COVID-19: How Is the Pandemic Affecting Your Work and the Clients You Serve?

Muktinath Bikas Bank Limited, during the period we had increase our effort towards digitization of our clients financial. In a period of 70 days more than 40,000 new mobile banking had added through personal consultation and training. With this our staff are in regular touch of clients through telephonic conversation and spreading the awareness regarding COVID-19 and its safety measures.
For ease of our clients we had introduced a new product specially focused towards minimizing effect of COVID-19 i.e. Muktinath Punarutthan Karja (Muktinath Resurgence Loan). The main feature of the loan is long period of repayment with no administrative charge and subsidized interest rate. In this the client can withdraw amount of up to as per the product addition to the limit they are enjoying.

The Covid 19 pandemic has made us to work in shifts so that we can not freely interact and spread the virus. Social distancing and wearing of masks is highly observed although some staff are unable to breath well while wearing the face masks. We are not allowing in customers from outside but we are serving them via online platform and phones.

It has forced me to work from home. I attend meetings through online. This is a new knowledge I have learnt.

Its a time befitting delivery addressing the pros & cons regarding challenges of low income people to continue their portfolio with the financial institutions. Its really beneficial to the stakeholders. Hope such the posts in near future.

What should be the way forward in a microfinance bank after the pandemic

Myanmar has recently ordered to close all business except food production, petroleum, pharmaceutical, private hospital, electricity, and banks....Country is being lockdown, all incoming and outgoing flights are stopped, passengers will placed in facility quarantine for 14-21 days, social distance is being implemented not to gather more than 5 peoples, and at least 3 feet away from each others.
Economy will be hard hit by the crisis as tourism is down, garment factories are closed due to lack of material supply, buyers stopped order, migrant workers are being sent back home, export business are closed.... Clients are facing with difficulty since there is no income generated due to businesses are closed. MFIs is ordered to halt all business operations including loan disbursement, repayment collection, saving collection, financial education, which will be badly impact on microfinance industry in term of liquidity, solvency as well as sharp increase of NPL, branch office is not allowed to assemble more than 5 staff. the country is being lockdown for one month and travel restriction imposed, these are major affect to MFIs business and economic as a whole.
Series of preventive measures have been introduced to staff to stay safe and heathy including temperature check every clock-in and clock out time for staff and customers, staff are split to take turn to rotate including work from home, arrange social distance at workstation as well as customers areas...keep tight monitoring on liquidity and financial covenant through discussion with existing and potential lenders, discuss with regulators on loan restructuring and provisioning....etc

When the coronavirus was first discovered, nobody expected it to blow up the way it did. In fact, the virus was not perceived as dangerous at all until it took lives in China and travelled to members of our country (Uganda) and community at large (World). The seemingly unpreventable spread of the virus can incite fear among individuals, instilling a sense of panic in our entire community.

Actions such as panic buying and hoarding reflect the fear we have that this epidemic will never end. Perpetrating this behavior confines valuable resources to our own homes, yet leaves those who may need it more defenseless and undersupplied. It’s reasonable to be more self-serving during these times, and it’s hard to share with others due to the fear of the virus. However, as a kind, caring, community, we should try to make an effort to think of others during this scary pandemic, not leave people without food supplies or things needed to shelter in place because they weren’t able to get to the supermarkets in time. Check out https://wdfug.org/

SIX "Rs" STRATEGIES FOR MFIs TO MANAGE THE
COVID-19 CHALLENGES.

Hei,
COVID-19 has impacted the Microfinance sector
drastically and its clients - mostly the poor
people, who are in the informal sector undergo
huge suffering. Each MFI is working out their
strategies to overcome the crisis.

I have come out with "Six Rs strategies" for MFIs
to manage the COVID-19 challenges.
1. Radiate Positivity
2. Reassure the continuity
3. Revise the plan
4. Reinvent the model
5. Relief to the clients
6. Reconstruct the livelihoods

I have also given Six suggestions to RBI on how
the Banks and Development Finance Institutions
should come forward to help the MFIs who have the
last-mile connectivity, so that people at the bottom
of the pyramid restart their livelihoods.

