Grameen bank of Bangladesh

Grameen Bank is an unconventional bank which has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus is the founder of ‘Grameen Bank’. It functions by providing credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At Grameen Bank, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable. 6.74 million Borrowers, 97% of whom are women are the beneficiaries of the bank. Grameen Bank provides services in 72,833 villages covering more than 86% of the total villages in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank’s positive impact on its poor and formerly poor borrowers has been documented in many independent studies carried out by external agencies. It won many international prizes and recognition. The founder of the bank professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the bank itself have won the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2006, the highest international recognition in the world. However, Grameen Bank is committed to eradicate poverty from the country in not too distant a future.