Dear RFILC members,

We have come to the end of a very productive year and we would like to thank you for following and supporting the RFILC during this evolution period. We hope you enjoy our new monthly Rural Finance and Investment Insights. We would be also pleased to receive your suggestions and comments at the RFILC email address info@ruralfinanceandinvestment.org.

This month, we are delighted to present the GIZ discussion paper on “Responsible Mobile Insurance” which assesses new initiative in the field of mobile insurance through the lens of responsible finance to determine the risk and potential responsible practices. Responsible finance has recently developed as a coordinated approach aimed at driving responsible practices in financial inclusion based on public and private sector interventions that encourage and assist financial services providers and their clients in improving their understanding and practices to create more transparent, inclusive, and equitable financial markets balanced in favour of all income groups. Mobile insurance has huge potential due to the high mobile penetration and the growing mobile money industry and is driven by a number of factors and stakeholders.

Besides, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) working paper titled “An Overview of Islamic Finance” tends to provide an overview of key policy issues and challenges facing practitioners and policy makers. It provides an overview of Islamic finance, discusses key macroeconomic implications from its expansion across the globe, and gives a broad perspective on key elements of Islamic finance and banking. Instead of exploring deeply a few controversial issues or introducing new solutions to current challenges in Islamic finance, it tries to provide a general overview of the Islamic finance industry which, as a relatively new branch of finance, is often difficult to understand and prone to being misunderstood.

Finally, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management has designed an exclusive international e-learning programmes tailored to insurance, microfinance, bank practitioners, mid-level managers and loan officers world-wide. The 6-month certification part time online courses on Microfinance and Microinsurance, SME Finance, Risk Management and Climate and Renewable Energy Finance deliver contents that help participants to immediately improve their daily job performance as well as the performance of their institution. For more information and early bird discount, click here.

Wishing you all the warmth and happiness that this beautiful holiday season always brings.

With best regards,

The RFILC editorial team