Editing Microcredit (section)

===Bangladesh===
Grameen Bank in [[Bangladesh]] is the oldest and probably best-known microfinance institution in the world.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} [[Grameen Bank]] launched their [[Grameen America|US operations]] in New York in April 2008.<ref>University of Michigan, Urban and Regional Planning Economic Development Handbook: [http://www.umich.edu/~econdev/microcredit/ Microcredit strategies for assisting neighborhood businesses] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528052827/http://www.umich.edu/~econdev/microcredit/ |date=May 28, 2008 }}, 22 March 2005, retrieved on 13 February 2012</ref> Bank of America has announced plans to award more than $3.7 million in grants to nonprofits to use in backing microloan programs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bank of America Issues Grants for Microloans|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703735804575535900346930486|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|access-date=30 January 2012|date=October 6, 2010|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107022248/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703735804575535900346930486|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Accion USA|The Accion U.S. Network]], the US subsidiary of the better-known [[Accion International]], has provided over $450 million in microloans since 1991, with an over 90% repayment rate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accion.org/our-impact/us-network|title=U.S. Network|date=5 June 2014|access-date=2015-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222224113/http://accion.org/our-impact/us-network|archive-date=2018-02-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> One research study of the Grameen model shows that poorer individuals are safer borrowers because they place more value on the relationship with the bank.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kansascityfed.org/PUBLICAT/RESWKPAP/PDF/rwp10-11.pdf |title=Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, ''The Creditworthiness of the Poor: A Model of the Grameen Bank'', April 2010 |access-date=September 25, 2012 |archive-date=October 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019030548/http://www.kansascityfed.org/PUBLICAT/RESWKPAP/PDF/rwp10-11.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Even so, efforts to replicate Grameen-style [[solidarity lending]] in developed countries have generally not succeeded. For example, the [[Calmeadow Foundation]] tested an analogous peer-lending model in three locations in [[Canada]] during the 1990s. It concluded that a variety of factors—including difficulties in reaching the target market, the high risk profile of clients, their general distaste for the joint liability requirement, and high overhead costs—made solidarity lending unviable without subsidies.<ref>Cheryl Frankiewicz. "Calmeadow Metrofund: A Canadian Experiment in Sustainable Microfinance", Calmeadow Foundation, April 2001.</ref> Microcredits have also been introduced in [[Israel]],<ref>[http://www.svivatomehet.org.il Svivatomehet.org.il] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318141509/http://www.svivatomehet.org.il/ |date=March 18, 2009 }} {{in lang|he}}</ref> [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and other nations where micro-loans help small business entrepreneurs overcome cultural barriers in the mainstream business society. The Israel Free Loan Association (IFLA) has lent more than $100 million in the past two decades to Israeli citizens of all backgrounds.<ref>Israel Free Loan Associantion, History of IFLA, {{cite web |url=http://israelfreeloan.org.il/about/history |title=History of IFLA &#124; Israel Free Loan Association |access-date=2013-07-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004233544/http://israelfreeloan.org.il/about/history |archive-date=2013-10-04 }}, July 26, 2013</ref>