Microfinance and Social Performance

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Gravesteijn ◽  
James Copestake
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Bank Loan ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Wide Range

Microfinance refers to an array of financial services—including loans, savings, and insurance—available to poor entrepreneurs and small business owners who have no collateral and, otherwise, would not qualify for a standard bank loan. Those who promote microfinance generally believe that such access will help poor people out of poverty. For many, microfinance is a way to promote economic development, employment, and growth through the support of micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses; for others, it is a way for the poor to manage their finances more effectively and take advantage of economic opportunities while managing the risks. One of the newer fields that is getting more attention within microfinance is the measure of microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) social performance, which broadly is an indication of how well an MFI meets the social goals outlined in its mission and vision. Social performance is reflected in a wide range of indicators, including an MFI’s policies towards employees, like providing health care or maternity leave; to what degree an MFI targets the poorest of the poor for financial services; an MFI’s policies on environmental conservation; how low an MFI keeps its interest rates; how transparent an MFI is about these interest rates and other loan terms; and how an MFI’s services translate into improved lives for their clients.

Financial inclusion of the poor: from microcredit to Islamic microfinancial services

Humanomics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Direct Discourse ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Islamic Microfinance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to initiate a direct discourse towards an Islamic microfinance focus agenda for the economic enlistment of the poor minority community and to allow poorer households in the financial inclusion. The issue of the Indian conventional microfinance institutions in failing to attract the poorest of the poor amongst Muslims is important for the purpose of this paper. This study explores a Shari’ah-compliant microfinance system which will create a level of playing-field with respect to the financial inclusion of the poor. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a theoretical discussion on Islamic microfinancial services for financial inclusion of the poor. Therefore, there is little to say about “methodology” other than the conventional microfinance model is reviewed, and an alternative model of Islamic microfinancial service has been suggested to allow poorer households in the financial inclusion. Findings – The paper finds that there are some opportunities capable of improving the economic condition of the poor Muslim communities through some innovative approaches. To illustrate this finding, the paper emphasises on designing and delivering Islamic microfinancial products suitable for the poor based on the principle of Islamic solidarity. It argues that this service will help the poor and turn their savings into sums large enough to satisfy a wide range of personal, social and asset-building needs as well as needs relating to small businesses and consumption. Research limitations/implications – The paper’s findings are limited to the matter of financial inclusion of the poor through Islamic microfinancial services in India. Originality/value – Combining the Islamic social principle of solidarity for the less fortunate with the power of microfinance to provide financial access to the poor has the potential to reach out to millions more people. The ideas presented in this paper are designed to direct discourse towards an Islamic microfinance focus agenda for the economic enlistment of the poor Muslims in India.

scholarly journals The Equity and Efficiency of Microfinance

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Mahazarin Kanga ◽  
Juhi Bansal ◽  
Siddharth Verma ◽  
Ishani Bandaranayake
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Equity And Efficiency ◽  
Social Opportunities ◽  
The Common ◽  
Global Population

Banks are for people with money rather than for people without money. However, microfinance is banking for the unbankables. It brings credit, loan, savings and other essential financial services within the reach of millions of people who are too poor to be served by regular banks, i.e. almost 60-90% of the global population. It is one of the most intriguing features of financial economics today. In the aftermath of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the Bangladeshi, Mohammed Yunus, who is a champion of the cause for microcredit, the common presumption has been that microfinance create s undeniable social benefits such as poverty alleviation and more equal social opportunities. Indeed, this is true to a large extent; however, less acknowledged are the problems that lurk behind this facade of ‘social service’. Donning the caps of economists, this pa per discusses the economic rationality of microfinance as an effective tool for achieving poverty alleviation. We ask the question on whether the theoretical objective of microfinance for ‘helping the poor’ is sullied in practice by rent seeking, profit seeking and corruption. We assess the fundamental economic model for the basis on which Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) provide loans to the poor and as whether the poor people eventually benefited from this financial innovation.

scholarly journals Securitization: An Alternative Funding Mechanism for the Microfinance Institutions

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Shahadat Hossain ◽  
Rubaiyet Hasan Khan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Alternative Funding ◽  
Funding Mechanism ◽  
The Poor

Despite microfinance has been widely appreciated as an informal financial mechanism to provide financial services to the poor people in developing countries, this sector is still lacking behind in fulfilling the demand gap due to the dearth of adequate funds. Securitization opens a new horizon that overcomes the funding barriers of microfinance through which the top tier Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) can accumulate funds to enlarge their portfolio without issuing any debt or equity. This paper is a desk study that synthesizes how securitization can be used in the funding of the MFI portfolio and what are the benefits and risks associated with securitization of microfinance portfolio. As a case study, we use the two examples of cross-border securitizations in the microfinance industry to diagnose the role of securitization in microfinance.

scholarly journals Effect of Regulation on Outreach of Microfinance Institutions in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce Ama Quartey ◽  
Bernice Kotey
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Government

