Annabel Vanroose

Do microfinance institutions accomplish their mission? Evidence from the relationship between traditional financial sector development and microfinance institutions’ outreach and performance

This article analyses the relationship between outreach and performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) on the one hand and traditional financial sector development on the other. The results indicate that MFIs reach more clients and are more profitable in countries where access to the traditional financial system is low. This finding is in line with the market-failure hypothesis: MFIs respond to a need that banks do not fulfill and MFIs flourish where the formal financial sector fails. Along the same line, the results demonstrate that MFIs serve poorer people in countries with well-developed financial systems. The results suggest that in countries with well-developed financial systems, the two sectors stand in more direct competition with each other. This competition pushes MFIs down the market and makes mission drift by MFIs less likely.

What macro factors make microfinance institutions reach out

This paper identifies factors that explain why microfinance institutions are reaching more clients in some countries than in others. To that end, the paper applies a cross-country analysis on a unique dataset covering 115 countries. Results indicate that the microfinance sector is more present in the richer countries of the developing world. It also reaches more clients in countries that receive more international support. Population density plays also a positive role, which could explain why the sector is still underdeveloped in rural areas. The level of industrialisation and inflation do not seem to influence microfinance outreach, while regional dummies do.