Recent Blogs
Blog
Friend or Foe to the World’s Poor? Settling the Microfinance Debate
Two debates fuel a seemingly never-ending cycle of support and criticism for the microfinance industry. We propose ways to resolve knowledge gaps that perpetuate these debates, which are also relevant for the broader financial inclusion community.Blog
When is Interoperability Right for Microfinance?
When is interoperability right for microfinance institutions? We draw on interviews with 40 small financial institutions to unpack the complex picture around a universal approach to ensuring all institutions benefit from real-time, digital payments.Blog
Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Overlooking the Regulatory Environment
Digitization can benefit microfinance institutions (MFIs), but it also creates regulatory complexity. Losing sight of the regulatory environment can lead to costly mistakes. Here are three regulatory aspects of digitization for MFIs to consider.Blog
Reflection: Coordinating Responses to Microfinance Solvency Challenges
The reverberating effects of COVID-19 continue to pose challenges for segments of the microfinance sector. Here are three areas where a coordinated response among microfinance stakeholders will be important going forward.Blog
Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Underestimating Change Management
Microfinance institutions are often unprepared to manage the changes that come with digitization. The good news is that through effective change management, they can digitize successfully and generate value for themselves and their customers.Blog
COVID-19 and Microfinance: How Digitization Helps Build Resilience
When done right, with a focus on creating value for customers, digitization can improve the resilience of the people microfinance providers serve.Blog
MFI Digitalization: How Can DFIs and IFIs Contribute?
From funding digital innovation to boosting digital literacy, here are some ways that development finance institutions and international financial institutions can accelerate the digitization of microfinance in Africa.Blog
Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Getting Bogged Down in Technology
Rushing into technology solutions, without having the institutional capability in place to commercialize them, is a common mistake microfinance institutions make when digitizing. Here's how to avoid this costly misstep.Blog
COVID-19 and Microfinance: Managing Trouble with Restructuring
What have microfinance institutions and their investors accomplished so far in their restructuring deals? What have they learned? And how can they improve readiness for the next crisis?Blog
COVID-19 and Microfinance: What’s Next for Equity Investors?
Access to funding has been a top priority for microfinance providers during COVID-19 . Debt investors have played a key role in supporting providers through the crisis. Now, as providers focus on recovery and growth, equity capital is needed too.Blog
The Menace of COVID-19 for Microfinance
FINCA Impact Finance President and CEO Andrée Simon explains what’s needed for the most vulnerable microfinance institutions and their customers to overcome the pandemic.Blog
Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Not Listening to the Customer
Customer centricity is key to ensuring a microfinance institution's digital solutions actually meet customer needs -- and there's ample evidence it's good for business. Yet many microfinance institutions overlook this critical aspect of digitization.Blog
COVID-19 and Microfinance: What the Data Says About Risk in the Sector
What impact has COVID-19 had on microfinance so far? What are likely future scenarios? Learn more in this blog post, which summarizes key findings from CGAP and MFR's research that began in June 2020.Blog
Pitfalls in MFI Digitization: Getting the Business Case Right
Kicking off a new series on how microfinance institutions can avoid common mistakes when digitizing, this post highlights the need to start with a clear business case and presents six proven ways digitization has benefited microfinance institutions.Blog
Cool in Crisis: How Bangladeshi MFIs Stay Resilient
Through flood, drought and famine, Bangladesh's microfinance industry has survived over the decades and continued to serve low-income customers in times of crisis. What has made Bangladeshi microfinance institutions so resilient?Blog
Has Microcredit Empowered Women in Bangladesh? Yes, But Not by Itself
Microfinance has contributed to women’s empowerment, but to understand the impact you have to look beyond where many observers have assumed they would find it.Blog
Opening Pandora’s Box: Revisiting the Impact of Small Business Finance
The debate over the impact of small business finance is far from settled. Here are four gaps in the evidence base that should be filled to move the debate forward.Blog
After the Storm: How Microfinance Can Adapt and Thrive
There has been a need for traditional microfinance to face the challenge presented by digital technology for some time. COVID has simply accelerated this process.Blog
Microfinance and COVID-19: Is Insolvency on the Horizon?
Global survey data shows a sharp increase in nonperforming and restructured microfinance loans during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but strong capitalization among most MFIs mitigates the risk of insolvency.Blog