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) play an important role in enhancing the growth potential of small businesses. However, while regulation ensures that MFIs are financially sustainable, compliance compels them to make large-sized loans to wealthy clients in order to reduce the risk of lending and minimize administrative costs, a situation that compromises their main goal of reaching out to the poor. The study therefore, examined the effect of regulation on breadth and depth of outreach by microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana. The purpose of the study is to find out whether regulation has enabled MFIs to increase their outreach (breadth and depth) thereby improving their sustainability. A mixed methods research design was employed, involving initial hypotheses testing with 31 self-regulated and 24 Central bank-regulated MFIs. The findings were then triangulated with a qualitative research design involving 13 Central bank-regulated and 20 self-regulated MFIs. The results showed that regulations increased the client base of MFIs but reduced the percentage of poor clients served, largely women. It is recommended that the government set up a fund for poor clients to be accessed by well-performing MFIs for provision of financial services to the poor to assist in poverty reduction.

Microfinance: The Impact of Multiple Borrowings of Microcredit among Clients of Microfinance Institutions in Central Uttar Pradesh Region of India

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zain Mehdi
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Loan Contracts ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Impact

Microfinance is the supply of loans, savings, and other basic financial services to the poor. Beginning of the microfinance movement is most closely associated with the economist Muhammed Yunus, who in the early 1970's was a Professor in Bangladesh. In the midst of a country-wide famine, he began making small loans to poor families in neighboring villages in an effort to break their cycle of poverty. The study has focused on the repayment problems of loans to be taken by the clients of ‘For Profit Making Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)’. Micro financing has boomed in recent years. Though founded as non-profit institutions, Indian Microfinance industry has been turbocharged by private – equity firms, nearly doubling in the year ended March 31, 2008 delivering $ 2.5 billion loans. Many microfinance lenders have recently registered as for – profit finance firms with the Reserve Bank of India, giving them wider access to funds but limiting them to ‘reasonable’ interest rates. Those rates are still high – between 20% and 40% annually, according to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, or CGAP, hosted at the World Bank location. This creates the need for multiple borrowings. In this research, the researcher has used the regression analysis to study the effect of Age, Gender, Number of Dependent and Education level due to multiple loan contracts. Further, the relationship between variables taken in this research has been analyzed such as income of respondents and amount of loans. The findings show that actually, the multiple borrowings of clients of MFI’s are not benefiting them and in reality they are affecting their livelihood.

scholarly journals Rural Finance in Contemporary Times: Interface with Microfinance

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
N S Sisodia ◽  
M B N Rao ◽  
Vijay Mahajan ◽  
V Leeladhar ◽  
M P Vasimalai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Banking System ◽  
The State ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Rural Finance ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Financial Exclusion

In India, when we talk about rural finance, the stereotype offered is that of a banking system that fails to reach out to the poorer clients and, when it does, fails to recover the money so disbursed. The counter-point offered is usually the magic wand of microfinance. This Colloquium was an interface between leading bankers and microfinance practitioners in India to examine where these two worlds meet and how they could learn from each other. The discussions were organized around three themes: a) the legacy of the banking system, b) the limitations of microfinance, and c) an assessment of the potential. On the issue of legacy, the message was clear that the intervention of the state in certain aspects has been undesirable. These areas were clearly identified as granting general pardon for loans, tinkering around with interest subsidies, and interfering with the commercial aspects of banking. The limitations of the microfinance institutions were in terms of their sustainability and their inability to draw commercial capital and grow rapidly. However, these limitations were partly seen as a consequence of regulatory apathy and support from the state both in terms of formulating and articulating a regulatory framework and also in terms of the central bank being reluctant to supervise the efforts. These did not help in enhancing the legitimacy of microfinance institutions. The participants saw a great potential in the rural markets which were beyond agriculture. The emerging sectors were identified as construction, non-farm enterprise, handloom, clusters that involve garment making and quarrying, etc. According to them, there was scope for both the banks and the microfinance institutions to intervene. The following points emerged from the discussion: Rural finance has suffered from interventions from the state in the past. While some interventions have been positive, they have harmed the sector when compromises such as write-offs have been made. Microfinance has emerged as an important mechanism to reach out financial services to the poor. There are interesting lessons from this for the banks to adopt. There are problems for the microfinance institutions in the form of regulatory and supervisory apathy. This leads to financial exclusion of large segments of the poor. There is a huge market for financial services — both loans and savings. Innovations across the world indicate important breakthroughs in delivery of financial services. These can be implemented provided the regulatory impediments are removed. The issue of risk management has to be systematically addressed. The role of the state, wherever positive, has been effective and, therefore, this should be sharply defined to see how the state could contribute to this sector. The issue of interest rates continues to be vexatious and needs to be addressed urgently.

scholarly journals DEVELOPMENT BANKING SERVICES FOR THE POOR

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykola Miroshnik ◽  
Iryna Didenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Banking Services ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Wide Range

