KINGSTON, Jamaica — Burning issues affecting the microfinancing sector are listed for discussion at the annual conference of the Jamaica Microfinancing Association (JaMFA) planned for Wednesday at the Jamaica Conference in downtown Kingston.

Among the issues, says JaMFA’s executive director Raymond Gabbidon, are the long-delayed Microcredit Act and the threat to the sector from bankers’ fear of non-regulated operations.

The previous Administration promised the Bill on several occasions during its tenure, but failed to deliver. So too has the current leadership, as Finance Minister Audley Shaw has so far not kept his promise to have the Bill tabled in 2017.

However, Gabiddon admitted that some progress was made this year, as a third draft has been prepared and was circulated to the various microfancing associations.

“We have circulated the information to our members, and we intend to discuss the various responses, as well as hear what the government and the opposition have to say about it and the correspondent banking issues,” he told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Gabbidon says that at least one major local bank has already discontinued servicing some microfinance companies which, they claim, are correspondent banking risks.

Among the speakers scheduled for Wednesday’s meeting are: Sandra McDonald Spence, chairman of JaMFA and McKyala Financial Services Limited; Paul Chin, DBJ’s general manager for microfinance services; Terrence Cooper of CRIF; Dr Delroy Beckford of the Fair Trading Commission; and Dr Sharon Smith of The University of the West Indies’ Business Incubator.

Balford Henry