Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Microfinance institutions'

Microfinance is a development tool used to reduce poverty among extremely poor households. Impoverished households can access lines of credit through microfinance institutions (MFIs), in order to create a new business, smooth household consumption, fund medical emergencies, etc. Many authors postulate that MFIs are drifting from a welfarist to an institutionalist approach to lending. Using MIXMarket data on specific MFIs in 118 countries between 1995 and 2011, the average loan balance of these organizations will be regressed against measure of outreach and sustainability of these institutions by charter type through a series of four, fixed effects models. The main research question is: given that a positive, overall shift in average loan balance indicates an institutionalist shift in mission, how does this impact microfinance institutions and the demographics they target on the intensive and extensive margins? These analyses will test the theory that MFIs with larger average loan balances serve households closer to the subsistence poverty level, a manifestation of mission drift toward the institutionalist philosophy of lending. The phenomenon of mission drift directly impacts the outcomes of microfinance institutions and the target demographic of the organization. The results of this study indicate that the mission of these organizations is drifting toward the institutionalist philosophy of lending. With this general result, mission drift can be observed within both the internal and external margins of the microfinance industry, which influences the chosen target market, profit generated, and structure of MFIs, as determined by the mission of the organization.

Inspired by the 1999 Program of Action defined by the United Nations, which describes eight pragmatic areas for a Culture of Peace. My proposal will work on the section 'Sustainable economic and social development' evaluating microfinance and the organizations that manage them, as a tool to achieve this objective. Immersed in a global context and under the prism of sustainability, the performance analysis of the organizations activity can not be done only from its economic exercise, but it is necessary to measure its impact under a wider range of criteria (Fernández et al., 2013). The main objective of this thesis will be to contribute to the improvement of research in this sector, presenting a global vision of the behaviour of MFIs in terms of sustainable performance, based on a model that articulates the financial, environmental, social and governance dimensions of integrated form.<br>Inspirado en el Programa de Acción de 1999 definido por Naciones Unidas en el que se describen ocho ámbitos pragmáticos para una Cultura de Paz. Mi propuesta trabajará sobre el apartado ‘Desarrollo económico y social sostenible’ evaluando las microfinanzas y las organizaciones que las gestionan, como herramienta para la consecución de este objetivo. Inmersos en un contexto global y bajo el prisma de la sostenibilidad, el análisis de desempeño de la actividad de las organizaciones no puede realizarse únicamente desde su ejercicio económico, sino que es preciso medir su impacto bajo una mayor amplitud de criterios (Fernández et al., 2013). El principal objetivo de esta tesis será contribuir a la mejora de la investigación de este sector, presentando una visión global del comportamiento de las IMFs en términos de desempeño sostenible, basado en un modelo que articule las dimensiones financiera, ambiental, social y de gobernanza de forma integrada.

Microfinance is regarded as a financial development tool used in fighting poverty by providing the poor with financial services such as microloans, savings, insurance and money transfers thereby gradually lifting them out of poverty. Improving the performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) makes them more capable of better serving more poor people, contributing to the development and enhancement of their economies and improving the welfare of the poor. It is therefore of great importance to study the performance of MFIs from different aspects in order to understand how they operate, what causes their success/failure, and try to find ways to enhance MFI performance to get the most possible benefit out of them. This thesis consists of three interconnected studies, each of which addresses the performance of MFIs from a different aspect. The first study examines the effect of the external environment on MFI performance worldwide in order to identify the context that is best suitable for MFI success, with a special emphasis on the MENA region. The second study investigates the causal relationship between microfinance and formal banking sector development in order to help improve the performance of MFIs with the possible help of the banking sector. The third study tests whether a trade-off exists between the two most pursued goals by MFIs: profitability and outreach in order to help MFIs find a way to achieve both goals simultaneously. A balanced panel dataset of 124 MFIs from 45 countries worldwide for the period 2004-2011 is used in conducting the three studies by applying multiple linear regression models and PVAR model using GMM. Results reveal that the external environment surrounding an MFI significantly influences MFI performance which helps in explaining the uneven performance of MFIs worldwide. It is also concluded that MFIs in the MENA region are the most profitable on average compared to MFIs in other regions which is mainly driven by GDP per capita, whereas South Asian MFIs tend to outperform MFIs in the MENA region when it comes to outreach. Additionally, it is concluded that MFI sustainability and banking sector development do not Granger cause each other, but MFI outreach tends to Granger cause formal banking sector development. Finally, no evidence of trade-off between MFI profitability and outreach is found except when the effect of profitability on outreach is disaggregated by MFI type.

In the following paper I have tried to find the correlation between type of ownership and effective risk management in the operations of microfinance institutions in India. The results found are consistent with the current findings of how the type of ownership does not impact both the financial or social performance of MFIs. Dataset of 72 MFIs was acquired from the Microfinance Information Exchange on MFIs and evaluated using an OLS regression. The results show that the type of ownership insignificantly impacts both the credit and liquidity risk ratios of MFIs. It is possible that the impact of ownership type is more evident in other aspects of operations. In the future, a study on type of ownership and exposure to strategic and market risks could be a way forward.

