Ladies and Gentlemen, Looking back through history, one of the best-known microfinance success stories is perhaps the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Its success may be expressed in terms of its staying power and that it has offered to help disadvantaged groups to enable them meet basic needs. This has been attributed mainly to its concentration on lending to women groups. Around the world, various Grameen models have been replicated, especially in South America. Within Africa, microfinance organizations have emerged in Bukina Fasso, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya,  BIS Review 22/2003  1  Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, to mention a few. However, what appears to be the common factor in all these areas is the lack of adequate supervision for the sector. In the Zambian case, the principal financial legislation, the Banking and Financial Services Act of 1994 (BFSA) did not provide for the regulation and supervision of microfinance organizations until the 2000 amendment. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen, In most developing and transitional countries, microfinance institutions are using field-based “best practices” that have emerged from many years of world-wide experience in providing credit and savings to lower-income groups. However, best practices alone cannot guarantee the success of microfinance programmes in the absence of an appropriate legal and regulatory framework. Practioners and policy makers worldwide now realize that without appropriate regulatory and supervisory framework, support from commercial banks and appropriate infrastructure, most microfinance services will continue to be donor-dependant and will remain limited in outreach.

I have noted from the programme, with excitement, that in addition to the presentation on the Process of Product Development by Microsave, there will be several presentations on the experiences of different institutions from various countries. In this regard, it is our sincere hope that these experiences will not only provide a rich learning ground to upcoming microfinance institutions to enable them establish themselves in the market, but also that these experiences will enable established microfinance institutions to consolidate their positions in the market. Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, As you may all be aware the microfinance industry has emerged to meet the financial needs of people who have had limited or no access to the traditional sources of credit and other financial services. Lack of credit facilities, rural and agricultural finance is one of the major contributing factors to the poverty of this rather large segment of our populations. Microfinance institutions are and can be efficient and effective channels for mobilizing savings, credit, in-country remittances, and insurance services to lower-income people, particularly in those areas where traditional financial services are hardly there or do not exist. Microfinance is also increasingly being seen as an effective tool for poverty reduction. Moreover, when microfinance is provided in an environment where there are sufficient alternatives for diversified household income generation, and where access to information, appropriate physical infrastructure, and integrity in loan repayments are present, can be and it is a key success factor in reducing poverty.