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| Muhammad Yunus/ Flickr CC |
The Bangladeshi
government put together a panel last year to evaluate the state of Grameen Bank, one of the first global microfinance institutions started by Nobel Prizewinner Muhammad Yunus. Yunus has been
a target of the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, since
expressing interest in political office in 2007. The panel has officially recommended forcibly
breaking the bank down into 19 different institutions. It also recommended to replace the bank’s
board of directors with members of the government.
Many prominent
leaders are against government intervention in the bank, and two open letters
were published in the media this week, urging Prime Minister Hasina not to
implement the panel’s recommendations.
The first letter was signed by forty prominent world and business
leaders, including billionaire and philanthropist Richard Branson. It was also signed by former Federal Reserve
Chairman Paul Volker, former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, Madeline Albright,
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, and Kerry Kennedy, who runs the Robert F. Kennedy Center
for Justice and Human Rights. Another
letter, signed by 32 female members of the United Stated Congress, highlights
that such a move by the Bangladeshi government would undermine all the women borrowers of the Grameen Bank.
So far the
Bangladeshi government is not commenting on the letters. It has also not announced a decision about
Grameen Bank. It is unclear what Hasina
will do next.
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| Sheikh Hasina Wajed / Flickr CC |
Grameen Bank was
founded by Muhammad Yunus in 1976. Yunus
is a native of Bangladesh and The bank specializes in
giving small loans to the very poor in order to help them improve their quality
of life. Over ninety percent of loan
recipients are women, and the bank boasts a 97% return rate.
was a professor of economics before creating
Grameen and subsequently making the practice of microfinance internationally
recognized.
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