Person:
Maimbo, Samuel Munzele
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Financial Sector Development in Africa; Emerging Markets; Africa; Financial Sector Regulation and Supervision; Housing Finance; Remittances; Informal Payment Systems
Degrees
External Links
Departments
Europe and Central Asia, World Bank
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
February 1, 2023
Biography
Samuel is a Lead Financial Sector Specialist in the Europe and Central Asia Finance and Private Sector Department of the World Bank. In his most recent position in the Africa Department, Samuel has guided the World Bank’s finance and private sector development activities in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and played a key role in shaping the Africa regions financial sector development strategy. His research interests include expanding access to finance, long term finance and financial sector stability, and the development impact of remittances and migration. He is a co-author of the Africa regional flagship publication, Financing Africa: Through the Crisis and Beyond and co-editor of the World Bank seminal work on remittances: Remittances: Development Impact and Prospects. His work has been published in edited volumes, peer-reviewed journals and as working papers. In his current position, Samuel is working on the financial sector crisis in Europe, and its long term financial development implications. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was a Senior Bank Inspector at the Bank of Zambia; an auditor at Price Waterhouse; and Managing Partner of Josadan Enterprises, a start-up agribusiness in Lusaka, Zambia.
A Rhodes Scholar, Samuel obtained a PhD in Public Administration with a thesis on the design, development and implementation of banking regulation and supervision practices from the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester, England in 2001; a MBA (Finance) Degree from the University of Nottingham, England in 1998; a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree (with Distinction) from the Copperbelt University, Zambia in 1994. He is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), United Kingdom and a Fellow of the Zambia Institute of Certified Accountants (ZICA).
Publication Search Results
1 - 10 of 10
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Publication
Financial Sector Policy in Practice : Benchmarking Financial Sector Strategies around the World
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-01)Policy makers use financial sector strategies to formulate a holistic policy for their national financial sectors. This paper examines and rates financial sector strategies around the world based on how well they formulate development targets, arrangements for systemic risk management, and implementation plans. The strategies are also rated on whether they consider policy trade-offs between financial development and systemic risk management. The rated strategies are then benchmarked against a wide range of country characteristics. The analysis finds that the scope and quality of national strategies for the financial sector are influenced by the country's type of legal system, its level of income and macroeconomic stability, the existing financial depth and inclusion, the share of foreign ownership in the national financial sector, and the experience of past financial crises. Giving due consideration to policy trade-offs, particularly between financial development and systemic risk management, remains the weakest part of these strategies. Countries with civil- and religious-based law and those with a higher share of foreign ownership in their financial system address the policy trade-offs more often. -
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The Impact of Funding Models and Foreign Bank Ownership on Bank Credit Growth : Is Central and Eastern Europe Different?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02)This paper provides new evidence on the factors affecting protracted credit contraction in the wake of the global financial crisis. The paper applies panel vector autoregressions to a global panel that consists of quarterly data for 41 countries for the period 2000-2011 and documents that domestic private credit growth is highly sensitive to cross-border funding shocks around the world. This relationship is significantly stronger in Central and Eastern Europe, a region with considerably stronger foreign presence, higher cross-border funding, and elevated loan-to-deposit ratios compared with the rest of the world. The paper shows that high foreign ownership per se does not appear to explain credit response differences to foreign funding shocks. Rather, there is a stronger response in countries that exhibit high loan-to-deposit ratios and a high reliance on foreign funding relative to local deposits. The results suggest that funding model differences were at the heart of the post-crisis credit contraction in several Central and Eastern European countries. These findings have important regulatory and supervisory implications for emerging countries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as for other countries. -
Publication
Sri Lanka's Migrant Labor Remittances : Enhancing the Quality and Outreach of the Rural Remittance Infrastructure
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-12)Remittances-money sent home by immigrant workers abroad-are hugely beneficial to Sri Lanka. Migrants' remittances have grown dramatically in recent years and are now estimated at US$1.5 billion annually. This national phenomenon is consistent with remittance trends in neighboring countries where remittance flows are growing as rapidly. The trend is likely to continue as many workers continue to look abroad for the chance to make a better living. The economic policy implications of these trends are significant. The Sri Lankan Central Bank is now debating the following key issues: the developmental impact of remittances; the high transaction costs associated with remittances; and the level of transparency and accountability in the remittance industry, especially the informal remittance sector. This paper highlights the key policy issues associated with each of these aspects of remittances with the objective of improving the public and private infrastructure for current and future flows. Building on recent World Bank research on remittances that prominently features South Asia, it has been prepared in recognition of the development potential of these flows. It discusses some of the key issues relating to the remittance industry in Sri Lanka. This paper complements the existing literature on migrant labor remittances to Sri Lanka and extends that literature by providing specific policy-relevant guidance on short and long-term policies for enhance enhancing the quality and outreach of rural remittance infrastructure. -
Publication
Facilitating Cross-Border Mobile Banking in Southern Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-08)The use of mobile banking is an increasingly important component of national and regional economic development in Southern Africa. Mobile banking can help bring the large unbanked population into the formal financial sector, and can facilitate cross-border trade by easing the difficulty for small businesses and traders to make financial transactions. For mobile banking to reach its full potential in Southern Africa, however, African governments must establish more efficient regulatory frameworks and implement well-designed pilot programs to gain more insight into the challenges facing a full rollout of mobile banking. -
Publication
Financial Sector Development in Africa : Opportunities and Challenges
