Banks need to change their attitude to women and the poor says Nobel Prize winner

The professor, who founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and developed a system of micro loans to the very poor, said conventional financial institutions considered lending to the poor to be high risk but the bank, which has become a global organisation since its creation 30 years ago, has a 99 per cent repayment rate.

"That is much higher than conventional banks, but it is very difficult to change their attitude" he said.

Professor Yunus told the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum at the Dubai International Convention Centre that 97% of the bank's borrowers were women compared to about 1% for other banks.

The professor, who started his bank after lending $27 to 42 people in a Bangladeshi village to help to allow them to pay off loans from loan sharks, now runs a $3 billion organisation that has 7 million borrowers in both developing and developed countries.

"We created a bank that reversed the conventional rules. Other banks go to the rich; we go to the poor; they go to men; we go to the women; they produce their lawyers and lots of paperwork; we have no paperwork; they want collateral; we work on trust - and it works," he said.

Many of the people the bank lends to are extremely poor and a loan of $30 would be daring for them.

Professor Yunus when the bank was first started he wanted to ensure 50% of the borrowers were women, but when bank staff approached them the women said to go to their husbands.

"But this was not their voice we were hearing, it was the history of fear we had built in them. It took six years to change their attitudes but we found that when women did take the loans the impact on the family was greater and more positive than if the money was borrowed by men.

"Nowadays most of our borrowers are women and 64% of the people we have lent to have pulled themselves out of poverty. We are aiming for 100%," Professor Yunus said.

The Nobel Peace Prize winning professor is one of 11 internationally renowned key note speakers ranging from Sir Richard Branson to fellow Nobel Prize winner and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan at the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum.

A further nine influential Arab business leaders are also taking part and address 2000 delegates from dozens of countries.

Leaders in Dubai Business Forum 2007 is supported by Founding Sponsors: Citi Private Bank and Nokia; Leading Master Developer: Dubai Properties; Headline Sponsors: Addax Bank, Bidaya and The Monarch Dubai; Supporting Sponsors: Omniyat, Ithmar Capital, Al Barari, Damac Properties and Dubai Real Estate; Official Technology Partner: Fujitsu Siemens; Knowledge Partner: SP Jain; Official Event Courier: TCS.