Research & Analysis

Microinsurance: What Can Donors Do?

Microinsurance is growing increasingly popular among donors as a way to help poor people manage risks and reduce their vulnerability. This Brief addresses how donors can support microinsurance efforts.

The Early Experience with Branchless Banking

Branchless banking has great potential to extend the distribution of financial services to poor people who are not reached by traditional bank branch networks; it lowers the cost of delivery, including costs both to banks of building and maintaining a delivery channel and to customers of accessing services (e.g., travel or queuing times).

Are We Overestimating Demand for Microloans?

This Brief discusses the various issues that should be considered when estimating demand for microloans. Although numerous attempts have been made to answer this question, it is difficult to come up with a reliable answer.

Appraisal Guide for Microfinance Institutions

This publication includes a technical guide with essentials for an appraisal; a resource manual; and a spreadsheet to generate summary tables.

Making Money Transfers Work for Microfinance Institutions

This Technical Guide helps financial service providers determine whether they should offer money transfer services.

Microfinance Banana Skins 2008

According to this new survey of the risks facing microfinance, completed at a time when the sector is undergoing profound changes, the greatest threats to the business lie in poor management and inadequate corporate governance.

Foreign Capital Investment in Microfinance

Microfinance is experiencing an unprecedented investment boom. The past five years have seen remarkable increases in the volume of global microfinance investments. Between 2004 and 2006, the stock of foreign capital investment—covering both debt and equity—more than tripled to US$4 billion.

Regulating Transformational Branchless Banking

In a fast increasing number, policy makers and regulators in other developing and transition countries are embracing “transformational branchless banking”—the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and nonbank retail channels to reduce costs of delivering financial services to clients beyond the reach of traditional banking.

An Analysis of Peru’s “Cajeros Corresponsales”

Most banks in Peru have tended to use banking agents fundamentally to shift low-value transactions away from the more costly branch channel and to extend the reach of their existing branches.

The True Cost of Deposit Mobilization

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) seem to be of two minds about the cost of mobilizing savings. In a recent CGAP study, the majority of institutions interviewed perceived deposits as the cheapest form of funding available, as well as stable, plentiful, and a valuable service to clients.