9:40 am – 10:40 am Breakout Session 1

With the evolution of the microfinance industry, the use of sophisticated financial instruments has become more prolific. Asset backed securitizations and credit derivative transactions, once considered inappropriate for microfinance institutions, occur with greater frequency. Though the microfinance industry is far from being fully integrated into the global financial markets, progress is occurring rapidly. This panel will look at the growing utilization and innovative adaptations of financial instruments in the microfinance context and discuss the potential impact and challenges.

Panelists:
Patrick Ball, Developing World Markets
Julie Harris, Minlam Asset Management
Andre Laude, International Finance Corporation
Zac Pessin, Distributed Capital

Moderator:
Mitchell Peterson, Kellogg School of Management

As microfinance institutions evolve and become more market focused, service providers are developing better and more innovative solutions to meet client needs. This panel will discuss some of the most recent innovations including financial products, finance methodologies, healthcare and insurance products and other related innovations.

Panelists:
David Grace, World Council of Credit Unions
Yasmina McCarty, Women’s World Banking
Myka Reinsch, Freedom from Hunger
Lara Storm-Swire, Pro Mujer

Moderator:
Amitabh Saxena, ACCION-International

10:50 am – 11:50 am Breakout Session 2

Scaling microfinance to replicate successful strategies often means developing innovative solutions to meet significant distribution challenges. Creative channel strategies and the use of cutting-edge technology are frequently employed to launch the business forward. This panel will review some of the recent innovations and the challenges they address.

Panelists:
George Conard, Grameen Foundation
Jesse Fripp, ShoreBank International
Premal Shah, Kiva
Atsumasa Tochisako, Microfinance International Corporation

Moderator:
Luigi Zingales, Chicago GSB

With the influx of commercial capital into the microfinance industry, the push for accountability and development of financial performance measurements to evaluate and compare MFIs came to the forefront. Tracking social impact often fell to the wayside as the focus remained solely on achieving financial sustainability. However, a trend toward social performance measurement has been slowly emerging and is poised to take center stage. Socially-motivated donors and investors are eager to understand how their funding is having an impact. In addition, MFIs need tools to track whether or not they are achieving their stated social mission. This panel will discuss the arguments for implementing social performance metrics and the challenges surrounding design and execution.

Panelists:
Jonathan Morduch, NYU
Diana Rutherford, IRIS Center, UMD
Lisa Thomas, ShoreCap Exchange
Katie Torrington, FINCA

Moderator:
Tom Coleman, Microfinance Consulting

2:15 pm – 3:15 pm Breakout Session 3

Like the clients that they serve, one of the biggest challenges facing second tier MFIs today is limited access to attractive capital. Some argue that these high potential institutions are being ignored by donors and investors who feel first tier institutions promise higher returns. This panel will discuss challenges faced by second tier MFIs and potential solutions to the unbalanced capital distribution. 

Panelists:
Paul Christensen, ShoreCap International
Johanna Posada, Unitus
Loren Rodwin, Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Kyle Salyer, MicroCredit Enterprises

Moderator:
Bhakti Mirchandani, Lehman Brothers

Microfinance has achieved limited success in reaching the poorest of the poor. The unique challenges facing this segment of the population demand new, more innovative approaches. This panel will delve into the limits of the current outreach to the poorest, and how the industry is evolving to confront these issues head on.

Panelists:
Malika Anand, CGAP
Sangita Sigdyal, Microcredit Summit Campaign
John TenBrink, Opportunity International
William Toannon, World Relief

Moderator:
Marcos Rangel, Harris School of Public Policy

Financial services in the U.S. catering to low-to-moderate income communities has developed very differently compared to microfinance in the international markets. Community development finance has emerged in the form of several specialized financial institutions that cater to micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses and minorities, This panel will discuss the sub-sectors of the community development finance industry in the U.S. and the challenges that they face in improving the livelihoods of the unbanked and underbanked in the US.

Panelists:
Jonathan Brereton, ACCION Chicago
Calvin Holmes, Chicago Community Loan Fund
Saurabh Narain, National Community Investment Fund

Moderator:
Robert Spich, UCLA

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Plenary Panel

IPOs, downscaling of large commercial banks and increased mainstream interest in the microfinance industry have further triggered the classic debate in the industry on "profits vs the poor". This panel will discuss the merits and pitfalls of commercialization, from the perspective of diverse stakeholders and how commercialization could shape the future of microfinance. 

Panelists:
Julie Harris, Minlam Asset Management
Jonathan Morduch, NYU
Ben Moyer, Pro Mujer
Lynn Pikholz, ShoreCap Exchange
Luca Torre, Credit Suisse

Moderator:
Tom Coleman, Microfinance Consulting

Lunch and Learns

Coppel Store is a Mexican department store chain serving the low-income market, selling mostly through in-store credit.  This session will present a business case for Coppel and show the impact the company has had on the bottom of the pyramid financial services industry. The challenges of providing massive consumer and multi-use personal credit in the emerging market will be discussed. The session will also present the latest development of the “new store banks” that will come into operation this year in Mexico, which will mostly serve the bottom of the pyramid (currently underserved by established banks) and Coppel’s own bank initiative, Bancoppel.

Adrian Coppel is currently working on the development phase of credit and branch operations and policies for Bancoppel, a newly formed bank within Coppel. He is currently an MBA candidate at Kellogg School of Management.
                       

Correspondent banking, which has been under rapid growth in the recent years in Brazil, is related to the use of retail stores (drug stores, lottery shops, grocery stores, super markets, post offices, bakeries, gas stations, etc) as channel for banks, resulting in lower costs and greater diffusion for participating financial institutions. Although microcredit and correspondent banking were both created to supply financial services to lower income populations, they are not linked in practice. This talk intends to show a study that has investigated the potential of these kinds of correspondents as a delivery channel for microcredit. Qualitative interviews were conducted with several actors from both the microcredit and the correspondent banking contexts. The results suggest that adaptations to the actual dominant model of correspondent banking could bring opportunities to banks, microfinance organizations and the low-income population that is in need of credit in Brazil.

Eduardo Diniz, PhD, is a professor at FGV-EAESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Coordinator of the Technology and Automation Group of CEB (Center for Excellence in Banking) at FGV, and a visiting scholar at HEC Montreal in 2007.

With over $6 million in loans, and approximately 60,000 lenders, Kiva.org has paved the way for the average person to become a microfinance lender.  Who are these lenders and what motivates them?  How will individual lenders continue to play a role in the meteoric growth of the microfinance movement now that the door has been opened to them?  A team from UCLA Anderson conducted a research study for Kiva.org, focusing on both current and non-lenders.  The findings had interesting implications for Kiva as an organization, and revealed some the broader forces behind the individual lending movement -- forces that may shape the role of the individual lender in the microfinance industry as a whole.

Samantha Nobles-Block holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, and will begin as a consultant with FSG Social Impact Advisors in June.

Several innovative channels have been piloted very recently - and very forcefully - in the low-income client segment, both by financial and non-financial industry players.  Three in particular may dramatically alter the microfinance landscape: retail outlets, pre-paid cards, and mobile phones.  Led by ACCION International, this informative and interactive session will provide an overview of the above channels, consider trends in the microfinance sector, and discuss scenarios that may consequently emerge in the near future.   It will also delve deeper into the many non-technological aspects (strategic, marketing, regulatory, operational, investment, etc.) that must be considered when developing and implementing a multi-channel project.

Amitabh Saxena is a Director in the Marketing and Product Development Unit of ACCION International