News

Yunus Centre Press Release (08 July, 2019)

New Law Needed to create Bank for the Poor  — He Argued in the Congress.

St. Petersburg, July 5

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus visited Russia recently at the invitation of the Governor of the Central Bank of Russia to be a keynote speaker at the International Finance Conference held in the historical city of St. Petersburg. Prior to the Conference Professor Yunus invited to tape two  dialogues, one between him and the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, the Central bank of Russia, Dr. Ksenia Yudaeva, another one between  him and Former Deputy Minister of Finance and now adviser to the Chairman of Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Mr. Alexey Savatyugin. The conversations were recorded as part of a new educational project of the Bank of Russia that would be used for the staff training of the Central Bank and briefing materials for top policy makers of the Central Bank. The conversation focused on Yunus’s view on creating specialised banks for the poor, future of microfinance, turning unemployed young people into entrepreneurs and role of finance in doing so.

On the 4th of July, Prof. Yunus gave his keynote speech, for which he was invited by the Central Bank of Russia to be at their global conference, International Financial Congress (IFC 2019) on the 4th of July 2019. The event was attended by governors and high ranking officials from twenty five countries.

Professor  Yunus was invited to join a panel discussion on “Funding Entrepreneurship – A National Priority” the mechanisms for development of funding SMEs. Other speakers in the panel were Mikhail Mamuta, Head, Service for Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion of the Central  Bank of Russia, Dmitry Golovanov, Chairman of the Board, SME Bank; Alexander Kalinin, President, OPORA RUSSIA, which is All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses; Gennady Margolit, Executive Director, Moscow Stock Exchange; Vadim Zhivulin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and Elena Dybova, Vice President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. The panel reviewed the National Project ‘Small and Medium-Sized Businesses and Support for Individual Entrepreneurship’, and the Bank of Russia’s (Central Bank) Roadmap for the development of funding small and medium-sized businesses. Special attention was given to the interconnection between activities that could lead to an increase in the financing of SME and how to support young entrepreneurs at the earlier stages of their business growth with globally benchmarked support tools that could be used in the context of Russia. Professor Yunus elaborated his campaign for young  people to make them believe that “We are not job-seekers, we are job creators, we are entrepreneurs”. He detailed out his experiences of his Nobin Programme  in Bangladesh by creating a Social Business Venture Capital Fund” for providing  equity to young unemployed to become entrepreneurs.

In another session called “The Socialization of Microfinance Organizations: Transforming Business Models through Regulatory Action”, participants talked about legislative changes that have come into effect since January 2019 and how it had an impact on the microfinance market as a whole and on the work of its individual participants.

Notable speakers at the event besides Professor Yunus were Vladimir Chistyukhin, Deputy Governor, Bank of Russia, Andrey Kleymenov, CEO, EQVANTA; Evgeniya Lazareva, Project Manager, All-Russian People’s Front ‘For Borrowers’ Rights’; Alexei Savatyugin, Assistant Chairman, Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation; Nikolay Zhuravlev, Member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Chair, Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets. The moderator discussed how can MFIs better cope with increased regulations and deliver a better service while maintaining a strong adherence to social components.

Professor Yunus pointed out that microfinance should not  include payday lenders and consumer-financing. He emphasized that microfinance is non-collateralised income-generating loans for bottom-most people, particularly women, with non-exploitative interest rates, particularly operated by social businesses, and   delivered at door step. Consumer loans are not part of microfinance. There should be separate social business specialised banks for the poor under new law.

A special edition of Prof. Yunus’s book “A World of Three Zeros” Three Zero book was given as a gift to all delegates from 25 countries in their conference bags. This special edition of the book was jointly sponsored by Microfinance Association of Russia, and Our Future Foundation.

Prof. Yunus was invited by Former Deputy Speaker of Russian parliament Mikhail Nikolaev to hold a Regional social business forum in Irkutsk, in East Siberia, which is known as the "neglected region" of Russia. This Forum, he suggested will invite delegates from Japan, China and Asean countries. Former deputy speaker Mikhail Nikolaev, who is a native of the region, assured that he will make all organizational preparations only if Professor Yunus agrees to be Chief Guest of the Forum. Professor agreed to work out a mutually convenient date on which this Forum can be held.

Caption for Photo: Professor Muhammad Yunus joined a panel discussion on “Funding Entrepreneurship – A National Priority” the mechanisms for development of funding SMEs at International Financial Congress (IFC 2019) on the 4th of July 2019 . Other speakers in the panel were Mikhail Mamuta, Head, Service for Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion of the Central  Bank of Russia, Dmitry Golovanov, Chairman of the Board, SME Bank; Alexander Kalinin, President, OPORA RUSSIA, which is All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses; Gennady Margolit, Executive Director, Moscow Stock Exchange; Vadim Zhivulin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and Elena Dybova, Vice President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. Professor Yunus gave his keynote speech at this event too.

End