Author: Eugenia Macchiavello
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317227581
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
Following the recent global financial crisis there is a growing interest in alternative finance – and microfinance in particular – as new instruments for providing financial services in a socially responsible way or as an alternative to traditional banking. Nonetheless, correspondingly there is also a lack of clarity about how to regulate alternative financial methods particularly in light of the financial crisis’ lessons on regulatory failure and shadow banking’s risks. This book considers microfinance from a legal and regulatory perspective. Microfinance is the provision of a wide range of financial services, particularly credit but also remittances, savings, to low-income people or financially excluded people. It combines a business structure with social inspiration, often resorts to technological innovations to lower costs (Fintech: e.g. crowdfunding and mobile banking) and merges with traditional local experiences (e.g. financial cooperatives and Islamic finance), this further complicating the regulatory picture. The book describes some of the unique dimensions of microfinance and the difficulties that this can cause for regulators, through a comparative analysis of selected European Union (EU) countries’ regimes. The focus is in fact on the EU legal framework, with some references to certain developing world experiences where relevant. The book assesses the impact and validity of current financial regulation principles and rules, in light of the most recent developments and trends in financial regulation in the wake of the financial crisis and compares microfinance with traditional banking. The book puts forward policy recommendations for regulators and policy makers to help address the challenges and opportunities offered by microfinance.
Microfinance and Financial Inclusion
Author: Eugenia Macchiavello
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317227581
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
Following the recent global financial crisis there is a growing interest in alternative finance – and microfinance in particular – as new instruments for providing financial services in a socially responsible way or as an alternative to traditional banking. Nonetheless, correspondingly there is also a lack of clarity about how to regulate alternative financial methods particularly in light of the financial crisis’ lessons on regulatory failure and shadow banking’s risks. This book considers microfinance from a legal and regulatory perspective. Microfinance is the provision of a wide range of financial services, particularly credit but also remittances, savings, to low-income people or financially excluded people. It combines a business structure with social inspiration, often resorts to technological innovations to lower costs (Fintech: e.g. crowdfunding and mobile banking) and merges with traditional local experiences (e.g. financial cooperatives and Islamic finance), this further complicating the regulatory picture. The book describes some of the unique dimensions of microfinance and the difficulties that this can cause for regulators, through a comparative analysis of selected European Union (EU) countries’ regimes. The focus is in fact on the EU legal framework, with some references to certain developing world experiences where relevant. The book assesses the impact and validity of current financial regulation principles and rules, in light of the most recent developments and trends in financial regulation in the wake of the financial crisis and compares microfinance with traditional banking. The book puts forward policy recommendations for regulators and policy makers to help address the challenges and opportunities offered by microfinance.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317227581
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
Following the recent global financial crisis there is a growing interest in alternative finance – and microfinance in particular – as new instruments for providing financial services in a socially responsible way or as an alternative to traditional banking. Nonetheless, correspondingly there is also a lack of clarity about how to regulate alternative financial methods particularly in light of the financial crisis’ lessons on regulatory failure and shadow banking’s risks. This book considers microfinance from a legal and regulatory perspective. Microfinance is the provision of a wide range of financial services, particularly credit but also remittances, savings, to low-income people or financially excluded people. It combines a business structure with social inspiration, often resorts to technological innovations to lower costs (Fintech: e.g. crowdfunding and mobile banking) and merges with traditional local experiences (e.g. financial cooperatives and Islamic finance), this further complicating the regulatory picture. The book describes some of the unique dimensions of microfinance and the difficulties that this can cause for regulators, through a comparative analysis of selected European Union (EU) countries’ regimes. The focus is in fact on the EU legal framework, with some references to certain developing world experiences where relevant. The book assesses the impact and validity of current financial regulation principles and rules, in light of the most recent developments and trends in financial regulation in the wake of the financial crisis and compares microfinance with traditional banking. The book puts forward policy recommendations for regulators and policy makers to help address the challenges and opportunities offered by microfinance.
