Kashf Foundation | MFIs in Pakistan

Data provided through PMN

Gross Loan Portfolio USD, 2011: 31.2 million

Number of active borrowers 2011: 286,443

Average loan balance per borrower USD, 2011: 109.0

Deposits USD, 2011: 56,322.4

Assets USD, 2011: 40.6 million

Number of depositors 2011: 80,067

Mission:

Kashf's mission is to alleviate poverty by providing quality and cost effective microfinance services to low income households, especially women, in order to enhance their economic role and decision-making capacity.

Background and Main Challenges:

Kashf Foundation was set up as the first specialized microfinance institution in Pakistan in 1996, since then Kashf has cumulatively disbursed over 2 million loans. Kashf has remained on the cutting edge of innovation and adapting to client needs and demands. Kashf currently offers a suite of ... Read more

Address:

19 Aibak Block New Garden Town

Lahore

Punjab

54700

Pakistan

Phone:

+92 42 111 981 981

Fax:

92 42 5847816

Email:

info [at] kashf [dot] org

Website:

www.kashf.org

Main Funding Sources:

Loans

Products and Services:

Loans

Training and Consulting

Services Provided:

Full-scale Financial Services

Business Development Services

Other

Looking for (Investment Types):

Loans in Local Currency

Loans in USD

Donations

Guarantees

Capacity Building Grants

Loans in EUR

% Operations Comprised by MF:

91 - 100

Date established:

Jun 2 1996

FYE:

30-Jun

Current Legal Status:

NGO

Regulated:

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
Women	1
Clients living in urban areas	2
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
Increased access to financial services	1
Poverty reduction	2
Gender equality and women's empowerment	3
Employment generation	4
+ Poverty targets
Low income clients	1
+ Governance
+ Range of products and services
+ Financial products and services offered
+ Credit products offered
Microcredit loans for microenterprises	1
+ Savings products offered
+ Compulsory insurance products required
Compulsory credit life insurance	1
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
+ Other financial products and services offered
Retail Agent Led Branchless Banking Services
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
Business development services	1
+ Education services offered
Financial literacy education	1
+ Health services offered
+ Women's empowerment services offered
Women's rights education/gender issues training	1
Other women's empowerment services offered:	1
Int ps nonfinsvcwomenempothertext c	Gender Trainings with Men and Adolescent boys from the communities of operations
+ Products and services targeting the poor
+ Social responsibility to clients
+ Client protection principles in use
The loan approval process requires evaluation of borrower repayment capacity and loan affordability. Loan approval does not rely solely on guarantees (whether peer guarantees, co-signers or collateral) as a substitute for good capacity analysis.
Internal audits check household debt exposure, lending practices that violate procedures including unauthorized re-financing, multiple borrowers or co-signers per household, and other practices that could increase indebtedness.
Productivity targets and incentive systems value portfolio quality at least as highly as other factors, such as disbursement or customer growth. Growth is rewarded only if portfolio quality is high.
Prices, terms and conditions of all financial products are fully disclosed to the customer prior to sale, including interest charges, insurance premiums, minimum balances, all fees, penalties, linked products, third party fees, and whether these can change over time.
Staff is trained to communicate effectively with all customers, ensuring that they understand the product, the terms of the contract, their rights and obligations. Communications techniques address literacy limitations (e.g. reading contracts out loud, materials in local languages).
Acceptable and unacceptable debt collection practices are clearly spelled out in a code of ethics, book of staff rules or debt collection manual.
The organization's corporate culture values and rewards high standards of ethical behavior and customer service.
A mechanism to handle customer complaints is in place, has dedicated staff resources, and is actively used. (Suggestion boxes alone are generally not considered adequate.)
Customers know how their information will be used. Staff explains how data will be used and seeks permission for use.
+ Cost of services to clients
Flat interest method
+ Social responsibility to staff
+ Human resources
Transparency on salary (a clear salary scale based upon market salaries)
Benefits (medical insurance, pension contribution)
Protection at work (safety, anti-harassment)
Equality (anti-discrimination, equal pay for men and women with equivalent skill levels)
+ Basis of staff incentives related to social performance
Portfolio quality
Number of clients
+ Social responsibility to the environment
This institution identifies enterprises with environmental risk
+ Poverty measurement tools in use
Income based criteria