Remittances (money sent home by migrants) to developing countries are estimated to have reached US$ 325 billion in 2010 (World Bank, 2011). These amounts reflect only officially recorded transfers, transferred through formal channels and calculated as the sum of three items of the Balance of Payments Statistics, namely: compensation of employees, workers’ remittances and migrants’ transfers (Salomone, 2006; Aggarwal et al. 2011). Unrecorded remittances could represent 50 to 100% of recorded flows (World Bank, 2006; Hagen-Zanker and Siegel, 2007).<p>Remittances are three times the size of official development assistance (ODA) and the second source of external funds after foreign direct investment (FDI) for developing countries. Given their weight in receiving countries’ economies and household livelihood in many developing countries (for instance, remittances flows represent more than 25% of Lesotho’ and Moldavia’s gross domestic product in 2008), there is increasing policy and research interest in remittances as development resource. Furthermore, unlike FDI and ODA, remittances have the particularity to be directly affected to families, even those in remote areas, where development funds don’t arrive (Shaw, 2006). The thesis addresses the relationship between microfinance and the impact remittances have on domestic investment in developing countries. <p>Like other sources of external finance, remittances allow the economy to invest in human and physical capital (health, education), which contribute to growth (Ziesemer, 2006; Acosta et al. 2008). However, as remittances may be either directly consumed (remittances allow households to smooth their consumption, see for instance Lucas and Stark, 1985 and Glytsos, 2005) or used to invest in physical and human capital, it appears that their impact on domestic investment is perceived to be low or limited, given the amount of money they represent each year. According to literature, this is due to the small share that is dedicated to the launch or the support of economic activities. Actually, the allocation between consumption and investment, which depends on various factors such as the level of dependence households have with remittances, the migrant gender, and the existence of a credit constraint, varies on average around 10-20% of remittances that are not directly consumed (Salomone, 2006; Sorensen, 2004; Orozco, 2004). In the thesis we focus on the share of remittances that is saved and wonder how to maximize its impact, whatever this share. We are interested in the role of microfinance institutions, as actors of the financial sector, on this issue. Actually, two recent contributions, Mundaca (2009), and Giuliano and Ruiz-Arranz (2009), stress the role of the development of the financial sector. More precisely, the thesis focuses on a set of questions or issues that may be important for the microfinance industry to consider when interested in remittances flows and the deposits they may generate. <p>Financial development is generally defined as “increasing efficiency of allocating financial resources and monitoring capital projects, through encouraging competition and increasing the importance of the financial system. In other words, the development is about structure, size and efficiency of a financial system” (Huang, 2006). A large line of research work provides evidence that development of a financial system is a key driver of economic growth. <p>King and Levine (1993) argue that greater financial development increases economic growth. Levine and Zervos (1993) shows that growth is related to stock market activity, among other variables. Levine (1999) finds a significant effect of determinants of financial intermediation on economic growth. Beck et al. (2004) find strong evidence in favor of the financial-services view which stresses that financial systems provide key financial services, crucial for firm creation, industrial expansion, and economic growth. Levine (1997), Levine et al. (2000), and Beck et al. (2000) also stress the impact of financial development on growth. There is also an empirical literature that argues that the expansion and the deepening of the financial system lead to higher investment (see for instance Rajan and Zingales, 1998; Demirgüç-Kunt and Macksimovic, 1998). <p>By providing financial services to people whom traditionally do not have access to financial institutions, microfinance institutions (MFIs) may contribute to increasing the size of the financial system in many developing countries. Actually, according to the CFSI’s 2011 report, the one thousand-plus MFIs that report to the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX) have 88 million borrowers and 76 million savers. Total assets of these MFIs amount to US$ 60 billion (CFSI, 2011). <p>The quite recent literature on remittances, financial development and growth can be categorized under two main approaches (Brown et al. 2011). One approach explores the relationship between remittances and financial development, with a view to assessing their impact on the level of financial development in receiving countries. The underlying argument is that remittances potentially contribute to financial development through both demand- and supply- side effects: by increasing households’ demand for and use of banking services, and by increasing the availability of loanable funds to the financial sector. According to this approach which consider the direct relationship between remittances and financial development, remittances have an impact on both financial outreach and depth in receiving countries, respectively through the fostering of financial literacy among remittances receivers and through the increasing availability of funds (see for instance Gupta et al. 2009, Aggarwal et al. 2011, Brown et al. 2011). <p>The second approach examines the remittances – financial development relationship indirectly by investigating how the given level of financial development in a country affects the impact of remittances on growth. This growth-focused approach allows for interactions between remittances and financial development in estimating growth equations for remittances receiving countries. Within the set of studies related to this approach, two opposing positions have emerged. The first position hypothesizes that the greater availability of financial services helps channel remittances to better use, thus boosting their overall impact on growth. Remittances are seen as financial flows in search of good investment projects, and good financial institutions are needed to facilitate the channeling of remittances to such investments. In this sense, remittances and financial system are complements. This position is supported by Mundaca (2009) who find that financial intermediation increases the responsiveness of growth to remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean over the 1970-2002 period. Other few studies also argue that channeling remittances through the banking sector enhances their development impact (see for instance Hinojosa Ojeda, 2003 and Terry and Wilson, 2005). <p>The other position argues that remittances contribute to investment and growth by substituting for inefficiencies in credit and capital markets. Remittances provide an alternative source of funding for profitable investments by alleviating liquidity constraints. In this sense, remittances promote growth more in less financially developed countries by substituting for lack of credits from financial institutions. This hypothesis is supported by Giuliano and Ruiz-Arranz (2009) who argue that poor households use remittances to finance informal investment in poorly developed financial markets with liquidity constraints. In their study, they interact remittances with a measure of financial development in standard growth equations, for a sample of 73 countries over the 1975-2002 period. Ramirez and Sharma (2009) obtain similar results using data from 23 Latin American countries over the 1990-2005 period. <p>The thesis contributes to existing knowledge on this indirect, growth-focused approach. Given the two existing opposite views on remittances impact on investment and the level of financial intermediation (a high level of financial development implies a high level of financial intermediation), in the thesis we first analyze the relationship that links these variables. We then analyses questions related to microfinance institutions (MFIs), as financial intermediaries. <p>Our focus on microfinance is made from two different perspectives, leading to different research questions. First, from the demand or microfinance clients’ perspective, we question about the interest for them to have MFIs entering the money transfers market (through the money transfer facilities and/or financial products that may be directly linked to remittances). The underlying argument is that MFIs enter the remittances market by providing money transfer services because there is a need for such services (and for other financial services) from their (potential) clients who are remittances receivers and migrants. According to this point of view, MFIs can contribute to recycle remittances flows into the financial system by contributing to the financial inclusion of remittances receivers and migrants thanks to the supply of adapted financial products. The occurrence of this assumption can therefore be measured by considering the involvement of MFIs on the remittances market as a determinant of financial inclusion indicators. Second, from the supply or MFIs’ perspective, we question about the rationale for MFIs to enter the remittances market. Here, the underlying argument is that MFIs are interested in operating on the remittances market because working with migrants can potentially contributes to the improvement of their financial and social performances. According to this perspective, remittances market opportunities as well as MFIs’ characteristics will determine the offer of money transfer services by MFIs. This supply approach therefore leads to the consideration of money transfers activities in MFIs as depending on remittances market opportunities and institutional variables. <p>Therefore, our papers related to microfinance will be articulated around these two questions (interest for clients and rationale for MFIs to have MFIs operating on the money transfers industry) by focusing, as argued earlier, on the deposits resulting from remittances flows. <p>As a matter of facts, by studying the relationship between microfinance and remittances respectively through the demand and the supply perspective, we raise causality issues related to MFIs’ money transfer activities and their impacts on MFIs performances. Actually, MFIs’ characteristics such as the right to collect public savings, as a potential source of efficiency gains, may significantly determine the supply of a money transfer service (MFIs’ perspective), while a money transfer service may itself be the determinant of some MFIs’ performance indicators related to financial inclusion, such as the volume of deposits made by clients (demand approach). However, given currently existing data on MFIs’ involvement on the remittances market we cannot consider simultaneously both perspectives in order to implement causality treatment techniques. Actually, the indicator of MFIs’ involvement we will use in our regressions is time invariant, therefore we are not able to build instrumental variables for instance (such as lagged values of our variable of interest) to eliminate econometric issues in our regressions. Nevertheless, through these two approaches taken separately, we contribute to some extend to the knowledge by putting in perspective different issues at stake for the microfinance industry. <p>Before we tackle our research questions we have an introductory chapter related to remittances flows: what are their trends, determinants and characteristics? The chapter also includes the definition of money transfer activities that we will use in the thesis, as well as an overview of MFIs’ involvement on the money transfers market. <p>Then, our research framework is divided into 4 sub-questions. The first one, treated in Chapter 2, is about the relationship between our variables of interest. What is the impact of the financial sector development (FSD) on the remittances’ impact on investment? This chapter aims at stressing the relationship existing between financial intermediation and remittances’ impacts on investment, which motivated our focus on MFIs (as financial intermediaries between remittances and the formal economy) in the following chapters. We focus on two transaction costs that decline with FSD. The first is the “Cost of Bank Depositing”, henceforth CDEP, which measures the difficulties of savers, particularly the less well-off, of depositing their savings in the formal banking system. The second transaction cost is the “Cost of External Finance”, henceforth CEXF, which measures the marginal cost for the banking system of borrowing in global financial markets. This cost is notably associated with the robustness of the country’s financial sector. In a stylized model of the lendable funds market, we analyze how both these variables affect the marginal effect of remittances on investment. We test model’s propositions using country-level data on remittances, investment, and proxies for both CDEP and CEXF, on a sample of 100 developing countries. We perform empirical tests using both cross-section and panel-data with country fixed effects, over the period 1975-2004. The results demonstrate, theoretically and empirically, that remittances and ease of access to the banking sector act as complements to stimulate domestic investment, while remittances and external borrowing are substitutes. We find that remittances flows stimulate local investment, as a part of remittances indeed become banks’ deposits, which increases the availability of lendable funds, reduces the interest rate and stimulates investment. In terms of policy implication, results suggest that enhancing financial sector development is crucial as it allows remittances to better fuel domestic investment. This is even truer when the access to international funds is difficult or costly. Improving the financial inclusion of remittances receivers by developing domestic banks’ ability to collect their savings is then a straightforward recommendation to policymakers who want to improve remittances impact on investment. <p>The second question, developed in Chapter 3 is related to the demand perspective of the relationship between microfinance and remittances. We want to assess whether there is a need from remittances receivers for financial products that may be linked to remittances. We aboard this question by assessing whether the supply of MTA leads to higher volume of deposits mobilized by MFIs, meaning that MFIs actually contribute or succeed in turning remittances into deposits. Using an original database of 114 MFIs –operating in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), South Asia (SA), East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), and Africa–, we perform empirical tests to study whether MFIs are able to capture migrants’ savings thanks to their money transfer activity. We test the impact of money transfer activity on deposits, using the natural logarithm of deposits as explained variable. Our main result suggests that money transfer activity has a significant positive impact on savings collection. MFIs involved in the remittances market thus attract more savings than MFIs that are not involved in it, probably coming from migrants and remittances receivers who are in need of adapted financial services. This confirms the opportunity MFIs may represent as a tool or a channel to improve remittances impact on investment. In that sense, MFIs should then be encouraged to operate on the remittances market, and to design financial products dedicated to migrants and remittances receivers. <p>The third question, developed in Chapter 4, is related to the supply approach of the relationship between remittances and microfinance. More precisely, we try to identify factors that seem to explain the availability of such service in the scope of services provided by MFIs. In this chapter, we focus first on potential sources of efficiency gains linked to the money transfer activity as a rationale for diversification (i.e. the expansion of the offer). And second, using an original database of 435 MFIs –operating in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), South Asia (SA), East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), and Africa–, we perform empirical tests using cross-section over the year 2006, to identify which environmental and institutional parameters have an impact on the willingness of a MFI to provide a money transfer service. We test the impact of various variables that are related to one of the rationale for MFIs to enter the money transfer market, namely economies of scale and scope as a source of efficiency gains, on the probability to have a money transfer service provided by a given MFI. Our main result suggests that the size, as well as the fact that an MFI collects savings have a positive and significant impact on this probability, while the level of financial development negatively impact it. This confirms among other things that the ability to realize economies of scale through a potential increase of collected deposits may be a determinant of managers’ choice to diversify. Policies that contribute to reduce entry barriers in low financially developed countries should then, among other things, be encouraged to have MFIs fully playing their role of intermediaries between remittances and the (formal) economy. <p>The chapter 5 questions about the institutional consequences for MFIs to collect migrants’ savings. The aim of this chapter is to give an insight on the opportunity migrants’ money (including remittances) could represent for the microfinance industry as a source of stable medium- and long-term funds. It is therefore related to the supply approach and the motivation for MFIs to enter the remittances market by analyzing the impact of migrants’ deposits (which include remittances) on another potential source of efficiency gains, namely the internal capital market. Through a case study approach, this chapter is devoted to the analysis of funding risk in microfinance, comparing migrants’ and locals’ time deposits. Migrants’ time deposits are expected to be of longer term and more stable (in terms of early withdrawals) than locals’ deposits. This assumption had never been tested yet. Based on an original database of 7,828 deposit contracts issued between 2002 and 2008 by 12 village banks belonging to a major Malian rural microfinance network (PASECA-Kayes), we used the Cox proportional hazard model to identify the variables that have an impact on the probability to have early withdrawals, and the technique of re-sampling to calculate withdrawal rates and deposits at risk. Results from the Cox methodology suggest that the migration status is not a direct determinant for the probability to have an early withdrawal. However, this probability increases with the amount deposited and the term of the contract which are both higher for migrants compared to non-migrants. The re-sampling method results suggest that withdrawal rates are not the same for the two categories of depositors observed. We find higher withdrawal rate distributions for migrants than for locals. The value at risk is also higher on migrants’ deposits than on locals’ deposits. However, as migrants tend to deposit for longer term than locals, through the calculation of durations we have measured to which extend migrants’ deposits still have a positive impact on MFIs’ liabilities. It appears that migrants’ money has a marginal but positive impact on time deposits durations, either when considering early withdrawals, which impacts are very limited, except in 2007 (the worst year in terms of amount withdrawn early). As our results show that MFIs that receive migrants’ deposits are not necessarily better-off than without migrants’ money in terms of funding risk - and durations - this paper has stressed the importance of assessing more carefully the role of migrants for the microfinance industry. <p><p><p><p><br>Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis investigates the effects of micro-saving on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) using unbalanced panels that straddle the period 2000-2012. This issue is also examined in a country-specific case study of Vietnam. There are four important findings. First, we found that serving more voluntary savers is costly and curtails depth of microfinance outreach. Second, micro-savings, in terms of the total deposits and the number of deposit accounts per staff member have a positive and significant impact on financial sustainability, cost-efficiency and breadth of outreach of MFIs. Third, a trade-off between financial sustainability and depth of outreach was found for deposit-taking MFIs, compared with MFIs that do not offer micro-savings financial products. Fourth, the findings from the cross-country studies are consistent with the findings from Vietnam. Overall, these findings have important implications for policy makers, microfinance practitioners and researchers.

The poor need a range of financial services to cope with shocks, to manage day-to-day transactions, and to grasp business opportunities, among others. To be successful in reaching the poor, microfinance institutions should offer products that meet the poor’s needs. Product design, therefore, is becoming a very important topic. “Behavioral” product design pinpoints the importance of individuals’ behavioral anomalies, such as procrastination behavior and lack of self-control. Financial products are seen as commitment devices to help individuals diverting money from immediate consumption to savings and investment.<p>This doctoral thesis contributes to this recent research stream by first surveying the literature on product design in microfinance, and then providing an empirical and a theoretical contribution. Precisely, the thesis is structured in four chapters. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are both reviewing the literature. Chapter 1, titled “Product Flexibility in Microfinance: A Survey”, reviews the academic literature on product flexibility in microfinance and offers a categorization scheme of flexible microfinance products. Chapter 2, titled “Innovative Flexible Products in Microfinance”, scrutinizes nine real-life practices covering microcredit, micro-savings and micro-insurance services that mix flexible features and commitment devices. Chapter 3, titled “The Debt Puzzle in Dhaka’s Slums: Do Liquidity Needs Explain Co-Holding?”, examines the use of flexible savings-and-loan accounts by SafeSave’s clients and tests whether the need for liquidity explains why the poor save and borrow simultaneously. Lastly, Chapter 4, titled “Having it Both Ways: A Theory of the Banking Firm with Time-consistent and Time-inconsistent Depositors,” proposes a theoretical model to determine the liquidity premium offered by a monopolistic bank to a pool of depositors composed of time-consistent and time-inconsistent agents.<br>Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