From Microfinance to Inclusive Finance
Author: R. H. Schmidt
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527508023
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Once praised as a panacea to overcome poverty microfinance has had to face harsh criticism because of painful failures and unfulfilled expectations. Still many people in particular in rural regions do not have any access to formal financial services, many microfinance institutions are weak, and others rather exploit their clients driving them into over indebtedness than helping them out of poverty. What should microfinance achieve? Can it help to build up inclusive financial systems allowing access to basic financial services for everybody? The historic templates for this book are the German Sparkassen and Cooperative banks that have a strong track record of development and growth spanning over 200 years. For obvious reasons their results cannot be transferred directly into specific solution options to today's challenges in developing countries. Nevertheless the coming into existence of Sparkassen and Cooperative banks can well be seen as part of a period of revolutionary developments in the European economic and social landscape, which can be viewed as analogous to the transformation that emerging economies are undergoing today. While Europe faced dramatically changing living conditions during the period of industrialization these newly creatd banks made change possible by unequivocally including the lower class population in the transformationby providing access to savings and loans. And it is this is parallel - even in the face of the many differences - which is why their development and success deserves careful consideration today. The authors' approach differsfrom other explorations by specifically adopting an interdisciplinary strategy. They take into account past developments as well as current global ones from a historical, social science and economic point of view. Analysis and the interpretation of data is supported by case studies to illustrate their considerations. The authors identify general parameters both for failure and for success and also indicate how to optimize existing potentials - both for institutions and policy makers. As a result of this interdisciplinary work the authors advance an inclusive stylised facts based model. The will to build up institutions, to adhere to corporate social responsibility and creating conducive legal frameworks form the basic conditions for success. More specifically, the guiding principles of these successful business models are a fair savings and credit policy, the promotion of capital transfers without reference to class and gender, a focus on business activities in a well defined region, decentralized organizational structures combined with national networks which avoid regional capital drains and the securing of economies of scale and scope. Llast but not least is the centrality of objectives beyond that of the sheer maximisation of profits.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527508023
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Once praised as a panacea to overcome poverty microfinance has had to face harsh criticism because of painful failures and unfulfilled expectations. Still many people in particular in rural regions do not have any access to formal financial services, many microfinance institutions are weak, and others rather exploit their clients driving them into over indebtedness than helping them out of poverty. What should microfinance achieve? Can it help to build up inclusive financial systems allowing access to basic financial services for everybody? The historic templates for this book are the German Sparkassen and Cooperative banks that have a strong track record of development and growth spanning over 200 years. For obvious reasons their results cannot be transferred directly into specific solution options to today's challenges in developing countries. Nevertheless the coming into existence of Sparkassen and Cooperative banks can well be seen as part of a period of revolutionary developments in the European economic and social landscape, which can be viewed as analogous to the transformation that emerging economies are undergoing today. While Europe faced dramatically changing living conditions during the period of industrialization these newly creatd banks made change possible by unequivocally including the lower class population in the transformationby providing access to savings and loans. And it is this is parallel - even in the face of the many differences - which is why their development and success deserves careful consideration today. The authors' approach differsfrom other explorations by specifically adopting an interdisciplinary strategy. They take into account past developments as well as current global ones from a historical, social science and economic point of view. Analysis and the interpretation of data is supported by case studies to illustrate their considerations. The authors identify general parameters both for failure and for success and also indicate how to optimize existing potentials - both for institutions and policy makers. As a result of this interdisciplinary work the authors advance an inclusive stylised facts based model. The will to build up institutions, to adhere to corporate social responsibility and creating conducive legal frameworks form the basic conditions for success. More specifically, the guiding principles of these successful business models are a fair savings and credit policy, the promotion of capital transfers without reference to class and gender, a focus on business activities in a well defined region, decentralized organizational structures combined with national networks which avoid regional capital drains and the securing of economies of scale and scope. Llast but not least is the centrality of objectives beyond that of the sheer maximisation of profits.
The Future of Microfinance
Author: Ira W. Lieberman
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815737645
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 493
Book Description
A major source of financing for the poor and no longer a niche industry Over the past four decades, microfinance—the provision of loans, savings, and insurance to small businesses and entrepreneurs shut out of traditional capital markets—has grown from a niche service in Bangladesh and a few other countries to a significant global source of financing. Some 200 million people globally now receive support from microfinance institutions, with most of the recipients in the developing world. In the beginning, much of the microfinance industry was managed by non-governmental organizations, but today the majority of these institutions are commercial and regulated by governments, and they provide safe places for the poor to save, as well as offering much-needed capital and other financial services. Now out of infancy, the microfinance industry faces major challenges, including its ability to deal with mobile banking and other technology and concerns that some markets are now over-saturated with microfinance. How the industry deals with these and other challenges will determine whether it will continue to grow or will be subsumed within the larger global financial sector. This book is based on the results of a workshop at Lehigh University among thirty-four leaders in the industry. The editors, working with contributions from more than a dozen leading authorities in the field, tell the important story of how microfinance developed, how it has met the needs of hundreds of millions of people, and they address key questions about how it can continue to meet those needs in the future.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815737645
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 493
Book Description
A major source of financing for the poor and no longer a niche industry Over the past four decades, microfinance—the provision of loans, savings, and insurance to small businesses and entrepreneurs shut out of traditional capital markets—has grown from a niche service in Bangladesh and a few other countries to a significant global source of financing. Some 200 million people globally now receive support from microfinance institutions, with most of the recipients in the developing world. In the beginning, much of the microfinance industry was managed by non-governmental organizations, but today the majority of these institutions are commercial and regulated by governments, and they provide safe places for the poor to save, as well as offering much-needed capital and other financial services. Now out of infancy, the microfinance industry faces major challenges, including its ability to deal with mobile banking and other technology and concerns that some markets are now over-saturated with microfinance. How the industry deals with these and other challenges will determine whether it will continue to grow or will be subsumed within the larger global financial sector. This book is based on the results of a workshop at Lehigh University among thirty-four leaders in the industry. The editors, working with contributions from more than a dozen leading authorities in the field, tell the important story of how microfinance developed, how it has met the needs of hundreds of millions of people, and they address key questions about how it can continue to meet those needs in the future.
