The Microcredit Regulatory Authority will develop a national database of the microfinance institutions as the information related to the sector is kept in a scattered manner, said MRA officials.
The MRA recently called interested firms to apply for setting up a system for the national microfinance database to monitor and facilitate the entire microfinance institutions including Grameen Bank.
‘The national database of the microfinance sector is very much needed as the information about the sector is very scattered,’ MRA director Abu Farah Md Nasser told New Age.
He said that alongside the MFIs several other institutions were operating in the microfinance sector.
‘Banks also do microfinance activities and so the government which are not under MRA supervision and we don’t have their information completely. So, to bring the entire sector under a uniformed reporting and monitoring we have decided to set up the database,’ he said.
He said Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology is helping the MRA in the project.
‘The new database will not only facilitate the retail users but also the government to come up with better policy decision about the industry,’ he added.
According to the expression of interest of the MRA, the new database will be run under a web-based application where data providers and users will be allowed to use the system online.
It will include information of name, address, registration authority, human resources and assets of all MFIs.
A licensing module will be launched under the database which will run operations like inviting application, rejection, suspension, cancellation, renewal and payment for the MFIs.
The users will be able to know about the loan and savings processing data of different MFIs separately.
The MFIs will have to submit their regular reports and users also will be able to send queries through the new system.
The EoI also said the applicant must have minimum 5 years of experience in software development, deployment and maintenance services including experience in completion of minimum three projects of similar nature in government, semi government, autonomous, or statutory bodies.
The project will start from October 2013 at MRA office and will continue up to December 2014, said the EoI.
-With New Age input