You can read the full article in my blog and you
can have a FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE ARTICLE AS A PDF
from this link

https://drnjeyaseelan.com/free-resources/

Wish you a Happy reading and Share this with your
friends in the Microfinance sector.

Let us fight together to overcome this black swan event
and protect the vulnerable people.

Stay safe and stay protected.

Regards
Jey

Dr.N.Jeyaseelan,
Dedicated to the Purpose of transforming 1 million people to harness their full potential by 2025.

CEO, Virutcham Academy for Social Changemakers LLP,
Mahindra World City, Chennai. 603 004.

www.drnjeyaseelan.com

Thanks to FinDev Gateway for starting this conversation. Very helpful to hear what others are seeing/doing. Like many of you, we are deeply concerned about the impact on low income households and MSMEs, who rely on a range of channels to access financial services – banks, mobile money providers, microfinance institutions, fintechs, savings groups, to name a few.
To understand the impact on these households, we want to understand what is happening across the full spectrum of provider types. MIX would like to contribute to developing a complete picture of how providers that serve low income households are being affected. Complementing the efforts underway to understand impact on MFIs, MIX’s current focus is on understanding impact on new tech-led channels such as fintechs and DFS providers. We have started surveying fintechs and DFS providers globally to understand how they are faring, what adaptations they are making in their business, and what they most need right now. In parallel, we are securing input from investors in these companies to understand their response. We look forward to sharing the resulting learnings and insights in the coming weeks.
We welcome the opportunity to bring this data together with data on other provider types and contribute to a broader understanding of how financial service providers who serve the poor are being impacted.

MFIs face a dual challenge in the COVID-19 pandemic; diminishing loan payments, savings deposits, and income (less cash coming in) while continuing to support clients with loan disbursements, savings withdrawals, and paying employees and suppliers (more cash going out). These strains on operations can be modeled relatively quickly using Microfin.
For those who would like to read about how to approach Microfin inputs for various implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have created a 10 page document with screen shots from Microfin located here:
http://microfin.mfiresources.org/files/Adjusting_Microfin_for_the_cashf…
In addition, I would like to offer MFIs the following support:
Normally, my remote training on Microfin costs USD 100 per hour. However until 10 April 2020, I’m suspending that charge. Anyone can contact me by e-mail (hbrady@mfiresources.org) and indicate their country and the time they would like to meet and I’ll be at my computer ready to assist. Even if the meeting time corresponds to an hour when I’m normally sleeping. We can share screens and talk and see each other through the “Zoom” meeting platform. I only ask that you give me 24 hours notice before your selected meeting time.
Starting April 13 until regular, in-person courses can be facilitiated, I will offer reduced price virtual training to anyone who needs it. The same rules apply as above, 24 hours notice by e-mail. The reduced price is USD 75 per hour. This is best for current Microfin users who would like specific assistance on issues they are facing. There will be no pre-set agenda, you will need to bring your own questions or issues.
For new or less experienced Microfin users, I will offer the Standard Web Course (delivered live) for the reduced price of USD 600 22-26 June 2020. This is 10 hours of training over five days in two hour blocks. I would be happy to schedule a specific course before then at the time you specify. Contact me and we will arrange a time for that training.

An update on the steps that BRAC has taken to date: https://www.souloffinance.com/news/a-trusted-source-of-life-saving-info…