Microfinance Handbook
Author: Joanna Ledgerwood
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821384317
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
The purpose of the 'Microfinance Handbook' is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821384317
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
The purpose of the 'Microfinance Handbook' is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions.
Emerging Challenges and Innovations in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion
Author: Michael O'Connor
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030052613
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
The book is a contemporary compilation of important research in the area of microfinance and financial inclusion. It explores a plurality of views and experiences from different parts of the world while linking a variety of international research backgrounds. Accordingly the book will fill a gap in providing a carefully curated cross-sectorial selection of topics relevant to the development finance research community primarily but also industry practitioners who are interested in keeping abreast of developing research. Benefits in this regard also include being able to provide a platform to less established researchers offering them a voice in published form.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030052613
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
The book is a contemporary compilation of important research in the area of microfinance and financial inclusion. It explores a plurality of views and experiences from different parts of the world while linking a variety of international research backgrounds. Accordingly the book will fill a gap in providing a carefully curated cross-sectorial selection of topics relevant to the development finance research community primarily but also industry practitioners who are interested in keeping abreast of developing research. Benefits in this regard also include being able to provide a platform to less established researchers offering them a voice in published form.
Building Inclusive Financial Systems
Author: Michael S. Barr
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815708408
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Broad-based and inclusive financial systems significantly raise growth, alleviate poverty, and expand economic opportunity. Households, small enterprises, and the rural poor often have difficulty obtaining financial services for a multitude of reasons, including transaction costs, perceived risk, inadequate infrastructure, and information barriers. Yet many financial institutions are now making profitable inroads into underserved markets through formal banking, investment in equities, venture capital, postal banks, and microfinance. Access to Finance addresses the challenges of making financial systems more inclusive, emulating successful ventures in new markets, and utilizing technologies and government policies to support the expansion of financial access. The contributors examine many dimensions of financial access, including: • Measuring financial access • Understanding the impact of expanded access • Examining alternative institutional models • Exploring new technologies and information infrastructure • Evaluating government policies toward outreach.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815708408
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Broad-based and inclusive financial systems significantly raise growth, alleviate poverty, and expand economic opportunity. Households, small enterprises, and the rural poor often have difficulty obtaining financial services for a multitude of reasons, including transaction costs, perceived risk, inadequate infrastructure, and information barriers. Yet many financial institutions are now making profitable inroads into underserved markets through formal banking, investment in equities, venture capital, postal banks, and microfinance. Access to Finance addresses the challenges of making financial systems more inclusive, emulating successful ventures in new markets, and utilizing technologies and government policies to support the expansion of financial access. The contributors examine many dimensions of financial access, including: • Measuring financial access • Understanding the impact of expanded access • Examining alternative institutional models • Exploring new technologies and information infrastructure • Evaluating government policies toward outreach.
The Global Findex Database 2017
Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464812683
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464812683
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.