El primer capítol examina la mesura que l'accés al crèdit i el racionament del crèdit estan influenciats pel tipus de microfinances basat en els principals factors que determinen les micro, accés de les petites i mitjanes empreses al crèdit de les institucions de microfinances en l'era de la liberalització financera. Les dades per a l'estudi van ser recollits dels registres de crèdit i préstecs de les institucions de microfinances que comprenia les diverses peces d'informació proporcionades pels prestataris en el procés de sol·licitud de préstec. Els nostres resultats són desconcertants i mostren que el racionament del crèdit no està influenciada pels tipus de microfinances sinó per les empreses microfinanceres individuals. Els nostres resultats també mostren que el tipus microfinances Govern és el més greu en el comportament de racionament El segon capítol té per objecte provar la política de microfinançament de Ghana, creat per donar suport i capacitar les persones vulnerables a través de l'accés al crèdit. Es recorre a la descomposició Blinder-Oaxaca per determinar si hi ha una discriminació positiva a favor de les dones i els joves empresaris en el comportament de racionament de les empreses de microfinances. Això és el que hauríem d'esperar si la política és efectiva. Els nostres resultats mostren que fins i tot després de controlar un gran nombre de característiques del prestatari, el tipus de microfinances i les variables de solvència creditícia, hi ha una discriminació positiva que afavoreix a les dones empresàries i joves. El tercer i últim capítol examina la importància de les característiques dels països africans "líders" i transicions de règim i com aquests factors afecten l'estat de salut com un indicador de desenvolupament dels seus ciutadans utilitzant taxa de mortalitat infantil com a mesura. Un conjunt de dades única que comprèn 45 països de l'Àfrica subsahariana que abasta des de 1970 t0 2010 es van utilitzar per a l'estudi. Els resultats globals suggereixen un avantatge democràtica en el procés d'aconseguir resultats eficaços de política de salut per promoure la salut i el benestar dels ciutadans a l'Àfrica subsahariana contemporània, almenys en el llarg termini.<br>El primer capítulo examina la medida en que el acceso al crédito y el racionamiento del crédito están influenciados por el tipo de microfinanzas basado en los principales factores que determinan las micro, acceso de las pequeñas y medianas empresas al crédito de las instituciones de microfinanzas en la era de la liberalización financiera. Los datos para el estudio fueron recogidos de los registros de crédito y préstamos de las instituciones de microfinanzas que comprendía las diversas piezas de información proporcionados por los prestatarios en el proceso de solicitud de préstamo. Nuestros resultados son desconcertantes y muestran que el racionamiento del crédito no está influenciada por los tipos de microfinanzas sino por las empresas microfinancieras individuales. Nuestros resultados también muestran que el tipo microfinanzas Gobierno es el más grave en el comportamiento de racionamiento El segundo capítulo tiene por objeto probar la política de microfinanciación de Ghana, creado para apoyar y capacitar a las personas vulnerables a través del acceso al crédito. Se recurre a la descomposición Blinder-Oaxaca para determinar si existe una discriminación positiva a favor de las mujeres y los jóvenes empresarios en el comportamiento de racionamiento de las empresas de microfinanzas. Esto es lo que deberíamos esperar si la política es efectiva. Nuestros resultados muestran que incluso después de controlar un gran número de características del prestatario, el tipo de microfinanzas y las variables de solvencia crediticia, existe una discriminación positiva que favorece a las mujeres empresarias y jóvenes. El tercer y último capítulo examina la importancia de las características de los países africanos "líderes" y transiciones de régimen y cómo estos factores afectan el estado de salud como un indicador de desarrollo de sus ciudadanos utilizando tasa de mortalidad infantil como medida. Un conjunto de datos única que comprende 45 países del África subsahariana que abarca desde 1970 t0 2010 se utilizaron para el estudio. Los resultados globales sugieren una ventaja democrática en el proceso de lograr resultados eficaces de política de salud para promover la salud y el bienestar de los ciudadanos en el África subsahariana contemporánea, al menos en el largo plazo.<br>The first chapter examines the extent to which access to credit and credit rationing are influenced by the microfinance type based on the major factors determining micro, small and medium enterprises’ access to credit from microfinance institutions in the era of financial liberalization. The data for the study were gleaned from the microfinance institutions’ credit and loan records consisting of the various pieces of information provided by the borrowers in the loan application process. Our results are puzzling and show that credit rationing is not influenced by the microfinance types but by the individual microfinance companies. Our results also show that the Government microfinance type is the most severe in the rationing behavior The second chapter aims at testing the Ghana Microfinance Policy, set up to support and empower the vulnerable through access to credit. We resort to the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to determine if there is positive discrimination in favour of women and young entrepreneurs in the rationing behavior of the microfinance companies. This is what we should expect if the policy is effective. Our results show that even after controlling for a large number of borrower characteristics, microfinance type and credit worthiness variables, there is positive discrimination that favors female and young entrepreneurs. The third and the last chapter looks at the importance of African countries’ leaders’ characteristics and regime transitions and how these factors affect the health status as a development indicator of their citizens using infant mortality rate as a measure. A unique dataset comprising 45 sub-Saharan African countries spanning from 1970 t0 2010 were used for the study. The overall results are suggestive of a democratic advantage in the process of achieving effective health policy outcomes for promoting health and the wellbeing of the citizens in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa, at least in the long run.

Microfinance targets the poor and very poor, both in urban and rural areas. It has become a common method of poverty alleviation in many developing countries. Several microfinance institutions have adopted a social mission to eradicate poverty by providing credit to the poor. In the past, microfinance organizations used to focus on farmers in rural areas. Modern microfinance programs are focused on the population that is largely neglected by the formal financial sector, specifically women. Due to the perceived risk in this type of uncollateralized lending, private equity markets are not keen on financing microfinance institutions. Furthermore, microfinance institutions are seen as socially motivated as opposed to being financially motivated. For that reason, their profitability and sustainability has come under question in the last decade. Two approaches to the issue of sustainability exist. The dominant institutionist approach argues that microfinance institutions should focus on being sustainable as this will improve their chances of alleviating poverty. The welfarist approach disagrees with this view by arguing that focusing on sustainability will result in the neglect of the poorest of the poor. This study analyses the sustainability of microfinance in South Africa by using a case study research approach. The study explores the challenges to sustainability in South Africa. The results of the study indicate that the microfinance institutions are not profitable nor self- sufficient. The most notable challenge to this sustainability is the high personnel costs. South African MFIs experience higher operating costs than their African counterparts. The study also indicates that the more financially sound microfinance institutions have a lower level of depth outreach than the more subsidy dependent institutions.

Cette recherche examine le lien entre la Responsabilité Sociale d’Enterprise (RSE) des Institutions de Microfinance (IMFs) et les investisseurs étrangers (F.Is) dans le contexte où la micro finance commercialisée a un double objectif (DBL). Le cadre théorique et conceptuel de cette étude comprend la théorie de l'agence, la théorie des parties prenantes, la théorie de la dépendance aux ressources et le concept d'Investissement Socialement Responsable (ISR). L'étude empirique est basée sur un processus en deux étapes, une première étude qualitative exploratoire réalisée à travers des entretiens semi-directif avec 9 gestionnaires de fonds (ISR) afin de bien comprendre le sujet et d'enrichir les théories et les concepts. La deuxième étape consiste en une analyse quantitative à l'aide des modèles des moindres carrés ordinaires (OLS) et de la régression logistique en utilisant les données de 615 IMF pour l'année 2012 pour vérifier le lien entre les F.Is et la RSE et si la performance financière joue un rôle de médiateur ou de modérateur. Pour la première fois en microfinance, une définition globale / multi dimensionnelle de la RSE est utilisée et des indicateurs calculés sur la base de cela. Les résultats montrent que la RSE est un facteur clé dans les décisions d'investissement de F.Is et il montre un effet de médiation de la performance financière sur la relation entre la RSE et F.Is. Afin d'assurer l'accès aux services financiers au bas de la pyramide, les IMFs ont besoin d'avoir accès aux investisseurs étrangers. Comme la RSE est prise en compte par les investisseurs dans leur décision d'investissement, les IMF doivent donc se concentrer sur la gestion et la présentation des activités pertinentes de RSE afin d'attirer et de satisfaire ces investisseurs<br>This research examines the link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and foreign investors (F.Is) in the context that commercialized Microfinance has double-bottom-line. The theoretical and conceptual framework for this study includes the agency theory, stakeholder’s theory, resource dependence theory and the concept of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). The empirical study is based on a two-step process, an initial exploratory qualitative study carried out through semi-structured interviews with 9 fund managers (SRI) in order to understand well the topic and enrich the theories and concepts. The second step is a quantitative analysis through ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression models using data of 615 MFIs for the year 2012 to verify the link between F.I and CSR and if financial performance plays a mediator or moderator role. For the first time in microfinance, a comprehensive/multi-dimensional definition of CSR is used and indicators calculated based on that. The results show that CSR is a key factor in investment decisions of F.Is and it shows a mediation effect of financial performance on the relationship between CSR and F.Is. In order to provide access to financial services at the bottom of the pyramid, MFIs need access to foreign investors. As CSR is taken into account by investors in their investment decision, therefore, MFIs need to focus on managing and reporting relevant CSR activities in order to attract and satisfy these investors

Critics argue that there has been a trend among Microfinance Institutions (MFI) to focus on profitability in order to stay financially sustainable. This made some institutions neglect the social mission of microfinancing. In this paper I intend to examine if empirical evidence supports this so called mission drift hypothesis as well as other claims in this context. Using the global panel data set of the MIX (Microfinance Information Exchange), which gathers from 1995 to 2010 and contains up to 1400 institutions with a high variety of organizational forms, I was able to identify a world-wide mission drift effect in their social goal of reaching out the poorest part of the population. Furthermore, I find that, on average, the outreach of an MFI has a significant negative influence on its short and long term financial performance. Despite that, I eventually proved that the probability that an MFI worsens its social performance substantially increases if its profitability has decreased in the previous years.<br>Das Konzept der Mikrofinanzierung wurde, insbesondere im Zuge der Mikrofinanzkrisen in Asien und Südamerika zunehmend kritisiert. Dabei stand vor allem die Kommerzialisierung der Branche im Zentrum der Kritik. In dieser Studie soll daher unter anderem die sogenannte „Mission Drifts”-These also dass das eigentliche Ziel des Mikrokreditwesen aus den Augen verloren wurde, empirisch überprüft werden. Mit Hilfe des Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Datensatzes, wurden Paneldaten von bis zu 1.400 Kreditinstitutionen, mit unterschiedlichen (Rechts-)formen, aus den Jahren 1995 bis 2010 ausgewertet. Die Regressionsanalyse hat gezeigt, dass Profitablität in der Tat einen negativen Einfluss auf das Ziel hat, möglichst arme Menschen zu erreichen. Auch der Trade-off zwischen der Reichweite von Mikrokrediten und kurzfristiger sowie langfristiger Profitabilität konnte nachgewiesen werden. Die Daten zeigten aber auch, dass Mikrofinanzinstitution dazu tendieren soziale Ziele zu vernachlässigen, wenn es im vergangenen Geschäftsjahr finanziell bergab ging.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The approach to offering financial services to the poor has evolved over the past decades. The microfinance schism between the two paradigms, institutionist and welfarist, has yet to be narrowed by evidence of greater success of the one over the other. The drive for commercialisation of microfinance institutions has spurred many crises across the globe and the validity of the argument that commercial microfinance is more sustainable has come under scrutiny. This research report dissects the sustainability of African Bank and Capitec, two commercial microfinance institutions. Accounting ratios are applied to the audited financial data of both microfinance institutions to measure their sustainability from 2007 up to their most recent audited results. The research has found that both microfinance institutions experienced rapid growth since 2007, primarily driven by larger average loan sizes over longer terms. The research shows that Capitec has more diverse sources of revenue and depends less on its loan portfolio to generate income than African Bank. It also shows that Capitec has a more conservative approach with regard to provisioning for loans, and is consequently better prepared for loan write-offs than African Bank. Overall, Capitec is found to be more sustainable in each period measured.

This thesis contains three empirical essays which aim to contribute to economic research in the field of microfinance. Specifically, the first of these essays, presented in Chapter 2, examines the effect of commercialisation on efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Sub-Saharan Africa using Data Envelopment Analysis and truncated regression model. The analysis is performed on 273 MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2005 - 2011. It is shown that commercialisation has a positive effect on efficiency of MFIs. In the light of this finding, we uphold the view that commercialisation can bring some benefits to the microfinance industry. Chapter 3 reports the investigations of whether productivity growth in the microfinance industry are passed to microcredit clients in the form of lower interest rates, and whether the effect depends on the extent of competition in the industry, using a balanced panel data on 175 MFIs worldwide over the period 2005 - 2012. The study finds that the effect of productivity growth in reducing microcredit interest rates is greater for high levels of competition than for low levels of competition. Thus, the evidence suggests that microcredit clients can benefit from productivity growth in the form of lower interest rates as the microfinance industry increasingly becomes competitive. We therefore argue that productivity growth and competition should be encouraged in the microfinance industry. The third essay, presented in Chapter 4 considers the possibility of mission drift in microfinance; a situation whereby MFIs move away from targeting the poor towards better-off clients. Using two different measures of poverty, the chapter examines whether the location choices of MFIs in Uganda are consistent with the objective of extending financial services to the extreme poor; and whether the pattern observed varies across different types of MFIs. The analysis is conducted on 118 MFIs over the period 2009 - 2013, by adopting a static count data model and dynamic regression approach. The results point towards an interesting picture that is important to take into account in the debate on mission drift. We show that the location of branches of MFIs is initially correlated negatively with poverty, but this correlation disappears over time; suggesting that MFIs have a greater incentive to target richer districts during earlier years, but poorer districts tend to catch-up with time. Again, we show that Commercial Bank MFIs are more likely to increase their presence in poorer districts than do other types of MFIs. These results suggest that full-fledged commercially oriented MFIs can have a strong positive response to targeting poorer districts. The implication of these findings is that commercial microfinance could be pursued as a strategy to reach the unbanked segment of the world's poor population. Taken together the analysis presented in each of these three chapters appears to indicate that, contrary to the writing of some popular commentators, the cause of economic development may have little to fear and much to gain from the entrance of commercial MFIs. While this conclusion may surprise many development professional, it should not surprise the development economist that the very forces of competition appear to drive these findings. While it is quite possible that the MFI revolution could not have been set lose by the commercial sector, it certainly does appear that the market which they established is now a viable and flourishing area to do business. Just as importantly, fears that commercial lenders might not target the poorest, or could charge exploitative rates of interest, may have been overstated.

