WELCOME TO
THE CENTRE FOR INCLUSIVE BANKING
IN AFRICA
Access to and use of formal financial services by low-income and poor people is a formidable development challenge. It is estimated that more than 80% of the people of Africa have no access to formal financial services. Research shows the positive effect of access and use of formal financial services on economic growth and poverty alleviation.
These financial services involve much more than just providing microcredit. The fact is that poor people prefer access to transaction and savings services before turning to credit. It is now generally accepted that it is possible to provide viable formal financial services to the poor and there are many examples of success, but also of failure.
The low access challenge is a function of many aspects, but largely boils down to issues to do with the cost-to-clients to interact with formal financial institutions and the cost-to-serve poor clients incurred by the formal financial institutions.
The objective of the Centre for Inclusive Banking in Africa (CIBA) is to improve financial inclusion through affordable access to a range of responsible financial services for poor and low-income people, provided by viable and sustainable financial institutions that will contribute to economic development and poverty alleviation in Africa. In short, as reflected by our tagline:
INCLUSIVE FINANCE AGAINST POVERTY
News
TuksGolf Training Centre officially opened at the University of Pretoria - 17/05/2013
The University of Pretoria prides itself on its publicly recognised achievements pertaining to its various sporting fraternities. These achievements can be attributed to the University’s sporting facilities, which are of the highest quality among South African universities. To add to its quality achievements, the University of Pretoria, through TuksSport and the High Performance Centre (hpc), has now officially opened a golf training centre.
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South African law professor to report to the United Nations on Lethal Robots - 16/05/2013
South African human rights law professor, Christof Heyns, will submit a widely anticipated report on Lethal Autonomous Robots (LARs) to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on 29 May 2013.
Prof Heyns, from the University of Pretoria (UP), was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions in 2010. During last year, he conducted worldwide research on the question whether states should be allowed to use LARs - weapons that, once deployed, can use lethal force without further human intervention - during war, or peace.
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A continental Leadership Transformation Programme established - 15/05/2013
The African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (ALCRL) recently co-hosted a roundtable aimed at establishing a continental leadership transformation programme.
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