ICT, Financial Inclusion, and Growth
Author: Mr.Kangni Kpodar
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1455227064
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47
Book Description
This paper studies the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phone rollout, on economic growth in a sample of African countries from 1988 to 2007. Further, we investigate whether financial inclusion is one of the channels through which mobile phone development influences economic growth. In estimating the impact of ICT on economic growth, we use a wide range of ICT indicators, including mobile and fixed telephone penetration rates and the cost of local calls. We address any endogeneity issues by using the System Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimator. Financial inclusion is captured by variables measuring access to financial services, such as the number of deposits or loans per head, compiled by Beck, Demirguc-Kunt, and Martinez Peria (2007) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP, 2009). The results confirm that ICT, including mobile phone development, contribute significantly to economic growth in African countries. Part of the positive effect of mobile phone penetration on growth comes from greater financial inclusion. At the same time, the development of mobile phones consolidates the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth, especially in countries where mobile financial services take hold.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1455227064
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47
Book Description
This paper studies the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phone rollout, on economic growth in a sample of African countries from 1988 to 2007. Further, we investigate whether financial inclusion is one of the channels through which mobile phone development influences economic growth. In estimating the impact of ICT on economic growth, we use a wide range of ICT indicators, including mobile and fixed telephone penetration rates and the cost of local calls. We address any endogeneity issues by using the System Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimator. Financial inclusion is captured by variables measuring access to financial services, such as the number of deposits or loans per head, compiled by Beck, Demirguc-Kunt, and Martinez Peria (2007) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP, 2009). The results confirm that ICT, including mobile phone development, contribute significantly to economic growth in African countries. Part of the positive effect of mobile phone penetration on growth comes from greater financial inclusion. At the same time, the development of mobile phones consolidates the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth, especially in countries where mobile financial services take hold.
Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development
Author: United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Publisher: United Nations Publications
ISBN:
Category : Developing countries
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Book Description
In most developing countries, financial services are only available to a minority of the population. The majority have no savings accounts, do not receive credit from formal financial institutions and have no insurance policies. They seldom make or receive payments through financial institutions. The limited use of financial services in developing countries has become an international policy concern. The reason for concern about widespread financial "exclusion" in developing countries is straightforward: access to a well-functioning financial system can economically and socially empower individuals, in particular poor people, allowing them to better integrate into the economy of their countries, actively contribute to their development and protect themselves against economic shocks. The central question asked by this book is how to bring access to these fundamental services to all people in developing countries and thus accelerate their economic development and that of their countries. Inclusive finance - safe savings, appropriately designed loans for poor and low-income households and for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and appropriate insurance and payments services - can help people help themselves to increase incomes, acquire capital, manage risk and work their way out of poverty.
Publisher: United Nations Publications
ISBN:
Category : Developing countries
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Book Description
In most developing countries, financial services are only available to a minority of the population. The majority have no savings accounts, do not receive credit from formal financial institutions and have no insurance policies. They seldom make or receive payments through financial institutions. The limited use of financial services in developing countries has become an international policy concern. The reason for concern about widespread financial "exclusion" in developing countries is straightforward: access to a well-functioning financial system can economically and socially empower individuals, in particular poor people, allowing them to better integrate into the economy of their countries, actively contribute to their development and protect themselves against economic shocks. The central question asked by this book is how to bring access to these fundamental services to all people in developing countries and thus accelerate their economic development and that of their countries. Inclusive finance - safe savings, appropriately designed loans for poor and low-income households and for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and appropriate insurance and payments services - can help people help themselves to increase incomes, acquire capital, manage risk and work their way out of poverty.
MicroFinTech
Author: Roberto Moro-Visconti
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030803945
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
Microfinance is a renowned albeit controversial solution for giving financial access to the unbanked, even if micro-transactions increase costs, limiting outreach potential. The economic and financial sustainability of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) is a prerequisite for widening a potentially unlimited client base. Automation decreases costs, expanding the outreach potential, and improving transparency and efficiency. Technological solutions range from branchless mobile banking to geo-localization of customers, digital/social networking for group lending, blockchain validation, big data, and artificial intelligence, up to “MicroFinTech” - FinTech applications adapted to microfinance. Of interest to both scholars, students, and professors of financial technology and microfinance, this book examines these trendy solutions comprehensively, going beyond the existing literature and showing potential applications to the traditional sustainability versus outreach trade-off.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030803945
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
Microfinance is a renowned albeit controversial solution for giving financial access to the unbanked, even if micro-transactions increase costs, limiting outreach potential. The economic and financial sustainability of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) is a prerequisite for widening a potentially unlimited client base. Automation decreases costs, expanding the outreach potential, and improving transparency and efficiency. Technological solutions range from branchless mobile banking to geo-localization of customers, digital/social networking for group lending, blockchain validation, big data, and artificial intelligence, up to “MicroFinTech” - FinTech applications adapted to microfinance. Of interest to both scholars, students, and professors of financial technology and microfinance, this book examines these trendy solutions comprehensively, going beyond the existing literature and showing potential applications to the traditional sustainability versus outreach trade-off.