Despite the many achievements of the XXI century in the development of economic and social relations, comprehensive globalization and digitalization of most sectors of the national economy, the problem of poverty remain still quite urgent worldwide. That is why its improvement is recognized as one of the goals of sustainable development adopted by the UN. Moreover, according to the World Bank in the 2017, more than 1.7 billion adults were not served in banking institutions (or were unbanked), which indicates another pressing problem - financial inclusion. All this presupposes the high relevance of the study of the basic practices of the banking services development for the poor people, which is the main goal of this article. To achieve this goal, the paper proposes to conduct a conceptual analysis of the phenomenon of financial inclusion and highlight the main factors that affect it (territorial, financial, educational, legal, psychological), as well as such group of the population as low-income (or poor). Based on this, the author considered two main practices that can be used to develop the market of banking services. First, the model of branchless banking is considered, which involves use of a wide range of retail agents (for exampl'e, mobile operators, post offices, gas stations, retail outlets, etc.). It allows the poor, regardless of territorial and financial constraints, receive basic banking services from such retail agents, and banks to act as their guarantor. Secondly, model of microfinance for banks is researhed, which allows to provide financial resources for business initiatives of the poor people on fairly favorable terms.In this model, banks can also either provide such services directly, or involve intermediaries (primarily microfinance institutions) to interact with customers. Both of the above models have their advantages and risks for the banking sector, but their implementation will help not only to attract the unused (or unbanked) customer sector, but also to help overcome poverty in the country.The obtained results indicate the need for state regulation of the above models for their effectiveness in Ukraine and are the basis for more thorough research in this area.

scholarly journals The value of in-person banking: evidence from U.S. small businesses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Zhang ◽  
Liang Han ◽  
Konstantinos Kallias ◽  
Antonios Kallias
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Soft Information ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Treatment Effect Models ◽  
The U.S

AbstractWe produce the first systematic study of the determinants and implications of in-person banking. Using survey data from the U.S., we show that firms which are informationally opaque or operate in rural areas are liable to contact their primary bank in-person. This tendency extends to older, less educated, and female business owners. We find that a relationship based on face-to-face communication, on average, lasts 17.88 months longer, spans a wider range of financial services, and is more likely to be exclusive. The associated loans mature 3.37 months later and bear interest rates which are 11 basis points lower. For good quality firms, in-person communication also relates to less discouraged borrowing. These results are robust to multiple approaches for endogeneity, including recursive bivariate probits, treatment effect models, and instrumental variables regressions. Overall, our findings offer empirical grounding to soft information theory and a note of caution to banks against suppressing channels of interpersonal communication.

scholarly journals ASSESSING ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MICROCREDIT SCHEME: A REVIEW OF PAST STUDIES ON AMANAH IKHTIAR MALAYSIA (AIM)

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-142
Author(s):  
Noor Syafinas Muda ◽  
Ku 'Azam Tuan Lonik
Keyword(s):  
Economic Impact ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Economic Impact Assessment ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Microfinance Institution

Background and Purpose: Microcredit scheme was introduced to provide credit facilities for poor people to start a business activity. Microcredit creates income-generating self-employment activities that allow poor people to venture into small businesses and achieve economic independence. The scheme has been recognised as a successful tool to uplift the socio-economic status among the poor. Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) is the largest microfinance institution in Malaysia and therefore, its impact on the beneficiaries is crucial to be studied. This paper aims at reviewing the economic impact of AIM based on the existing literature.   Methodology: Four electronic databases, which are Scopus, Science Direct, Springer and Ebscohost were used to search the literature. Subsequently 118 articles were generated from this search. However, only 13 articles which met the selection criteria were analysed. We selected only empirical studies that focused on the economic impact of AIM.   Findings: Results of the review showed that income has dominated the economic impact assessment followed by asset, economic vulnerability and spending. Low concentration on the indicators other than income should be noted especially on spending as it provides a clear evidence that the recipients enjoy the economic well-being in terms of consumption expenditure.   Contribution: This review reveals that microcredit has a great potential to uplift the economic status of the poor.   Keywords: Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, asset, economic impact, income, microcredit.   Cite as: Muda, N. S., & Tuan Lonik, K. A. (2020). Assessing economic impact of microcredit scheme: A review of past studies on Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM).  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 124-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp124-142

Growth and Development of Small Business Through Microfinance Activities in Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-34
Author(s):  
Chandra Prasad Dhakal
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Small Business Owners ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Economic Activities

Small businesses play important role for economic development and stability. It develops access in financial services through enhancing economic activities. The study analyzes the growth and development of small businesses that enhance through the support of micro finance in Nepal. Descriptive and inferential were used to collected data and collected data were analyzed through using multiple linear regression analysis. Only 124 small business owners were selected for this study. The study helps to find out the growth of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and small businesses in emerging economy in Nepal. It also assists MFIs to assess the effectiveness of their services and help to efficient utilization of available resources in the economy of Nepal.

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