IslamicFinance.de

At the 7th Global Islamic Microfinance Summit, FINTQ Managing Director Lito Villanueva noted that there is a need to push for an enabling framework for Islamic microfinance in the Philippines. In the Philippines around 5.6% of the population are practicing Islam, with a geographic concentration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Villanueva says despite its resource-rich landscape, ARMM remains largely underdeveloped with less than 70% of the adult population either unbanked or underserved. There are only 20 banks and 28 ATMs servicing almost 4 million ARMM residents. Not a single bank there is Shari'ah compliant. For its part FINTQ launched a national initiative called KasamaKA, which provides greater access to financial services, such as micro savings via agent banking, lending, micro insurance, remittances, micro investments and payments to every Filipino via a bottom-up approach.