly for investments in the Global South. 👀 The Cerise + SPTF Social Investor Working Group (#SIWG) has expressed significant concern about the implications of some of the SFDR's mandatory Principle Adverse Impact (PAI) indicators. 🇪🇺 Looking ahead to the upcoming months, the SIWG has identified its top priority: staying engaged with the European Parliament and the European Commission's regulatory process and actively participating in workshops and subgroups. This topic will be a one of the hot topic at our upcoming Cerise + SPTF annual Social Investor Working Group meeting in Paris on October 1st and 2nd. 💡 Stay tuned https://lnkd.in/etDwsqwj

A few weeks ago, I had a unique experience of working with a cohort of South East Asian (SEA) Fintechs in Luxembourg as part of the The LHoFT - Luxembourg House of Financial Technology Catapult SEA program. The mission: Working with CEOs/founders of the 10 member Fintech cohort on #impact #creation, #measurement and living to tell the #impactStory. Often times we see huge heavy-lifting needed in order to evaluate the impact created by a certain business or program. Data collection and analysis to evaluate trends and positive impact over time is often a monumental task. But what if the impact objectives, metrics and tools for data collection and analysis are all weaved into the fintech's business model and DNA right from the start? What fun and satisfaction would both funders and fintechs have! The best part of the engagement was that each and every founder was driven by their Fintech's ability to solve a national level challenge: From #accesstofinance and #payments to reducing finance-crunch induced #mentalhealth issues to #digitalvault for #women to harness and own their documents/data to guaranteeing #rentaldeposits that facilitate rental agreements with property owners... The #usecases were diverse and all aiming to work at national scale to solve local population problems. Kudos to LHoFT's Annabelle Albert-Fonteneau & Alex Panican for having curated such an excellent event with state-of-the-art quality #Fintechs! The importance of having an #impactFramework should not be underestimated. Setting #impactObjectives, identifying #KPIs that are meaningful to track, and figuring out how best to intrinsically build #tools for #datacapture and #reporting is no easy task. But once set, this framework and regular practice can contribute manifold to a business' growth and resilience. Not only do funds and investors need to hear and validate the impact story of their investees but regulations are progressively mandating the same. At Amarante Consulting, we strive to inculcate the digital and impact DNA for leaders so that they can drive this within their organisations. By following their north star for impact, they can motivate their teams to follow suit and proudly showcase their impact achieved to the outside world. AIForesee, BlueDuck, Ekko, Farmvocacy, Fina Fintech, Global CreditPros, GoodTech Information Systems Inc., InvestEd, Noburo Wealth-Being and Wahine Capital, it is great to know you all. Pascal SIMON and I thoroughly enjoyed our interaction and the committed way in which you are looking into the impact you can create at scale. Best of luck from here on. Looking forward to following your impact journey as you progressively grow and succeed. Keep in touch! #CatapultSEAsia #nexus2050 Louis de Muyser Mathieu Le Gac Sebastian Schaefer Adina Grigoriu Luc Welter Cristina Amor Maclang Sarah Corley e-MFP Cerise+SPTF ADA asbl Farida Matta Leilah Elmokadem Maida Zafar Chris Czerwonka Antonia Bassène Barney de Jongh Photos by Eric Devillet

👏 Nuestro socio REDCAMIF RED DE MICROFINANZAS ha organizado una #capacitación sobre la Evaluación y Gestión del Desempeño #Ambiental al Foro Regional - Evolución de las Finanzas Inclusivas hacia la #Sostenibilidad, en Punta Cana. Con el apoyo de FFRI-CAC Facility 👉 https://lnkd.in/ecxHZnyE Cara S. Forster - Aracely Castillo Gutierrez #REDCAMIF #InversióndeImpacto #enfoquedegénero #REDOMIF #EvoluciónFinanciera #finanzasinclusivas #MicrofinanzasInclusivas

🎓 ⏰ 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒! 3 new #elearning courses in #english, #french and #spanish are open for registration: 1️⃣ 𝐈𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝐭𝐡: Go Deeper on Social and Environmental Performance Management (Level 2) > https://lnkd.in/eqwrru6E 2️⃣ 𝐄𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜̧𝐚𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐮 𝟐𝟑 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐮 𝟐𝟒 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐞 : Se Former à la Protection des Clients (Niveau 2) > https://lnkd.in/eB9NNK3k 3️⃣ 𝐄𝐧 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐧̃𝐨𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝟕 𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥 𝟖 𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐞: Formarse en la Gestión del Desempeño Social y Ambiental (Nivel 2) > https://lnkd.in/eSjHhgJz ✔ 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟐 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞+𝐒𝐏𝐓𝐅! As a learner, you will join 9 weeks of instructor-led courses 👩🏫, 4 virtual classes 🖥, a forum 🎤 to share insights with your peers, and scored assignments 📝 to validate your progress. 🚀 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝? All you need to do is to sign up for free on our e-learning platform and 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝟏 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 (free, self-paced, 3 hours): https://lnkd.in/ezbH8VYK ❗ 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧! Classes will be full soon... #training #ResponsibleFinance #InclusiveFinance #ClientProtection

We have become a signatory of the Cerise+SPTF Client Protection Principles. This commitment underscores our dedication to promoting responsible and inclusive financial practices. The CERISE + SPTF Client Protection Pathway is an initiative that sets eight Client Protection Standards to ensure financial services are delivered safely, responsibly, and fairly. As a signatory, we encourage and support our investees to join the Pathway and pursue excellence in client protection. EDFI MC commits to implementing the Guidelines to Minimum Actions on Client Protection for our inclusive finance investments, and to reporting annually on our progress in this area. This aligns with our mission of ethical and sustainable investing for long-term success. https://lnkd.in/eBUkdwJ2

🙏 Celebrating Friday with gratitude! Our annual #membership program at Cerise+SPTF empowers organisations in the inclusive finance sector to actively support and engage with our mission. But, more than that, membership is the reason we exist. 💫 THANK YOU for making our work possible! Today, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to ALL our members, with a special shoutout to three new additions who've joined us in Q1 of 2024. 👋 A warm WELCOME to: Ekphatthana Deposit-Taking Microfinance Institution (EMI) SAFCO Microfinance Company Pvt. Ltd. - SMC Alma Capital Group 🚀 Today, Cerise+SPTF has 7,800 members from 2,700 organisations in 130 countries, representing every stakeholder group within the inclusive finance sector. 👀 Curious about our membership package? Check out this page https://lnkd.in/ejjWdy5C

🌱 We are launching a new tool to guide agribusinesses on how on how to put principles into practice in the drive to make agriculture and food systems more sustainable. The Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) Tool for Agribusiness will enable businesses to understand what responsible business practices look like, identify gaps, and prioritize improvements as they seek to align with international principles for responsible investment. 👉 Discover the RAI Tool for Agribusiness: https://lnkd.in/giWkWpVG This exciting new tool was developed by IISD, Cerise+SPTF, and partner organizations with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Hafiz Mirza | Marion ALLET

Cerise+SPTF's work in the Global South shows that social and environmental responsibility go hand in hand, with each one supporting the other. 🌐 This lesson, evident among those excluded from financial services in the Global South, is also crucial for a successful green transition in the Global North. #ResponsibleFinance 👇