In Zimbabwe, while the public appears to not take the pandemic seriously (because of ignorance), its a matter of time before the government initiates a proper lockdown. At the moment informal economic activities are visibly still taking place as evidenced by crowds of people in the usual trading places and I dread to say that a few more weeks from now, the death toll from this irresponsible behavior may be unimaginable. The call by government for people to stay home is not being heeded and this is because the economy is highly informal with a significant portion of the populace living from hand to mouth. The Zim-SA border closes for human traffic in about 10 hours, after this, reality will dawn on the masses. For financial inclusion service providers, we expect a lot of problems going forward:
Default will spike, the mandatory lockdowns mean micro-entrepreneurs will be unable to conduct their day to day trading, this will genuinely reduce household surpluses and as such ability to service loan facilities. The pandemic comes with an associated economic burden as households will groan under the burden of supporting the affected and infected. For the not so honest customers, the pandemic will be an excuse to not honor financial obligations. Loan portfolios will suffer, Loan Officers will be unable to track payments adequately as they will have to work from home or with minimal mobility. In any case, quasi-displacements will occur, remittances will thin as the pandemic is global and is having a more significant impact on the West from whence remittances ordinarily originate. Most FSPs have weak balance sheets that were already reeling from the onslaught from inflation, the same balance sheets are now expected to absorb the losses from heightened loan poor performance, wage bills for minimally productive employees, additional costs of managing the pandemic i.e sanitizers and PPE. Post Covid-19, a number of FSPs will not exist for long especially since new capital has been rarely visiting this market. Lets not forget that the pandemic will not spare critical talent, some of the development finance practitioners viewing or writing this comment will not be around to see the end of this "invisible enemy". In short, for us in Zimbabwe, this could really finish-off an already ailing economy and it sure breaks my heart to say this. We had pre-existing adverse economic conditions and we are likely to be swept away.

DSK Rao and I have been tracking the response of microfinance providers and the promoters of self-help groups and savings groups through a survey.

I've been posting the results and interviews with leaders in the financial inclusion community on my website: www.souloffinance.com.

Many of those who have responded are talking about a liquidity crunch. Clients have stopped paying back loans and are withdrawing savings. Clients need more support during this time. CGAP and the World Bank can play an important role in organizing financing facilities to help financial service providers weather this storm.

As the impact of the coronavirus grows daily, we at Amarante Consulting are fully committed to doing our utmost to minimize any disruption and continue to deliver on commitments to our clients. To this effect, we are putting in place a few key actions:

We are placing a greater reliance on virtual spaces where people come together. We have invested in tools to facilitate virtual collaboration among our teams and manage virtual communication channels both internally and with our clients. This includes building the capacity of our consultants to enable them to facilitate virtual meetings while employing strong project management framework adapted for remote functioning. This is where technology meets soft skills and rigorous organization!

We continue to work with our network of partners and consultants both in-country and across borders to support our clients and take action locally. To ensure maximum effectiveness, we are focusing on customizing our services and support to best suit our client’s needs in these atypical times.

While we reinforce our remote & in-country support, we are very aware of the support that small business and under-served people would need in this time and the potential impact on local economies. For this reason, we have come together with like-minded impact driven companies to pool in our cross-sector expertise, and create a think-tank to respond with solutions for immediate needs and business continuity. Among our thought leaders and key experts we cover thematics related to MSMEs, gender lens, digital innovation, finance and youth and entrepreneurship.

In these unprecedented times, we turn to collective responsibility and commitment for rapid and sustained response. On our modest scale, we want to make our contribution to ensure support to our partners, clients and communities.

I work for an organization in Uganda that has interventions in Kasese district with communities that have Village Savings groups. Uganda as of 24th March 2020 had 9 cases confirmed of Coronavirus and government's response has since involved among others stopping any form of group meetings of people more that 10 as a way to reduce the infections. You will know well how the VSLA model works in the communities where we are encouraging access to finance among some of the remote places of Rwenzori hilly region. With savings groups of a membership of between 20-30 will greatly affect weekly member meetings and hence will affect group cohesion and finance mobilization among them, the way forward seems to be in the area of introducing a platform for digital finance systems, any suggestions on how to introduce digital finance in the remote mountainous places of Kasese region will be highly appreciated.

CARE has just released new guidelines for savings groups and COVID 19. They focus on how to protect savings group members and their health, and how to put groups at the center of planning their own contingency responses: https://www.care.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/care_covid-19_savings_g…

Like any responsible company, Développement international Desjardins (DID) takes the current situation surrounding Covid-19 very seriously. We have taken several measures to ensure the continuation of our activities while protecting our teams, our partners and the community in general: cancelled trips, virtual meetings and teleworking are now part of our reality.

