Yunus Spells Out Lessons For Bankers

Star Business Desk (The Daily Star)



Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus (C) speaks as Steve Gunderson (L), president and CEO, Council on Foundations and Rick Warren (R), Pastor, Saddleback Church listen, at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York on Friday. Photo: AFP

Yunus put forward the lesson to world leaders as he spoke at former US President Bill Clinton's global summit in New York on Friday amid unfolding woes of Wall Street giants collapsing one after another.

The three-day summit came to a close on Friday with Clinton's appreciation of microfinance investors who helped ``real people'' make a ``real rate of return'' in poor nations.

It was suggested that the financial giants look to the world's humblest lenders.

"We have to get out of this mindset that the rich will do the business and the poor will have the charity," said Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, which provides small business loans to people who cannot get traditional loans.

The Clinton Global Initiative brought together global leaders to develop and then implement workable solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.

Yunus, the "banker to the poor," won the Nobel in 2006 for inspiring a global microfinance movement that has lifted millions out of poverty by granting tiny loans.

Unlike Wall Street, which is reeling from a flood of loans that may never be paid back, Grameen Bank has a recovery rate of more than 98 percent, according to media reports.

In his speech, Clinton cautioned against allowing the US financial crisis to undercut anti-poverty aid.

As congressional leaders try to hammer out a $700 billion bailout plan to buoy US financial markets, Clinton said lenders for small-scale businesses in impoverished nations were ``smart people'' making money with a ``real economy based on real people doing real things for a real rate of return".

Clinton unveiled 250 new commitments worth $8 billion and aimed at improving living conditions for about 158 million people as his annual conference ended in New York.