Les limites des pratiques de gouvernance constituent l’un des risques majeurs qui menacent la viabilité des institutions de microfinance (IMF). Les IMF localisées en Afrique centrale, et notamment au Cameroun, ces limites se rapportent au manque de transparence dans les procédures de recrutement des dirigeants, dans les procédures de prise de décision organisationnelle et dans le mode de choix ou d’élection des administrateurs, et au système de contrôle des dirigeants. L’objectif de ce travail était de comprendre le fonctionnement des systèmes de gouvernance des IMF au Cameroun. Il s’agissait précisément d’une part de mettre en relief les mécanismes de gouvernance à l’œuvre dans ces institutions, et d’autre part, de déterminer les liens entre ces mécanismes et les indicateurs de la performance de ces dernières. De l’étude empirique, il ressort que le Conseil d’administration (CA) est l’organe central de la gouvernance dans les IMF au Cameroun. A côté de ce mécanisme, la politique de rémunération du dirigeant, les contrôles par les autorités monétaires, et par l’organe faitier (dans le cas spécifique des coopératives d’épargne et de crédit appartenant à des réseaux) et l’évaluation de l’activité de l’IMF par les agences de notation sont des mécanismes supplémentaires qui assurent la discipline des dirigeants de ces institutions. Par ailleurs, la structure monale du leadership au conseil d’administration, le nombre de métiers différents que compte le conseil d’administration, les contrôles des autorités monétaires et des organes faitiers, l’évaluation de l’activité de l’IMF par des agences de notation, le niveau d’études et l’ancienneté du dirigeant, ont une influence positive sur les indicateurs de la performance de ces institutions. A contrario, la présence des femmes an conseil d’administration et le nombre annuel de rencontres du conseil d’administration, ont une influence négative sur ces indicateurs. Cependant, le nombre d’administrateurs, l’indépendance du conseil d’administration vis à vis de la direction et l’audit (externe) régulier des comptes de ces institutions, n’ont aucune influence sur leurs indicateurs de performance<br>The drawbacks of governance practices constitute one of the major risks that threaten le viability of microfinancial institutions (MFI). With regards to MFIs located in Central Africa and particularly in Cameroon, these limitations are related to the lack of transparency in the hiring processes of managers, in the process of organisational decision taking and in the method of choice or election of directors as well as in the system of control of chief executive. The aim of this work is to understand the functioning of governance systems of MFIs in Caemroon. Precisely, it was a matter of highlighting on one hand the governance mechanisms put in place in these institutions, and on the other hand to determine the link between these mechanisms and the performance governance in MFIs in Cameroon. Next to this mechanism, the chief executive compensation, controls y monetary authorities and by the credit’s union central organi (specifically in the case of credit union belonging to networks) and the evaluation of activities by rating agencies are additional mechanismes that assure the control of chief executive in these institutions. Moreover, the structure of leadership in the board of directors, the number of different trades counted bu the board of directions, controls by monetary authorities and by credit union central organ, evaluation by rating agencies, the level of education and the sentant of the chief executive have a positive influence on the performance indicators of these institutions. Unlikely, the presence of women in the board of directors and the number of annual meetings of the said board have a negative influence on these indicators. However, the number of directors, the independence of the board of directors vis-a-vis management and the regular (external) audit of the accounts of these institutions have no influence on their performance indicators

Microfinance offers one way to combat poverty by providing access to credit and financial services to low-income borrowers. We argue that the interconnectedness of the socioeconomic and ecological system as well as the reliance on ecosystem services make it important to provide microcredit from a full sustainability perspective. We used the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, a scientific based systematic and strategic approach, to create a principle-based model of a microfinance institution operating in a socioeconomic and ecologically sustainable manner. This model was then compared with the circumstances in which these institutions currently operate. We then explored how taking a full sustainability perspective could meet current challenges and maximise opportunities. After a prioritisation process, we made recommendations on how these organisations could strategically move towards sustainability.

L’émergence de la micro-finance a été vue comme un remède pour un grand nombre de problèmes sociaux issus de la pauvreté en vertu de son efficacité dans l’octroi de crédits, dans l’amélioration de l’équité sociale ainsi que dans la réduction du niveau de pauvreté. Des millions de foyers en dessous du seuil de pauvreté n’ayant pas accès aux services bancaires ont ainsi pu accéder à des services financiers au travers de programmes de micro-finance. Cependant, le développement de la micro-finance ne suit pas un modèle identique pour tous les pays et les Institutions de Micro-finance (IMF) ont eu différents degrés de rentabilité. Beaucoup d’entre elles doivent encore faire face à des contraintes majeures pour fournir de manière efficace des services de micro-finance rentables. L’expansion des programmes de micro-finance reste un grand défi qui fait barrière au développement du secteur de cette dernière. Quelles pourraient être les raisons expliquant cette inefficience ?Cette thèse a pour but de contribuer à l’état des connaissances actuelles ainsi qu’aux recherches sur le développement et les caractéristiques du secteur de la micro-finance en analysant les facteurs stratégiques pouvant avoir un effet sur son développement dans le contexte du Vietnam.Pour ce faire, il sera appliqué à la fois des méthodes de recherche qualitatives et quantitatives.Nous effectuerons une analyse comparative entre l’innovation financière dans le système de micro-finance du Vietnam et deux modèles de référence internationaux : la Grameen Bank et la banque Rakyat d’Indonésie (BRI) afin de déterminer quelles contraintes limitent l’ampleur et la portée des activités de micro-finance au Vietnam ; quels types de modèles de microfinance sont adéquats : que cela soit pour des modèles commerciaux à but lucratif ou pour des projets de micro-finance sociale. Par ailleurs, des analyses empiriques seront portées par les techniques OLS et GMM afin d’examiner l’impact de l’environnement institutionnel ainsi que des facteurs macroéconomiques sur la rentabilité des IMF’s. Les résultats donnent la preuve d’une persistance de la rentabilité et de l’existence d’économies d’échelle en micro-finance. La qualité des prêts semble être un facteur déterminant concernant la rentabilité des IMF’s au Vietnam. Notre analyse confirme également le rôle important de l'État ainsi que le rôle décisif dans l'auto-innovation des institutions de microfinance<br>The appearance of microfinance has been known as a remedy for many social ills rooted in poverty because of its efficacy in credit dispensation, social equality enhancement and reduction of poverty. Millions of poor and non-bankable people in developing countries have been provided access to formal financial services through microfinance programs. However, the development of microfinance is not a single model for all country and microfinance institutions (MFIs) have had various degree of sustainability. Many MFIs still face major constraints in their pursuit of effectively delivering microfinance services profitably. Expansion of microfinance programs remains a formidable challenge for the development of microfinance industry. What would be reasons for that inefficiency?This thesis seeks to contribute to the current state of knowledge and research thoroughly on the development and the characteristics of microfinance industry by investigating strategic factors affecting microfinance development in Vietnam context. It applies both qualitative and quantitative research methods.We develop comparative analysis between financial innovation of Vietnam microfinance system and two other international benchmarks namely Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the Bank Rakyat of Indonesia (BRI) to figure out what constraints limit the scale and scope of Vietnam microfinance activities; what types of microfinance models are suitable: whether for-profit commercial models or social microfinance ventures in Vietnam context. Besides, empirical work is carried out using both OLS and GMM techniques to examine the impact of institutional environment as well as macroeconomic factors on MFIs’ profitability. The results present evidence on a dynamic role of profitability and economies of scale in microfinance. Loan quality seems to be a very important determinant of MFI’s profitability in Vietnam. Our analysis also confirms the significant role of State level as well as the decisive role in self-innovation of microfinance institutions

Thesis (MDF)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.<br>The level of poverty in Namibia is relatively high. Access to finance is cited as one of factors hampering economic growth and poverty alleviation. Microfinance is seen as one of the effective tools that can address poverty alleviation by engaging the poor in sustainable economic activities. Microfinance services have existed in Namibia since the late 1990s, yet they have not attained growth. The main providers of microfinance services consist mainly of Micro-lenders, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS), Public Financial Institutions (PFI) and to a less extent Commercial Banks (CB). This research report aimed to study and identify the problems that impact on the growth of microfinance finance institutions (MFIs) in Namibia. The findings of this study revealed that lack of regulatory and policy framework, lack of capital and high operational costs were the main problem areas hampering the growth of MFIs in Namibia. The study made recommendations which are aimed at enhancing the growth of microfinance institutions.

Thesis (MBA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2005.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Microfinance services in Tanzania have existed for some years, yet have remained weak and slow to develop. Therefore, the objective of this study is to survey problems that impact on the growth of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Tanzania. MFIs in Tanzania include commercial banks, rural community banks, on-bank financial institutions, NGOs and Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs). The problems in the microfinance sector are prioritised and show that the lack of sufficient capital to lend to clients is the problem that has the greatest impact on growth, followed by education level of clients. A number of these problems show agreement as expressed by the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficients. The recommendations directly touch the provision of capital support to MFIs as a most priority criteria towards MFIs growth. Sufficient capital to lend to clients can decrease the impact of other problems that shows correlation with it, such as service quality to customers, attraction of low income earners, client focus, small and irregular cash flows from clients, as well as education level of clients. Finally, it is shown by a selected best practice matrix that solutions to problems impacting on the growth of MFIs in Tanzania depend on a combination of several best practices that can lead to sustainable solutions. Hence MFls may find a combination of relevant best practices that fit efficiently. effectively and economically to their respective operating environments.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Mikrofinansieringsdienste in Tanzania bestaan al geruime jare, maar is ongelukkig swak ontwikkeld en toon stadige groei. Die doelwit van hierdie studie is om probleme te identifiseer wat impakteer op die groei van die Mikrofinansiering-instansies (MFI) in Tanzania. MFIs in Tanzania sluit in kommersiele banke, landelike / gemeenskapsbanke, niebank finansiele instansies, Nie-regeringsorganisasies (NGOs) en Spaar en Krediet Samewerkende Gemeenskappe (SACCO's). Die probleme in die mikrofinansiering-sektor is geprioritiseer en dui daarop dat die gebrek aan beskikbaarheid van voldoende lenings-kapitaal die grootste impak op die sektor het, gevolg deur die vlak van onderwys-opvoeding van kliente. Verskeie van die probleme gelys vind ooreenkomste by mekaar, soos uitgelig deur die "Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficients". Aanbevelings gemaak, hou direk verhand met die voorsiening van kapitale ondersteuning aan MFIs, as die belangrikste kriteria wat sal lei tot MFI groei. Voldoende leningskapitaal kan die impak van ander probleme wat verband hou met die tekort aan kapitaal verminder, soos onder andere die kwaliteit van klientediens, die lae-inkomste mark wat bedien word, kliente fokus, klein / ongereelde inkomste-strome van kliente, asook die onderwys-opvoedingsvlakke van kliente. Ter afsluiting, dit is getoon deur die beste praktykbeginse/s matriks, dat die oplossing vir probleme wat impakteer op die groei van die MFI sektor in Tanzania, afhanklik is van 'n kombinasie van verskeie beste praktykbeginsels wat kan lei tot volhoubare oplossings. Sodoende kan MFIs 'n kombinasie van beste praktykbeginsels vind wat effektief en ekonomies sal werk vir hulle onderskeie omgewings.