The current global crisis has made us aware of the importance of adequate access to financial services. Savings, credit, insurance and money transfers are all tools that can help us deal with the many impacts that such a crisis can have.
DID is therefore committed to deploying all the necessary means to ensure the continuation of the projects it carries out in support of the financial inclusion of disadvantaged populations. We also salute the work of all the financial institutions that contribute, through their efforts and openness, to improving access for all to financial services.

In Canada, Desjardins Group is doing its part in a concrete way to help its members and clients better cope with the crisis by offering relief measures to people who are struggling to meet their financial obligations, by prioritizing telephone and mobile services to limit physical interactions, by increasing the contactless payment limit for credit cards, and by regularly sharing practical advice.

We firmly believe that it is by showing solidarity and responsibility that we will succeed, collectively, in getting through this unprecedented crisis.

I am the CEO of a fintech startup that is providing financial inclusion to low-income via our app that can outreach users easily, evaluate the risk (with a behavioral credit analysis), KYC, and speed the loan process to who needs it the most at a fraction of the cost that a MFI would incur. Most of our users are informal entrepreneurs. Their work is directly affected by Corona virus as lockdown blocks them from being out, offering their services. Working from home is not an option. Besides it, they don't have the technological know-how or hardware to put their work online.

The financial institution that we serve is afraid that default rates are going to increase - they are not wrong. However, I think this more than never is the time that the low income will need support and trust from financial services. If the rich suffers from a financial crisis, imagine the poor. The difference I see is that the poor has already faced many challenges in life, and there will always be a way out - they just need a hand.

Defaults will increase, that is a fact, but I am thinking of ways to control it. More time to start payment? no fees or interest on delayed payment? I agree with Helmut's comment up here, that would be nice to have some sharing info from older organizations that have been through financial crisis.

At CARE, we've found a few key components are really critical for this kind of response: focusing on gender equality, building community alert systems, having good context analysis that we update frequently, and thinking about how the whole portfolio of programming can work together.

As a network of 20 microfinance institutions and banks spread across five continents, FINCA impact Finance is taking a proactive approach to the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 virus. This starts with prioritizing the health and wellbeing of our customers and staff while continuing to deliver on our mission.

Although the impact of the virus has varied within the markets we serve, we remain keenly aware of the hardships this pandemic is causing to our most vulnerable customers and staff members.

In order to to lessen unnecessary travel and exposure to the virus, we are strongly encouraging all customers to use branchless channels for transactions and communications (for more info, see link: http://bit.ly/35EFScP). These include social media, WhatsApp, website chats, call centers, cash-in/cash-out machines, as well as digital banking channels such as agency, mobile and internet banking. For customers whose only option is to visit a branch office, we are adhering to internationally observed health guidelines and protocol to safeguard our customers’ health.

To safeguard the health of our employees, we have requested that staff throughout our network work remotely where possible. We have also instituted a ban on all international travel and made an e-learning course available to everyone that provides critical information about COVID-19.

Because of the unpredictable nature of this crisis, FINCA Impact Finance will remain vigilant in prioritizing the health and wellbeing of its staff and customers and will continue to be flexible in its response to this ongoing global health crisis.

It is very likely that many MFIs will soon face a loan delinquency crisis. But maybe we can learn from the past how to cope with such a crisis. Grameen Bank, for instance, experienced a very difficult time after the 1998 flood in Bangladesh but eventually came out stronger than before. I only know about this from literature but perhaps there is someone out there who has first hand experiences and can share with all of us. - I work as consultant and trainer in the MF industry and try to use this crisis as an opportunity to shift to more home office and virtual work (which will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions).

