Different stakeholders voiced their strong concerns during the three-day conference over latest trend of microfinance institutions drifting away from their objective of financially empowering the poor and resorting to unfair competition. [break]
"We request all microfinance institutions to adhere to socially accepted principles and protect the interest of customers by formulating a code of conduct," says a declaration issued on Saturday.
The summit also made commitment on roping in three million additional poor clients to the microfinance sector by 2015.
It also demanded a separate policy to guide the microfinance sector.
The summit, organized with a slogan ´Socially Responsible and Sustainable Microfinance´, was attended by over 800 participants, including policymakers, microfinance practitioners, promoters of microfinance institutions, students, microfinance experts and representatives of development agencies, NGOs and INGOs, among others.
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