An enduring problem facing microfinance institutions is how to attain financial sustainability. Several studies have been conducted to determine the factors affecting financial sustainability of microfinance institutions using large and well developed MFIs in various countries. However, no such study has been conducted in rural Tanzania where majority of MFIs are small, most of which are member-based (cooperatives). Consequently, the factors affecting their financial sustainability are not known. This study, therefore, was set to bridge this knowledge gap. This study followed a quantitative research approach using panel data regression as the main data analysis technique. The study was based on four years primary and secondary data obtained from 98 sampled rural MFIs in Tanzania. We found that microfinance capital structure, interest rates charged, differences in lending type, cost per borrower, product type, MFI size, number of borrowers, yield on gross loan portfolio, level of portfolio at risk, liquidity level, staff productivity, and the operating efficiency affect the financial sustainability of rural microfinance institutions in Tanzania. The study makes the following key contributions to knowledge in addition to determining factors affecting financial sustainability of rural microfinance institutions in Tanzania: First, the study reveals that there exists simultaneous causality relationship between financial sustainability and breadth of outreach. When this relationship is not considered in determining factors affecting financial sustainability there may be inconsistent evidence on the existence of mission drift. Second, it unveils the trade-off between financial sustainability and breadth of outreach with regards to the minimum loan size when group lending is used. That is, larger loan size, while improves profitability, reduces the breadth of outreach. Third, the study provides empirical evidence that the impact of a particular lending type on microfinance institution‟s profitability will depend on the term to maturity and number of instalments reflected in its lending terms. Fourth, consistent with the institutionists‟ view, the study provides empirical evidence that financial sustainability of microfinance institutions improves their breadth of outreach. Lastly, the study documents the applicability and limitations of previous studies to rural microfinance institutions in Tanzania.

The first chapter provides a comprehensive overview of microfinance academic literature with emphasis on recent innovations, trends and efficiency. In particular, we focus on controversial issues of microfinance, such as commercialization, regulation, interest rate policy and the balance between outreach and performance of MFIs. The next chapter especially investigates the role of public expenditures and general government debt in microfinance performance in Latin America and the Caribbean. Microfinance institutions finance their business activities primary with clients' deposits, equity or with external funding. The aim of the third chapter is to verify whether the external funding, macroeconomic development and the size of banking sector have some impact on a microfinance performance. This study investigates, as well, the possible reasons why many microfinance institutions have gradually experienced a decrease in the share of female borrowers in their portfolios over the last few years. The final chapter is focused on the impact of macroeconomic environment and internal variables of the microfinance sector on microfinance interest rates.

Microfinance was rapidly hailed as a poverty alleviation tool by development agencies, researchers and practitioners. Despite the increasing capacity of MFIs to manage their financial sustainability, impact studies available report disappointingly low social achievements. Social performance assessment tools available struggle to combat a narrow MFI-centric approach which often overlooks contextual issues and institutional characteristics which can influence MFIs’ poverty reduction potential. This research’s main objective is to identify which and explain how organisational structures and management systems impact on MFIs’ social performance. This work uses a bottom-up research strategy, based on a 10-month extensive fieldwork in Bangladesh, a 490 household data-set, an ethnographic community study in Modhupur and institutional analyses of ASA and PDBF. It analyses the livelihoods, capitals and strategies of rural households in Bangladesh, explores their perceptions and experiences of microfinance and examines the management of socio-financial trade-offs within MFIs at different hierarchical levels. The research’s main findings seriously question the poverty reducing potential of standardised commercialised microfinance in settings characterised by vulnerability, shocks and seasonality, such as rural Bangladesh. It finds that although most MFIs have similar poverty reduction missions it is the way in which their organisational structures, managementsystems and working cultures are arranged that shapes their financial and social achievements. There is strong evidence that commercial MFIs can experience a silent practice drift at the field level in Bangladesh and that the commercialisation of MFIs provides strong incentives for the field staff to prioritise the achievement of their financial targets to the detriment of social performance, discouraging them from reporting low social performance. There are therefore few reasons why MFI senior managers should question their model and policies. This drift can manifest itself through malpractices hard-selling of loans, poor client selection and follow-up procedures, forcing clients into borrowing more and larger loans, using extreme forms of pressure through abusive language and behaviours and micro-collateral. This process usually has longer-term negative impacts on clients, especially the very poor who adopt successive short-term coping tactics to meet inflexible repayment schedules. This thesis concludes that commercial microfinance should not be targeted to the poorest and that more consideration should be given to clientselection and follow-up procedures. This thesis argues that the commercialisation of the global microfinance industry serves the interests of diverse stakeholders who contribute to maintaining the industry’s reputation though the media. This can be deemed an iceberg industry (that shows little of its actual workings and impacts to the public) which is sustained through considerable support from an increasing number of private investors for whom MFIs’ commercial expansion (regardless of its social achievements) serves their financial and political interests.

Microfinance is commonly used as a development strategy to help alleviate poverty across the globe. Microfinance has become more widespread and popular in the past decade, particularly in Latin America. This thesis outlines several variables of microfinance and how these variables affect the sustainability of microfinance institutions. The variables of microfinance analyzed in this thesis are: loan conditions, level of competition, type of microfinance institution, country, outreach, and gender. A meta-analysis study in the form of a literature review was performed in order to assess the relationship between each of these variables and the sustainability of microfinance institutions. The analysis concludes that the type of microfinance institution, specifically retail banks, is intimately linked to the sustainability of microfinance institutions in Latin America.

Microfinance can play an important role in the growth of an economy. Thus, we are interested in developing models that could simply estimate the probability of default of a customer and the probability of the microfinance being at risk based on probability of default of customers.

This dissertation consists of three essays, each exploring MFIs’ efficiency and productivity dynamics in presence of environment impacts. The first essay examines technical efficiency and its determinants of 36 microfinance institutions in Sri Lanka using a two-stage double bootstrap approach. Efficiency levels are explored in terms of MFIs’ dual objectives of financial sustainability and outreach. In the first stage, a bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) procedure is used to correct the bias and construct confidential intervals for the efficiency estimates. Then in the second stage, bias-corrected efficiency estimates are regressed on a set of environmental variables using a bootstrap regression approach. The results of the first stage analysis confirm the existence of financial and social inefficiency for the majority of MFIs in Sri Lanka. The second stage analysis suggests that such inefficiency is determined by a number of MFI characteristics such as its age, its organizational type (i.e. run as an Non-governmental Organization or not), its capitalization level, and its profitability. The second essay uses a non-parametric Malmquist method to investigate the changes in productivity of 20 Kenyan microfinance institutions over the period 2009-2012. Productivity change is decomposed into indices of technological change, pure efficiency change and scale efficiency change. A bootstrap procedure is employed to construct confidence intervals for the Malmquist indices. This procedure makes it possible to investigate whether such changes are significant in a statistical sense. Additionally, a second-stage bootstrap procedure is employed to ascertain the sources of productivity change measures. Results show that productivity growths are primarily attributable to technical improvements at an average of 7%. Moreover, second stage results suggest that matured MFIs tend to have a lower productivity compared to the younger counterparts. In the third essay, focus is shifted to investigate the relationship between efficiency and corporate governance in MFIs. Using a two-stage bootstrap procedure for a sample of 36 Sri Lankan MFIs, it explores the effect of several governance models (i.e. board size, proportion of women on the board, duality and presence/ absence of a female chief executive officer) on sustainability and outreach dimensions of efficiency estimates. Results suggest that financial efficiency improves with a small board and higher proportion of women on the board. Results also show that MFIs in which the same individual holds CEO and chairman of the board and MFIs in which a woman holds the position of CEO are less efficient in terms of reaching the lower strata of the rural poor.

La commercialisation de la microfinance a mis au premier plan la performance financière des I MF, les IMF adoptant désormais une logique commerciale de rentabilité en plus de leur logique sociale établie de lutte contre la pauvreté. Cela pose un défi de gestion crucial pour les IMF pour équilibrer l'aspect social et commercial de leur mission. Cette thèse vise à analyser comment les IMF surmontent leurs défis pour atteindre leur double objectif social et commercial. Elle s'appuie sur le concept de bricolage comme perspective théorique et sur une approche méthodologique abductive, exploratoire et qualitative. La thèse vise également à fournir une meilleure compréhension du secteur de la microfinance camerounaise, en termes de son histoire et évolution, et des défis spécifiques au secteur. L'étude identifie diverses pratiques de bricolage que les IMF utilisent pour faire avancer la réalisation de leur double mission. Les résultats suggèrent l'utilisation de ces pratiques de bricolage par les IMF pour mobiliser des ressources, renforcer la légitimité et accroître leur ou/reach, dans un contexte caractérisé par des contraintes de ressources. Ces trois résultats de bricolage se renforcent mutuellement pour faciliter la réalisation du double objectif des IMF. Cette recherche a également mis en évidence les quatre phases d'évolution du secteur de la microfinance camerounaise et les cinq principaux défis auxquels sont confrontées les IMF du secteur. Cette thèse contribue à la littérature sur la microfinance. Elle propose un nouvel regard sur la gestion de la double mission des IMF en montrant comment les IMF mobilisent les stratégies de bricolage pour faire avancer leurs objectifs sociaux et commerciaux. Elle met en lumière le lien entre la littérature sur la microfinance et le bricolage<br>The commercialization of microfinance has brought to the forefront the financial performance of MF!s, with MF!s now adopting a commercial logic of profitability in addition to their established social logic of poverty alleviation. This poses a crucial management challenge for the MF!s in terms of balancing the social and commercial aspect of their mission. The main aim of this thesis is to understand how MFls overcome their challenges so as to achieve their dual social and commercial goals. lt draws on the bricolage concept as a theoretical perspective and on an abductive, exploratory and qualitative research approach. The thesis also aimed to provide a better understanding of the Cameroonian microfinance sector, in terms of its history and evolution, and the challenges specific to the sector. The study identifies various bricolage practices that the MF!s use to advance the fulfilment of their dual mission. The findings suggest the use of these bricolage practices by the MF!s to mobilize resources, build legitimacy, and increase outreach, in a context characterized by resource constraints. These three bricolage outcomes reinforce each other, and they all strengthen the achievement of the MF!s' dual goals. This research also highlighted the four phases of evolution of the Cameroonian microfinance sector and the five main challenges faced by MF!s in the sector. This thesis contributes to the microfinance literature. lt offers a new perspective on MF! dual-mission management by showing how MF!s mobilize bricolage practices to advance their dual social and commercial goals. lt brings light on the link between the literature on microfinance and bricolage

Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças Empresariais<br>Este trabalho intitulado a "O Desempenho das Instituições de Microfinanças: Uma Análise Empírica Transnacional (1996-2009)" foi motivado por duas razões, primeiro, fruto do contacto com a parte operacional da agência Aga Khan para as Microfinanças (AKAM) em Moçambique, e pela oportunidade de realizar o trabalho final de mestrado nesta área financeira específica. As microfinanças integram projectos de desenvolvimento e de inclusão financeira para as pessoas que por diversas razões não têm acesso a serviços financeiros convencionais. Inúmeros estudos foram já realizados sobre o impacto das microfinanças como estratégia de desenvolvimento, bem como sobre a sustentabilidade destas instituições. Este estudo tem por objectivo avaliar e aprofundar o impacto de determinadas variáveis chave no desempenho das instituições de microfinanças (IMF), como sejam: macroeconómicas; institucionais; regulamentares; políticas; condições locais; e características geográficas e humanas do país. Através da revisão de literatura pretende-se, ainda, testar empiricamente algumas teorias, isto é: se um melhor funcionamento das IMF está associado a contextos economicamente mais adversos, pela maior permanência destas nestes ambientes; ou se as microfinanças funcionam como uma estratégia de desenvolvimento que precede a industrialização dos países; ou, ainda, se a performance das IMF tende a melhorar com o tempo. Utilizaram-se indicadores financeiros de sustentabilidade, de eficiência e de incumprimento para avaliar o desempenho das IMF com recurso a modelos econométricos e dados de painel. A amostra foi constituída por IMF distribuídas por diversos países do mundo, com diferentes estatutos (bancos, cooperativas, bancos rurais, NGO, NBFI) e maturidades. Após se efectuarem correcções de maneira a tornar os resultados econometricamente mais robustos, estes, para a maioria das variáveis externas, e não controláveis pelas IMF aqui consideradas, não têm impacto estatisticamente significativo nos indicadores de desempenho das instituições. Contudo, os resultados apontam para um impacto positivo e estatisticamente significativo entre o rendimento per capita do país e o rácio de créditos em mora, e para um impacto negativo, e igualmente significativo, entre o rendimento per capita do período anterior e o rácio de write-off. Paralelamente, o aumento do sector formal está associado a uma melhoria na qualidade do portfolio (reflectido no sinal obtido para o estimador da variável participação da força de trabalho no rácio de créditos em mora) das instituições, enquanto que, uma maior fracção da indústria no PIB está associada a piores rácios de write-off. A inflação é outra das variáveis relevantes com impacto positivo e estatisticamente significativo no indicador de eficiência - custo por cliente. Por último, comprova-se que os anos de experiência têm um efeito positivo mas marginalmente decrescente na sustentabilidade das IMF.<br>This research is entitled as "Microfinance Institutions Performance: an Inter-Regional Empirical Analysis (1996-2009)" the inspiration was a consequence of a field visit to the work inside Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) in Mozambique, and the opportunity to finalize the Masters degree in this specific social area. Microfinance is a development and financial inclusion strategy for non-bankable people that, because of different reasons, do not have access to traditional financial services. Several studies have already been conducted, focused on poverty alleviation and the social impact of microfinance (outreach of microfinance), as well as, on the challenges of a microfinance institutions (MFI) to reach financial sustainability. This study aims to evaluate in more depth the impact of different key-variables on IMF performance, namely: macroeconomic; institutional framework; regulation; political; local conditions; geographic and human characteristics of the country. Based on literature review this study also intends to empirically test some theoretical ideas, for example: microfinance is more developed in economic unstable areas due to a historical presence in these contexts; and microfinance as a development strategy that preceded industrialization ofthe countries; or even iftime tends to improve MFI performance. Econometric models and panel data regressions were used to assess the IMF performance in terms of sustainability, efficiency and default. The MFI dataset is distributed for different countries around the world, with different legal status (bank, cooperative/credit union, NGO and non-bank financial institutions) and different age/maturities. After using statistical techniques in order to increase the econometric robustness of the results, overall estimates show no statistical significant relationship between most external and non controlled variables studied on the performance indicators of IMF. However, the results showed a positive statistical significant impact of the current per capita income on at-risk ratio, and a negative significant impact of the previous year's per capita income on write-off ratio. Furthermore, an increase in the formal labor market is associated with a better portfolio quality (reflected by at-risk ratio coefficient on the workforce participation rate) of the institutions, whereas a larger share of manufacturing is associated with a higher write-off ratio. Inflation is another important variable with a positive and significant impact on efficiency indicators - cost per borrower. Finally, the results prove that MFI's tend to perform better initially and then taper off.

Poverty is a major challenge in most developing countries. Key challenges of the government are to alleviate poverty and propel citizens toward wealth creation through development of enterprises across all sectors and to address the problem of unemployment. In Kenya, the SME sector comprises of about 99% of private sector enterprises and is prolific in employment and wealth creation. Despite this critical role played by SMEs in growing the economy, they remain outside the formal banking sector, especially in Africa. Although the number of MFOs since the 1980s has increased, the demand for financial services is largely unmet. However, MFOs are increasingly experiencing competition from new entrants and commercial banks that have developed financial models to target SMEs. MFOs are required to formulate and implement competitive strategies to enable them achieve sustainable growth and compete with commercial banks. However, strategy implementation is generally accepted as a challenge across organisations and it is often easier to formulate strategies than implementing it. Despite the need to address strategy implementation challenges across organisations, there is a greater focus by practitioners and researchers regarding strategy formulation than implementation. Consequently, this study aimed at assessing the level of strategy implementation in MFOs and factors that affect strategy implementation in MFOs. The ultimate objective was to develop a hypothetical model that could be used to improve strategy implementation in microfinance organisations in Kenya. This quantitative study used purposive sampling to select MFOs that are members of the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) in Kenya, completing a selfadministered structured questionnaire. In total, 135 MFOs were involved in this study and a total sample size of 300 managers was used in this study. This study considered fourteen factors to have an influence on the level of strategy implementation of MFOs in Kenya and hence fourteen null-hypotheses were formulated and tested. The content factors included stakeholder involvement in strategy development and the quality of strategies. The context factors included organisational structure and culture, strategic leadership and alignment of strategy to market conditions. The operational process factors included operational planning, monitoring and review of progress, teamwork, resources allocation, people-strategy fit, effective communication, strategic and management control systems and information resources. It is assumed that if all these critical strategy implementation factors are addressed, MFOs should be able improve their level of strategy implementation, ultimately leading to improved performance. The outcome factors considered were improved financial sustainability and outreach of MFOs. Advanced statistical analyses were used to analyse the data, such as factor analysis, regression and correlation analysis to assess the hypothesised relationship between the dependent and independent variables of this study. The empirical results revealed that the level of strategy implementation in MFOs in Kenya is moderate to high and content, context and operational factors do have an influence on the level of strategy implementation. However, operational factors have a more significant positive linear relationship with level of strategy implementation than the other two factors. There is also a positive relationship between the level of strategy implementation and financial sustainability and outreach by MFOs. This study has contributed to the existing body of knowledge by developing a hypothetical model that can be utilised by MFOs as well as other organisations to improve the level of strategy implementation resulting in better performance. The findings of the study can also inform strategy formulation and implementation of MFOs in Kenya, but also in other developing countries, to become more competitive. This study could also help MFOs and other organisations to put in place structures, systems, people and other resources required to attain a high level of strategy implementation. This study provides useful and practical guidelines in dealing with content, context and operational factors affecting strategy implementation in any organisational setting.

Thesis (MDF)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.<br>In the microfinance discourse, sustainability can relate to organisational, managerial and financial aspects. However, what is in vogue in mainstream analysis is the financial sustainability of MFIs throughout the world, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. What has attracted controversial debate on the self financial viability of MFIs is the extent they have maintained the balance between achieving substantial levels of profitability (through employing the institutionalist approach), and being agents of poverty-alleviation (through the welfarist approach). Analysing the mixed fortunes of the five MFIs in Mozambique between 2005 and 2009, this study explores the scope and patterns of outreach programmes as an essay in service-delivery by the MFIs, the repayment capacity of the different stripes of clients, the cost-control regime adopted by the MFIs and the ultimate variegated levels of success realised, and the challenges faced by the MFIs in different provinces.

It has been commonly acknowledged that in order to reach the target clienteles with loans at attractive terms and conditions, an appropriate technology for delivering financial services must be developed. Next to this, current developments in microfinance industry encourage MFIs to offer wide-ranging services within a multiservice portfolio including microsavings, microinsurance, remittances, mobile banking etc. One of the main pillars of this trend has become MFIs increasing interest in the expansion into the savings market to reach more poor clients as well as to lower costs by attracting presumably cheaper deposits. Joint services are tailored to better meet needs of the poor and aim at building sustainable financial systems and establishing closer and long-term relationship with clients. Furthermore, the rapid evolution of microfinance has generated another essential and closely related trend: commercialization. The focus of this dissertation is on three emerging issues associated with the development of microfinance sector: incentive mechanisms to address contract enforcement and screening problems, performance of MFIs though the lenses of combined microfinance services (credit plus savings), and performance of MFIs though the lenses of capital structure. The essays in the dissertation vary in research methodology: one essay is theoretical and two are empirical. Moreover, the data come from diverse microfinance units: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) online database and Microfinance Centre for Central & Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (MFC). As far as methods are concerned the empirical essays use less frequently applied methodologies in microfinance studies: seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) and propensity score matching (PSM).

An enduring problem facing microfinance institutions is access to funding. This study investigates the determinants of MFIs access to funding using a comprehensive measure of capital structure. The design of the study takes account three gaps in our current understanding of this topic. Firstly, despite the huge literature on MFIs corporate governance and the significant role of women on microfinance outcomes, it is perhaps surprising that no research has been conducted on the effect of board gender diversity on MFIs capital structure. Secondly, the role of standard firm-specific and institutional-specific factors in determining MFIs capital structure decision is unclear. Utilizing an alternative regression framework may provide a reliable analysis. Thirdly, our understanding of the composition of MFIs leverage is far from complete. The relationship between deposit liabilities and non-deposit liabilities have not yet been subject of investigation. In response to these three major issues, this study employs empirical research methods using panel data analysis technique. We find that female directors have significant positive influence on deposits and subsidies. Furthermore, the study also shows evidence of risk-taking attitude among female directors when MFIs have three or more of them on board. Secondly, we find that the effect of firm-specific factors on MFIs capital structure differ across countries, while prior studies assume equal impact of these determinants. We find that institutional-specific factors significantly explain the variation of MFIs leverage across countries. However, commercially related institutional factors does not affect MFIs access to subsidies. We also show that there is an indirect impact of institutional factors, as we report their significance effect through firm-specific factors. Finally, the study provides empirical evidence that deposits and borrowings are substitutes rather than complements, and that the degree of substitutability is more pronounced in MFIs operating in a developed financial sector, where the degree of information asymmetry is lower.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2000.<br>Also available online at the DSpace at MIT website.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>This paper attempted to extract from the literature a package of measures, or metrics, that can be used by microcredit programs and institutions to gauge their success as financial institutions, as well as their broader societal impact as welfare organizations. What was learned is that microcredit organizations, unlike more traditional financial institutions, are largely unregulated and therefore tend to use of variety of non-standardized measures to assess their success and sustainability. Moreover, it is clear that microfinance institutions can not easily trade-off those measures that track institutional success, for those that measure the well-being of the community as a result of borrowing money and mounting a micro-enterprise, since a number of confounding factors make direct correlation difficult. By employing the Balanced Scorecard framework, microcredit organizations can collect regularly data that reports on the financial status of the organization, its internal business practices, the rate of borrower success, and lessons learned. Moreover, the microcredit organization that assumes to impact the borrower community at large, can use the same framework to aggregate these data across borrower communities and monitor them along with certain health and welfare data to infer a degree of behavioral impact.<br>by Judith B. Seltzer.<br>M.B.A.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the factors that hinder the growth of the microfinance industry in Namibia. The actual issues of the sector are not known as not much research has been undertaken on it. However, it is possible to establish the constraints that limit the growth of the microfinance environment in the country. The study presents the identified limitations with associated solutions as experienced in different countries and reported by various authors and academics. The desired situation would be for the microfinance sector to operate effectively by serving the poor and unemployed but economically active people. Although this is not the all encompassing solution to the plight of the rural and urban poor, it is, however, the beginning at the attempt to move out of poverty. The questions that the respondents answered were designed specifically to clarify which sector of the low income section of society that was accessing the loans available on the market. This fact will enable policymakers to focus on resolving the hindrance that will produce the most results than taking haphazard actions that bring minimal results. The results could also be useful to microfinance providers in that they can use the information to identify business opportunities for the diversification of the products they offer. Finally, the constraints hindering the growth of microfinance such as the restrictive regulatory environment for one are not unique to Namibia. Hence, the experience and solutions from other countries are available for study. However, the local industry would have to initiate their own solutions to match and meet local conditions.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die faktore wat die groei van mikrofinansies in Namibie belemmer. Die werklike probleme is nie bekend nie omdat baie min navorsing nog in hierdie verband gedoen is. Dit is egter wel moontlik om die beperkinge tot groei van die mikrofinansies industrie in Namibie te bepaal. Die studie bied 'n oorsig van bekende beperkinge en moontlike oplossings soos ervaar in verskillende lande en soos gerapporteer deur verskeie outeurs en akademici. Die ideale situasie sal wees dat die mikrofinansies sektor effektief funksioneer deur die armes en werkloses, maar ekonomies aktiewe, gemeenskap te dien. Hoewel dit nie 'n alomvattende oplossing bied vir die behoeftes van plattelandse en stedelike armes nie, is dit egter 'n poging om hierdie mense uit armoede te lig. Die vrae wat respondente moes antwoord het spesifiek gepoog am te bepaal watter sektor van die samelewing die lenings wat beskikbaar is in die mark gebruik. Hierdie kennis sal wetgewers in staat stel om te fokus op probleme wat die grootste struikelblokke is, eerder as om lukraak probleme aan te spreek met minimale resultate. Die bevindinge mag ook van belang wees vir mikrofinansies voorsieners wat die inligting kan gebruik om besigheidsgeleenthede te identifiseer om sodoende hulle produk-reeks te diversifiseer. Laastens, die beperkinge in die mikrofinansies sektor soos die beperkende regulatoriese omgewing is nie uniek tot Namibie nie. Dus, die oplossings vanuit ander lande kan toegepas word in Namibie. Die Namibiese industrie sal egter hulle eie oplossings moet vind om die plaaslike omstandighede die hoof te bied.

