11 microfinance groups agree to publish rates; Nobel winner says don't profit from poor

Eleven microfinance groups that together serve nearly 26 million people agreed Monday to publicly report their annual interest rates, a move many hope will empower the world's poorest borrowers as the once-charitable sector becomes increasingly commercialized.

"If you are making profits you are moving into the same mental mind-set as loan sharks," Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said by phone from Bali, Indonesia, where he is attending the 11th annual Microcredit Summit Campaign conference, which opened Monday.

When Yunus began making US$27 loans to women in Bangladesh three decades ago, he hoped to rescue the poor from usury. The new …