CGAP Annual Report 2004

2004 Highlights

  • CGAP reviewed 227 specific formal financial institutions, ranging from institutions with established microfinance services to those with the potential to enter the microfinance market.
  • CGAP surveyed the client accounts of a broad set of institutions that, to varying degrees, focus on reaching clients below the economic level of traditional commercial bank clients. CGAP has published these findings in Financial Institutions with a Double Bottom Line: Implications for the Future of Microfinance.
  • CGAP worked with the World Bank Financial Sector Network to produce case studies on scaling up microfinance in preparation for the conference “Scaling Up Poverty Reduction,” hosted by the World Bank in May 2004 in Shanghai, China.
  • CGAP launched the Retail Advisory Service to provide tailor-made technical and strategic assistance to formal banks that are committed to reaching poorer retail clients.
  • CGAP published Focus Note No. 26, What is a Network? The Diversity of Networks in Microfinance Today.
  • Finmark Trust and CGAP worked with a leading cell phone operator and major bank in Southern Africa to develop a joint business plan for unbanked citizens.
  • CGAP finalized its Product Costing Tool, the corresponding ABC software (in English, French, and Spanish), and training materials specifically designed to help MFI managers conduct a product costing exercise within their institutions.
  • CGAP partnered with ProFund LLC and the Africap Microfinance Investment Fund to promote two workshops on how innovative delivery technologies can expand the number of people accessing microfinance services.
  • CGAP is collaborating with the Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS), a research institute affiliated with the University of Maryland, to build a global database of microfinance regulation and supervision for more than 50 developing countries.
  • CGAP produced a variety of publications that document new research, best practices, innovative ideas in microfinance, and technical skills training.