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013)Africa's financial systems face challenges across many dimensions, as discussed in the report financing Africa: through the crisis and beyond. The analysis in that report was based partly on several detailed background papers that are included in this volume. The next six chapters are written by experts in their respective areas and provide an in-depth analysis of these challenges and present possible solutions. In this introduction, the authors provide an overview of the different chapters and how they are related to each other and the main volume. The three chapters in first part focus on key challenges concerned with access to financial services, including financial and operational deficiencies in the microfinance market, reaping the benefits from the technological revolution of retail banking, and deepening and broadening agricultural finance across Africa. The three chapters thus each cover different aspects with a different focus, ranging from an institutional approach to a focus on innovation as a driver of financial broadening to an important element of financial infrastructure to a specific sector. The second part includes the fourth chapter, it involves documents the sizable need for additional housing in many African countries, based on these countries' continuous population growth and an ongoing urbanization trend. The third part includes fifth chapter, which discuss the repercussions of regulatory reforms in Europe and North America for African regulators as well as local challenges. The fourth part includes the sixth chapter, which is the final chapter of this volume. It discusses the politics of financial sector reform in Africa and, more specifically, the space needed for an activist role for government to help create the markets and coordination mechanisms necessary for financial markets to deepen and broaden. -
Publication
Interest Rate Caps around the World : Still Popular, but a Blunt Instrument
(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-10)Among other common forms of government financial control, caps on interest rates have been declining over the past several decades as most industrialized countries and a rising number of developing countries continue liberalizing their financial policies. However, in several countries the last financial crisis reopened the debate on interest rate controls as a tool for consumer protection. This paper undertakes a stock-taking exercise to determine the number of countries currently capping interest rates on loans. The paper looks at the main characteristics of the regimes countries have used, including the source of rate-setting authority, the methodology, and the criteria for establishing the cap. The paper finds at least 76 countries around the world currently use some form of interest rate caps on loans -- all with varying degrees of effects, including the withdrawal of financial institutions from the poor or from specific segments of the market, an increase in the total cost of the loan through additional fees and commissions, among others. The paper concludes that there are more effective ways of reducing interest rates on loans over the long run and of improving access to finance: measures that enhance competition and product innovation, improve financial consumer protection frameworks, increase financial literacy, promote credit bureaus, enforce disclosure of interest rates, and promote microcredit products. Such measures should be implemented in an integrated manner. However, if caps are still considered a useful policy tool for reducing interest rates on loans and increasing access to finance, they should be implemented in accord with the caveats described in the paper. -
Publication
Financial Policy in Practice: Benchmarking Financial Sector Strategies Around the World
(Taylor and Francis, 2015-07-11)Policy makers use financial sector strategies to formulate a holistic policy for the national financial system. This article examines and rates financial sector strategies around the world on how well they formulate development targets, arrangements for systemic risk management, and implementing plans. The strategies are also rated on whether they consider policy trade-offs between financial development and systemic risk management. The rated strategies are then benchmarked against a range of country characteristics. The analysis finds that the scope and quality of national strategies for the financial sector are systematically influenced by several country characteristics. Interestingly, policy trade-offs, particularly between financial development and systemic risk management, are not adequately considered in the strategies. -
Publication
Financing Africa : Through the Crisis and Beyond
(World Bank, 2011-09-07)Financing Africa: through the crisis and beyond is a call to arms for a new approach to Africa's financial sector development. First, policy makers should focus on increasing competition within and outside the banking sector to foster innovation. This implies a more open regulatory mindset, possibly reversing the usual timeline of legislation-regulation-innovation for new players and products. It also implies expanding traditional infrastructure, such as credit registries and payment systems beyond banks. Second, the focus should be on services rather than existing institutions and markets. Expanding provision of payment, savings and other financial services to the unbanked might mean looking beyond existing institutions, products, and delivery channels, such as banks, traditional checking accounts, and brick-and-mortar branches. All financial sector policy is local. To reap the benefits of globalization, regional integration, and technology, policy makers have to recognize the politics of financial deepening and build constituencies for financial sector reform. While the challenges of expanding access, lengthening contracts, and safeguarding the financial system are similar, the ways of addressing them will depend on the circumstances and context of each country. With its cautiously optimistic tone, this book creates an opportunity for Africa's policy makers, private sector, civil society, and development partners to harness the progress of the past as a way to address the challenges of the future and enable the financial sector to play its rightful role in Africa's transformation. -
Publication
Remittances: Development Impact and Future Prospects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005)Remittances explores policy options for enhancing the poverty alleviation impact of remittance money in recipient countries, and addressees concerns about increasing migration and inequality. It looks at new technologies that allow remittance service providers to reduce direct transaction costs and open new channels, enhancing convenience for remitters and improving levels of transparency and accountability for regulators and policy makers. Importantly, it also establishes a baseline for further research and collaborative effort, showing the areas where the international financial institutions, particularly the World Bank, can add value to enhance the positive impact of remittance flows and minimize less welcome effects. -
Publication
Migrant Labor Remittances in South Asia
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005)This paper provides a strategic overview of key issues relating to the remittance industry in the South Asia region. The paper builds on recent research on remittances that prominently features the South Asia region. Rather than duplicate that work, this study focuses only on the region's distinguishing characteristics, namely: a large migrant population of semiskilled and unskilled workers largely concentrated in the Persian Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, contributing to rising remittance flows; the presence of dedicated public institutions and government financial incentives aimed at facilitating and providing support for temporary migration and remittance inflows; the existence of large state bank branch networks with immense potential for a more effective and efficient remittance financial market; and the widespread use of trade-related informal remittance channels by both legal and illegal migrants.