Grameen Bank (Bengali: গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance specialized community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requiring collateral.
Grameen Bank is jointly operated by its borrower members and the government. It is originated in 1976, in the work of Professor Muhammad Yunus at University of Chittagong, who launched a research project to study how to design a credit delivery system to provide banking services to the rural poor. In October 1983 the Grameen Bank was authorized by national legislation to operate as an independent bank.
The bank grew significantly between 2003 and 2007. As of January 2022, the total borrowers of the bank number nearly 9.5 million, and 96.81% of those are women. In 1998 the Bank's "Low-cost Housing Program" won a World Habitat Award. In 2006, the bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The bank's success has inspired similar projects in more than 64 countries around the world, including a World Bank initiative to finance Grameen-type schemes. (Full article...)