Microfinance markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have experienced remarkable growth, particularly after the early 2000s. Since microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide financial services such as loans, savings and insurance to poor clients who face exclusion from formal financial institutions, they are considered as one of the most prolific tools to alleviate poverty and achieve financial inclusion in developing countries. These institutions are of particular importance in SSA, given that the region has the highest poverty levels in the world and the highest levels of financial exclusion. However, in recent years the fast loan growth of MFIs has been accompanied increasingly by loan delinquencies which threaten the financial health of these institutions. This is a major concern for policymakers, regulators and practitioners given the developmental importance of microfinance in the region. Despite the pivotal role of microfinance, there is only a very limited number of studies that either investigate the underlying reasons for the fast growth of MFIs or that identify the determinants of credit risk in MFIs in this particular region of Africa. Motivated by both the remarkable loan growth and the rising credit risk that MFIs experienced and the fact that SSA has been neglected in the relevant literature, this thesis provides evidence from the region on the factors that contribute to MFIs’ growth, the determinants of MFIs’ credit risk as well as the factors that influence access to MFIs credit. The latter pays particular attention to the effect of mobile financial services (MFS) on borrowing from MFIs, an aspect that has been ignored in previous scholarly work. Furthermore, the thesis overcomes the limitations of previous studies that employed static regressions, which are limited in dealing with panel endogeneity bias, by focusing on the dynamic aspects of loan growth and credit risk. The thesis is structured around three related studies that are presented in three chapters, namely Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. The purpose of the second chapter is to identify the factors that explain variations in loan growth in the region’s MFIs. This is an important issue as high loan growth may pose significant stability risks in the microfinance sector via a deterioration in portfolio quality. The chapter applies two-step system generalised method of moments estimators on data for 34 countries in SSA over the period 2004 - 2014. The results show that loan growth is higher in MFIs that have lower risk exposure, higher capital asset ratios and already recording high growth. Similarly, loan growth is higher in countries with better economic prospects, and in those with sound private sector policies and regulations. Against expectations, loan growth is faster in countries with poor legal rights of borrowers and lenders. Credit risk in microfinance institutions in SSA has been rising, and the financial health of these institutions remains an issue of concern. Hence, Chapter 3 examines the factors that explain variations in credit risk in MFIs in the region. Similarly, the chapter employs a system GMM approach on data for 34 countries in SSA over the period 2004 – 2014. Results suggest that the main predictors of credit risk in SSA are lagged credit risk, loan growth, provisions for loan impairment, GDP per capita growth and ease of getting credit. In addition, the study identifies threshold effects in the relationship between credit risk and loan growth. Credit risk falls with loan growth until a trough at 36.8% when this relationship is reversed. On the regional scale, comparisons suggest that credit risk is most persistent in East Asia and the Pacific but least persistent in SSA. Relatively few scholarly works have analysed the influence of mobile financial services (MFS) on access to credit. Chapter 4 aims to identify the factors that explain the differences in the propensity to use loans from MFIs in Kenya, paying particular attention to the effects of mobile money (M-money), mobile banking (M-banking) and mobile credit (M-credit). Kenya is an interesting case study because the country outperforms other SSA countries in terms of financial and digital inclusion. The study applies a probit model using FinAccess cross sectional data that was collected in 2013 (N=6112) and 2015 (N=8665). After addressing endogeneity concerns in the data, the 2013 results suggest that the factors that make a significant difference in the likelihood of using MFI credit include income, gender and type of cluster. An important observation is that non-poor users of M-money are more likely to use microcredit. The 2015 results show that the likelihood of using MFI credit is lower among those using M-banking and M-credit as well as among males and married persons. However, higher income, being educated, higher household size and being located in a rural cluster are associated with a higher propensity to use MFI credit. In addition, the results suggest a Ushaped relationship between age and the probability to use MFI credit. Similarly, the negative relationship between the likelihood of using MFI credit and using M-banking and M-credit suggests that the introduction of MFS in the financial sector has resulted in the migration of clients from microfinance products towards mobile-based financial services. In terms of policy, two recommendations stand out. Firstly, since dynamics matter for both loan growth and credit risk, credit management strategies that incorporate past risk and loan performance are likely to be more effective. Secondly, the evident trade-offs between loan growth and credit risk confirm the fact that modest loan growth is not the source of instability within the region’s microfinance sector. However, the presence of threshold effects suggests that MFIs should determine the turning points for lending growth because excessive growth in loans can be perilous to the existence of the institution itself, and the sector by extension.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’éclairer les liens éventuels entre le financement de la microfinance et la qualité des services définie comme l’adaptation de l’offre aux divers besoins de la clientèle. En nous appuyant sur une approche de la « qualité » dans l’appréciation de l’efficacité de la microfinance, ce travail nous mène à un double questionnement. Le premier concerne la définition des critères de qualité des services de microfinance. Le second porte sur la relation entre la gouvernance des institutions et la qualité des services pour les clients. En combinant l’analyse théorique avec des données empiriques, trois principaux résultats sont mis en évidence. Le premier résultat démontre la complexité de définir la qualité des services de microfinance. En raison de la multiplicité des critères d’évaluation et les divergences de perception entre les prestataires et les utilisateurs, il est difficile de trouver des critères convergents de qualité. L’incertitude des clients sur les effets futurs des services s’en trouve accentuée. Le second résultat met en évidence l’influence des modèles de gouvernance sur la qualité des services selon les possibilités de participation des clients à la prise de décisions au sein des institutions. Enfin, le troisième résultat est la relation empirique entre le financement par la collecte de dépôts et la qualité pour les clients mise en évidence dans le contexte du Mali. Les contraintes liées à ce modèle de financement (volatilité de l’épargne, faiblesse des montants) ont un lien étroit avec des critères de qualité importants pour les clients comme la rapidité dans le déboursement des prêts et la liquidité permanente des dépôts<br>This thesis aims to analyze the possible links between the funding side of microfinance and its services quality, which is defined as the matching between microfinance products and the various financial needs of the clients. This "quality" approach in the assessment of microfinance effectiveness is getting us to a double question. The first one concerns the definition of quality criteria of microfinance services. The second question is about the possible relationships between institutions governance and services quality for customers. By combining theoretical analysis with empirical data, three principal results are made obvious. The first result shows the complexity that arises when it comes to define services quality in microfinance. Because of the multiplicity of quality criteria and some divergences between institutions and customers on their meanings, it is difficult to find convergent criteria of quality. This leads to a rise in customers’ uncertainty about the expected effects of microfinance services. The second one highlights the influence of governance models on services quality, depending on whether or not clients participate in the decisions making process within the institutions. At last, the third result is an empirical relationship between funding by deposits collection and services quality which is made obvious in the context of Mali. This funding model is associated with some constraints (volatility, weakness of the collected amounts) which have a narrow link with some important quality criteria for customers such as rapidity in credit disbursement and permanent liquidity of the deposits

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de concilier finance et réduction de la pauvreté. Partant des théories de l'intermédiation financière et de l'entrepreneuriat, elle met en évidence le tort que fait l'exclusion du crédit à l'économie et les opportunités qu'offre la microfinance en matière de réduction de la pauvreté. Elle mobilise par ailleurs différentes théories, avec pour ancrage le concept d'asymétrie d'information, pour faire ressortir ce pourquoi les pauvres sont exclus des services bancaires. Il en ressort la nécessité d'étudier la portée et les limites des mécanismes mis en place par les Institutions de microfinance (IMF) pour maîtriser le risque de contrepartie, puis l'ouverture d'un débat au sujet de la subvention des IMF. Elle apporte quelques arguments en faveur de la subvention de ces institutions en étant bien entendu dans une logique qui ne fait pas l'apologie de la subvention. Dans le souci de tester les résultats théoriques, elle fait une application au cas du Togo<br>How to put finance to the service of the struggle against poverty? On the basis of financial intermediation and entrepreneurship theories, the thesis wants to show the disadvantageous of the refusal of credit to the poor to the economy and the opportunities offered by microfinance in the eradication of poverty. It highlights why the poor are excluded from banking services. As a result this leads to the study of the potentialities of the microfinance programme in order to face default risks under the concept of asymmetric information through various theories of default risks. And the study also opens the debate on the subsidy of microfinance institutes and emphasizes arguments in favour of it. Last but not least, it applies to the case of Togo

