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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Four Ways Microfinance Institutions Are Responding to COVID-19

How are microfinance institutions responding to COVID-19? To what extent are they offering leniency to clients? Have they been forced to lay off staff or close branches? CGAP's pulse survey of microfinance institutions sheds light on these questions.