Marion is my name from FRIENDS Consult Ltd in Uganda, a business and management consulting firm with 90% operations in the financial sector. Much as our country (Uganda) has not yet reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19, H.E the president in his state of the nation address on Wednesday 18th March directed the closure of all schools (from pre-primary to university and tertiary level), churches, mosques and banned all gatherings of more than 10 people for a period of 30 days starting on 20th March. The Ministry of Health has also set up and is circulating a tollfree line for anyone that presents with the symptoms of coronavirus to call for help. Public transporters have also taken the initiative to provide hand washing facilities and sanitizers at their stations to try and help keep the virus away.

The effects of this pandemic are already being felt in the business community and the entire economy. With the boarders closed in the neighboring countries, some businesses have had to be suspended. Some projects have been put on hold for example research projects targeting schools. People have been advised to avoid places that are usually crowded for example banks and other financial institutions. The good this is that with digital financial services, people can still access the much needed financial services without necessarily walking into the banking hall.

In Kenya the situation is fast becoming critical. As an independent consultant I have already lost income from international jobs that required travel but were cancelled. Local businesses are tightening ship for an unexpected recession- advisory services are not a priority. I am looking for online work in translation/ editing services For the low income markets we serve, there is growing unease as a 'lock down' becomes imminent, meaning micro businesses that are sustained by daily cash flows will close. Medium and large businesses are already sending workers home on unpaid leave. We are already seeing increed petty crimes at the local level. As at now there are no national plans to subsidise incomes or health care- though testing and treatment of the Covid 19 are free at government centres. There is a general low grade panic growing. This is affecting us greatly, and can only get worse, unless.

While there are no confirmed Covid19 cases within Haiti’s borders as of March 16, the government is taking measures to ensure the population is safe. They have canceled flights from "red zones" and require all US travelers to present documentation that shows they have tested negative for coronavirus before boarding flights into Haiti. The Fonkoze staff in Haiti are taking extreme care as they continue to deliver services to clients and have rolled out plans for training of proper sanitation practices. In the US, Fonkoze is committed to slowing the spread of the disease by eliminating travel and making it easy for our employees to practice social distancing and care for their families by encouraging staff to work remotely.

We relaunched a Projet started some time ago: COLLOQUIUM WITH DECISION MAKERS https://lnkd.in/gpPvnes, which is neither training nor course of lessons, but a Colloquium on strategic issues with micro finance top Executives in their own hub; so doing to avoid coming to Rome or London.

Currently, Corona Virus forcing to stay at home, we relaunch our Project “Online Financial Advice”: Upon request, Executives, Responsible Managers for MFI, Micro Finance Banks, Retail Banks, People Banks, Rural Banks, and related Associations, struggling with market & management challenges may contact us (ascaniograziosi@gmail.com) on matters arising: they will receive a Document and the Budget.

Zambia just confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19 (18 March 2020). But even before then government already directed schools, colleges, varsities to close on 20th March 2020. Large gatherings are not allowed, not even at banks. Obviously, safety of citizens is being prioritised, which is good, but people will still need financial services for their day to day lives. It is good to note that people are being encouraged to use digital financial services to avoid handling of cash, a potential transmitter of the disease. Financial literacy week activities scheduled for 23-26 March 2020 have been postponed but also there are efforts to use digital platforms to disseminate messages in the meantime. During this period economic activity will likely decline especially going by what we have seen in China and elsewhere. For smaller economies like Zambia's already grappling with a high public debt, COVID-19 may just add to the challenges facing us.

Nepal has recently closed all schools, collages, universities, cinema halls, health clubs, and restricted mass gathering and advise to main social distance. The government has band tourist.
This pandemic could effect our economy including our MF clients because of slow down the entire business activities. We have been focusing on individual safety by providing information on safety to clients. This time we are expecting medical support such as mask and sanitizers from donors to safe our entire nation including our clients.

As freelance consultant in short term assignments, in Corona time everybody is focussed on Corona, all our travel and assignments are postponed or cancelled and as a consequence, we fall back into a position without any income. So hopefully this situation doesn't last too long, although I have the fear that Corona might be followed with worldwide economic recession, leaving less ressources available to attribute tasks to freelance daylabourers.