This thesis presents an explanatory analysis of the accountability and governance practices within Islamic microfinance institutions in Indonesia, adopting Bourdieu’s theory of practice with the triad of concepts of field, capital and habitus. This study is based on the argument that accountability and governance are socially and subjectively constructed through internal and external mechanisms. The internal mechanism includes the organisational history and its culture, while the external factor is the context in which the organisation operates. The concept of field is a guide to achieving the first research objective in examining the historical development of the Islamic microfinance sector in Indonesia. The changes and developments within the field are the external factors that affect the construction of accountability and governance practices within selected Islamic microfinance institutions in Indonesia (IIMFIs). The historical research method is deemed the most appropriate to provide a narrative history of the development of the field. This was done by interviewing and analysing the secondary data of journal research relating to Indonesia’s socio-political situation over the period, the initiative on microfinance services, the Islamic resurgence movement and the financial reforms. The findings demonstrate that the development of the Islamic microfinance sector is inseparable from the socio-economic and political situation in Indonesia. Therefore, the field of Islamic microfinance is dynamic rather than static: it changes and develops over time. Furthermore, the concept of capital and habitus helps to achieve the second research objective, to examine the construction and re-construction of accountability and governance within selected IMFIs in Indonesia: BMT A and BTM B. The internal factors of the growth of various types of capital (economic, culture, social and symbolic), imbued by the organisational habitus, constructed the accountability and governance practices. Such practices are developed over the period corresponding to the different stages of organisational growth. Both institutions have evolved from small pilot projects into two of the biggest IIMFIs in Indonesia by developing their own mechanisms of accountability and governance to ensure their capability to continue their operations in the future. This study offers a unique lens for exploring, in a specific context, the construction of accountability and governance practices, the dynamic aspects of which traditional governance theories are unable to explain.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The efficiency and availability of financial services for the poor is a global problem, and has only recently started to enjoy attention in South Africa. This dissertation aims to study the problems experienced by the South African microfinance industry, which includes a vast range of financial products. The survey conducted of the South African industry indicates that its makeup is significantly different from the industries in Latin America and Asia. The problems in the industry are prioritised and show the high cost structure to be the most pressing issue. A number of these issues show agreement as expressed by Spearman rank correlation coefficients. Clear trends exist between distinct market-segments in the industry. Tests for differences in location of specific populations indicate significant differences in perceptions regarding these segments. The government's recent suggestion to unify the financial service regulators into a mega-regulator is based on the assumption that the microcredit and commercial credit industries share the same priorities and problems. The very low Spearman rank correlation coefficient found in this study, on the other hand, seems to indicate that no reason exists to assume the priorities are the same at the two levels. Finally, it is shown by means of a "best practice matrix", that solutions to most problems can be found, but that the fit is dependent on a large number of variables.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die beskikbaarheid van finansiële dienste vir armes is 'n wêreldwye probleem, en het eers onlangs meer aandag in Suid Afrika begin geniet. Hierdie studie fokus op die probleme wat ervaar word in die mikrokrediet (mikrolenings) industrie. Die opname toon dat die Suid-Afrikaanse industrie beduidend verskil in samestelling van die ooreenstemmende industrieë in Suid-Amerika en Asië. Die probleme in die industrie is geprioritiseer en toon dat die hoë koste-struktuur die grootste probleem is. Sekere kwelpunte toon ooreenstemming, uitgedruk by wyse van Spearman se rangkorrelasie-koëffesiënt. Duidelike tendense bestaan tussen onderskeie mark-segmente in die industrie. Toetse vir ooreenstemming in die ligging van sekere populasies toon beduidende verskille in persepsies rakende hierdie segmente. Die regering se onlangse voorstel om die beheer-liggame van finansiële dienste saam te snoer in een liggaam is gebaseer op die aanname dat die mikrokrediet en kommersiële krediet industrië dieselfde probleme en prioriteite deel. Die baie lae Spearman rangkorrelasie-koëffisiënt impliseer egter dat daar geen grondige rede bestaan om aan te neem dat die prioriteite dieselfde is vir die twee vlakke nie. Laastens word beste praktyke aangedui in die vorm van 'n "beste praktyk matriks". Oplossings vir byna alle probleme kan gevind word, maar die toepaslikheid is afhanklik van 'n wye verskeidenheid veranderlikes.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2009.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globally microfinance is recognised as an important tool in addressing poverty and in building the assets of poor people. Housing microfinance is emerging as an important tool for assisting poor people to improve their housing conditions and to build their asset values. However, microfinancial institutions are perpetually dogged by small scale financially unviable operations. This study seeks to identify the factors that must be present to ensure that a microfinance initiative is able to scale up significantly, and further investigates the Kuyasa Fund as an example of a microfinance organisation that is scaling up. The McKinsey 7S model is used to evaluate the Kuyasa Fund’s plans for scaling up and the shared values, strategy, structure, skills, staffing requirements, style and systems of the Kuyasa Fund is examined in determining the scalability of the Kuyasa Fund. Overall Kuyasa have either already addressed the critical factors in determining its growth or it is in the process of addressing those factors. The biggest strengths of the Kuyasa Fund in its growth plans are the cohesive strategy and in the compelling strategic intent that represents its shared values. However in the medium and long term the greatest challenge is located in the long-term financing and transformation of the Kuyasa Fund from a non-profit to a for-profit entity that has equity shareholders. In achieving this transformation Kuyasa would be required to balance its development objectives with the requirements of equity holders, who will require prescribed rates of return. Preventing mission drifts and achieving scale will be the most important tensions to balance. To mitigate these risks and to set clear guidelines for its operations, the Kuyasa board developed clear criteria for the evaluation of equity partners and the board also set a trajectory for the transformation of Kuyasa to a company. The intention of these is to guide the Kuyasa operation towards the milestones that must be reached before conversion and to set the criteria to select partners. The Kuyasa Fund’s path to conversion from a small niche player limited to one province to a national role player, transformed into an equity holding company will present interesting material for learning about scaling up development efforts, and not just for microfinance.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Mikrofinansiering word wêreldwyd erken as ‘n belangrike hulpmiddel in die stryd teen armoede en in die bou van bates vir arm mense. Behuising-mikrofinansiering is besig om as ‘n belangrike instrument na vore te tree om arm mense te help om hul behuisingsomstandighede te verbeter en hul batewaarde op te bou. Mikrofinansieringsinstansies word egter aanhoudend lastig geval deur kleinskaalse besighede wat nie finansieel lewensvatbaar is nie. Hierdie studie poog om die faktore te identifiseer wat teenwoordig moet wees om te verseker dat ‘n mikrofinasieringsinisiatief beduidend kan uitbrei en ondersoek verder die Kuyasa Fund as ‘n voorbeeld van ‘n mikrofinansieringsorganisasie wat tans uitbrei. Die McKinsey 7S-model word gebruik om die Kuyasa Fund se planne vir uitbreiding te evalueer. Die Kuyasa Fund se gedeelde waardes, strategie, struktuur, vaardighede, personeelvereistes, styl en stelsels word ondersoek om die uitbreidingsmoontlikhede van die fonds te bepaal. Oorhoofs het Kuyasa alreeds die kritiese faktore aangespreek wat hul groei bepaal of hulle is in die proses om hierdie faktore aan te spreek. Die grootste sterkpunte van die Kuyasa Fund se uitbreidingsplanne lê in die samehangende strategie en in die gebiedende strategiese rigting wat sy gedeelde waardes verteenwoordig. In die medium- tot langtermyn is die grootste uitdaging geleë in die langtermyn-finansiering en transformasie van die Kuyasa Fund van ‘n niewinsgewende tot ‘n winsgewende entiteit met ekwiteitsaandeelhouers. Ten einde hierdie transformasie deur te gaan, sal van Kuyasa vereis word om sy ontwikkelingsdoelwitte te balanseer met die vereistes van die aandeelhouers, wat hul eie opbrengskoerse sal vereis. Om koersvas hul missie na te streef teenoor die beplande uitbreiding te behaal sal die belangrikste spannings wees om te balanseer. Ten einde hierdie risiko’s te beperk en duidelike riglyne daar te stel vir sy bedrywighede, het die Kuyasa raad duidelike kriteria ontwikkel om ekwiteitsvennote te evalueer. Die raad het ook ‘n vorderingsplan bepaal vir die transformasie van Kuyasa tot ‘n maatskappy. Die bedoeling hiervan is om die Kuyasa bedryf te lei op die pad na mylpale wat bereik moet word voordat omskakeling kan plaasvind en om kriteria daar te stel om vennote te kies. Die Kuyasa Fund se pad na omskakeling van ‘n klein niche speler, beperk tot een provinsie, tot ‘n nasionale rolspeler, wat getransformeer het tot ‘n ekwiteitsmaaskappy sal interessante leergeleenthede bied oor die uitbreiding van ontwikkelingsmaatskappye en nie net op die gebied van mikrofinansiering nie.

Interest rate ceilings are often considered as an effective way of preventing lenders from charging extortionate interest rates. However, setting the rates too low may cause institutions to fail to raise enough revenue to cover their costs. Low rates may pressure MFIs to reduce costs, increase loan sizes, withdraw services from areas where it is expensive to operate, or exit from the market altogether. A 42% interest rate ceiling was introduced in Zambia on the effective annual lending interest rate of MFIs in January 2013, which was later removed in November 2015. This research was aimed at investigating the effect of interest rate ceiling and microfinance direct costs on the financial sustainability of microfinance institutions in Zambia. The study used time series data from consolidated quarterly financial statements from March 2006 to September 2016 and employed Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) approach to analyse the effect of Yield on Gross Portfolio, Cost of Funds, Operating Expenses and Loan Loss provisions on Operational Self Sufficiency (OSS). OSS was used as a proxy for financial sustainability (dependent variable). Results of the time series analyses showed a positive and significant effect of Yield on Gross Portfolio and Cost of Funds on OSS in the long run. On the other hand, Operating Expenses and Loan Loss provisions had a negative relationship with OSS, albeit statistically insignificant. Trend analysis of the Yield on Gross Portfolio showed a downward trend and consequently the OSS also trended downwards, with the lowest OSS being recorded during the period interest rate ceilings were introduced. However, the trend showed that the microfinance sector was generally sustainable during the study period. The reduction in OSS following the introduction of the ceiling confirmed findings from prior studies regarding the negative impact of interest rate ceilings on the financial sustainability of MFIs. Although the study results showed that the MFIs were generally sustainable during the study period, it was evident that they were negatively impacted by the interest rate ceiling. Therefore the recommendation from this study is that interest rates must be set at levels where costs can be adequately covered. Furthermore, managing costs and loan delinquency should be core priorities among Zambian MFIs to ensure financial sustainability.

Business Administration/International Business Administration<br>D.B.A.<br>Microfinance encompasses a broad range of financial services targeted at low income individuals seeking to build income and assets. There has been extensive research on the role of microfinance institutions (henceforth “MFIs”) in developing countries on poverty reduction, particularly for female clients. In contrast, research on MFIs operating within the United States is more limited. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature and is one the first to focus on the impact of an MFI on female clients in the US using data from a Philadelphia-based MFI. The study examined the factors affecting outcomes of female entrepreneurs as compared to their male counterparts measured by changes in financial capability, repayment history, household incomes, and sustainability. Although the study does not statistically support the existence of differences between the outcomes for female and male clients of the MFI, the data does indicate positive outcomes for the clients. The business survival rates on average are above national indicators. The personal credit scores for MFI clients reflect improvement subsequent to receiving loans. This study utilized survey instruments and a focus group study to identify barriers to the success of female entrepreneurs. Noted barriers such as lack of access to capital, lack of relevant business knowledge provide a foundation for future research study.<br>Temple University--Theses

Les développements théoriques de l'économie (néo-)institutionnelle ont gagné récemment le débat sur le développement. En même temps, le rôle des institutions est progressivement intégré dans l'analyse des stratégies de développement. Notre recherche dont le champ empirique est le cas de la microfinance en Haïti s'inscrit dans cette optique. Elle part de l'idée que le changement économique et social à la base du développement implique l'articulation d'un ensemble d'actifs matériels et immatériels. Le développement apparaît alors comme étant le processus sinon le résultat de la mobilisation d'un ensemble de capitaux. Aussi, nous avons cherché à montrer que les institutions économiques qui structurent les interactions entre les individus constituent une forme de capital : le capital institutionnel. Appliquée à l'analyse de l'intermédiation microfinancière en Haïti, le capital institutionnel s'est révélé un élément déterminant dans la mise en oeuvre des stratégies de développement. Il apparaît comme un apport des organisations de microfinance. Il agit sur les comportements des bénéficiaires des services microfinanciers et se traduit par des conséquences économiques et sociales mesurables. A la lumière de preuves empiriques, nous sommes parvenus à la conclusion suivante : le capital institutionnel compte, à la fois comme outil analytique et comme actif véhiculé par les acteurs pour guider les comportements dans le sens du changement souhaité<br>Theories in (New) Institutional Economics won recently the development debate. Meanwhile, the role of institutions is being taken into account progressively in development strategies analysis. Our research in Haitian Microfinance follows the same logic. Its fundamental idea is that development implies economic and social change and this is the result of a pattern of material and immaterial assets. Then, development is viewed as the process or outcome from the interaction of several capitals. In this study, we show that economic institutions structuring relations between economic agents are constitutive of a form of capital: the institutional capital. With an analysis based in the Haitian microfinancial intermediation, we find that institutional capital is a determinant condition for development strategies implementation. In microfinancial intermediation, institutional capital is a production of microfinance organizations. It influences users' behaviors of microfinancial services and generates economic and social outcomes. The main conclusion of our study using empirical evidence is the following: institutional capital matters, either for analytic purpose or as an asset used by economic agents to modify behaviors for change

The dissertation chooses Vietnam as a typical case to address the gap in microfinance studies. Instead of focusing on the beneficiaries of the microfinance system, as many studies have been done, the subjects of this study are microfinance institutions (MFIs). The objective is to suggest a balanced sustainability approach for MFIs in Vietnam that refers to governance practices, legal environmental, and social and financial objectives as equally important. Particularly, it identifies the constraints and the potential, and suggests workable approaches to support Vietnam microfinance providers in extending and developing services throughout the country in a financially sustainable manner.<br>博士(現代アジア研究)<br>Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary Asian Studies<br>同志社大学<br>Doshisha University