Publication: Corporate Governance in Microfinance Institutions
Loading...
Published
2015-04-15
ISSN
Date
2015-06-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This paper is organized as follows: this introduction is followed by a primer on the industry and on the evolution of the microfinance sector. The authors then examine the structure of the microfinance industry, (a) NGOs, cooperatives and credit unions, and commercialized vehicles; how they differ and why corporate governance differs according to the nature of the MFI; and (b) large networks, investment and bank-holding groups, and social services/faith-based groups. The authors then consider how corporate governance evolves and develops in MFIs as their structure and ownership changes. This is followed by an examination of the recurring issues and growing risks in the microfinance industry. The authors conclude with a look at the responses of governments, investors, and the industry itself to these issues and risks and propose some next steps.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Lieberman, Ira W.; Ard, Laura; Di Benedetta, Pasquale. 2015. Corporate Governance in Microfinance Institutions. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22059 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication IFC Annual Report 2009 : Their/Our Story, Creating Opportunity Where It's Needed Most(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009)The global economic crisis has opened an uncertain chapter, especially for the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. Many of them lack access to electricity, or clean water, or basic health care. For at least a decade, economic growth in developing countries helped expand the availability of basic necessities while steadily reducing the number of people in poverty. But this year, the number of people in extreme poverty is expected to be much higher than was predicted before the crisis. Unemployment is rising. Yet many countries lack the domestic resources needed to speed up development. International Finance Corporation (IFC) has responded swiftly and creatively to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people by working with the private sector to create conditions for sustainable prosperity, wherever the need is greatest. IFC has quickly ramped up its advisory efforts and mobilized its donor partners to help governments, clients, and markets cope with the crisis and recover speedily. Priorities include: helping financial institutions better manage their risks and their nonperforming loans; complementing investment efforts in banking for small and medium enterprises, microfinance, and housing finance with advice to financial institutions; supporting governments' efforts to keep trade flowing with advice on trade logistics; helping governments facing larger deficits widen their tax base; encouraging governments to simplify their bankruptcy systems to allow indebted companies to recover faster; advising boards of directors on risk management and crisis intervention; and helping governments redesign public-private infrastructure projects that face crisis-related difficulties.Publication Timor Leste : Access to Finance for Investment and Working Capital(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-01)This study argues the need for a policy environment supporting both urban informal sector dynamism and rapid transition from subsistence to monetization in agriculture. Such policies must include measures facilitating access to financial services for households, which are the backbone of the informal and subsistence economies. The economy of Timor-Leste is divided between a farm sector in which as many of 80 percent of workers remain, with most of these still dependent on subsistence production, and a non-farm sector in which micro- and small enterprises are an overwhelming majority. Most urban enterprises operate in an informal environment, while in both the farm and non-farm sectors the household is the basic unit of economic activity.Publication The State of Microfinance in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States(CGAP and the World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-06)This report is based on the first empirical study of the microfinance industry in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (CEE and NIS). The main source of its findings is a survey of the region's microfinance institutions (MFIs) and funders conducted in 2001 by the Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. The study achieved its four main goals: 1) the creation of an empirically based, comprehensive picture of the current state of the microfinance industry in the region; 2) a comparison of the performance of the region's main organizational models for microfinance delivery credit unions, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), 'downscaling' commercial banks, and 'Greenfield' microfinance banks; 3) an analysis of the main barriers to growth and development confronting microfinance in the region specifically, access to finance and legal and regulatory constraints; and 4) a framework for action for the region's various microfinance actors, the goal being to increase the scale, outreach to the poor, financial viability, and impact of microfinance in the region. This study subscribes to the latter perspective. The data covers the broader range of clients and providers in the region. The alignment with those who see a broader target market for microfinance is primarily founded on a practical observation: the debate within microfinance appears to be moving in favor of this broader perspective. Second and third chapters provide background on the development of microfinance in the region. Second chapter describes the economic context in which microfinance is developing, focusing on the driving forces behind it. Third chapter explains the key features of the different MFI organizational models credit unions, nongovernmental MFIs, downscaling commercial banks, and Greenfield microfinance banks. The origin of each model, its key organizational features, and its target client markets are described. Fourth, fifth and sixth chapters present the study's findings. Fourth chapter looks at the industry's performance and current trends overall by MFI type and by sub region. Fifth chapter offers a more thorough analysis of the extent of poverty outreach by the region's MFIs. Sixth chapter assesses the MFIs' financial performance and the relationship between poverty outreach and financial sustainability. Seventh chapter examines the MFIs' access to funding, and eighth chapter discusses the region's legal and regulatory environment. These are the two factors identified by the MFIs themselves as the major barriers to microfinance development and growth in the region. Ninth chapter presents an outlook for microfinance over the next decade, followed by a series of recommendations aiming to improve this outlook. Not only does this chapter broadly suggest what needs to be done, but it also suggests how by proposing concrete actions that MFIs, policy makers, funders, and microfinance support organizations could consider as a means of implementing each recommendation.Publication Republic of Moldova Enterprise Access to Finance : Background Note(Washington, DC, 2013-06)The Government of Moldova is seeking to change the country's development paradigm and build an export-oriented economy characterized by investment, innovation, and competitiveness, following a decade of 'jobless growth'. This report focuses on improvements that will be needed to move Moldova to the next stage of development as envisioned in the Moldova 2020 strategy; however, reforms over the past decade also deserve acknowledgment. Improving the business environment is an especially important task, given Moldova's low levels of natural resources and small internal market. This study aims to identify the most pressing problems in the business environment that are adversely affecting Moldovan companies' productivity and competitiveness, and to present recommendations that would help remove these obstacles. The analysis is based on a review of existing reports; interviews with government officials, private sector associations, a sample of businesses, and some subject matter experts; as well as original research on access to finance. This study has identified that the following aspects of doing business are the most problematic: customs administration; tax administration; business regulation, consisting of licenses, authorizations, permits, and inspections; the competition framework; and access to finance. This report presents short-term (2013-2014) and longer-term (2015-2017) recommendations in each of the five priority areas.Publication World Bank Lending for Financial Inclusion(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015)The purpose of the paper is to present a more granular view of such projects through the in-depth focus on a limited number of case studies, with a view to understanding what factors in the design of such lending have helped achieve objectives of expanded access, and what forms of interventions may have been less successful. It examines the nature of Bank lending vehicles, the partnering borrower institutions, the country environments in which its loans were extended, as well as broader elements of good practice that make for loan success. It examines the beneficiaries targeted and results achieved. It aims to draws lessons that suggest what factors could lead to success or failure in Bank operations focused on financial access. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: section two briefly describes the set of the Bank s projects selected for detailed review. Sections three to six contain the core findings of the review. Section 3 focuses on alternative forms of borrower institutions that have served as vehicles for Bank projects, particularly, public sector banks, apex bank structures that include the private sector, rural banks, nonbanks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and microfinance institutions, in terms of the degree to which the Bank has been able to successfully partner with such institutions to expand financial access. It also looks at alternative forms of Bank loan design, policy-based loans, investment loans and lines of credit, Learning and Innovation Loans (LILs), matching grants, technical assistance and combinations thereof, and reviews evidence on the role of loan structure (including partnerships with other donors/lenders) and project success. Section four considers the effect of the broader business environment, in terms of financial regulation. Section five reviews elements of good practice that have contributed to success in lending that could be applicable to loans with any objective, and examines their application in the present context. Section six tries to construct a bottom line, reviewing available evidence on outcomes and impact; especially in terms of the ultimate beneficiaries reached. Section seven, the final section, summarizes the main messages emerging from the review and concludes with observations about ways forward.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.